Press release

 

The CNRS and the Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering (USA) enter into a cooperation agreement

Paris, July 3, 2003

 

CNRS/Penn-State University joint Press Release


Geneviève Berger, Director General of the CNRS, Janis Jacobs, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and International Programs, and Robert Santoro, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Propulsion Engineering Research Center at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), signed a cooperation agreement on July 3, 2003, strengthening existing academic and scientific ties between the two partners. This cooperation agreement, to be in effect for four years, will make it possible to establish and undertake joint research projects in areas of mutual interest: aeronautics and space, chemical and mechanical engineering, and science-technology-society.


The aim of this agreement is to strengthen cooperation between the members of the faculties, institutes and departments of Penn State and those of laboratories linked to the CNRS. Cooperation will be particularly focused on exchanges between researchers, the organization of bilateral conferences, seminars and symposiums and the implementation of joint research projects.

Two interdisciplinary centers of the College of Engineering are especially concerned by this agreement:
- the Propulsion Engineering Research Center
- the Hydrogen Energy Center.

A working relationship between the Propulsion Engineering Research Center, CNRS Engineering Sciences Department (SPI) laboratories in Orléans, France, and the Université d'Orléans has been in existence for over ten years now and has led to several joint publications, mainly on reactive flows related to aerospace propulsion. The involvement of the Hydrogen Energy Center in this project opens the door to extremely promising joint projects (particularly on hydrogen motors, advanced materials for fuel cells, etc.), for all the laboratories in the SPI department and other CNRS departments involved in the Energy Program of the CNRS and the French Ministry of Research and New Technologies.

Other joint projects could also be established between the Science, Technology and Society Department (STS) of the College of Engineering and the Humanities and Social Sciences Department (SHS) of the CNRS. These projects may address some of the socio-economic issues involved in energy systems of the future: legal and geo-political issues, risk management, etc.

Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University was created on February 22, 1855, in central Pennsylvania and was originally dedicated to agricultural sciences. In 1863, Penn State inaugurated new departments devoted to engineering sciences.
The University operates a multi-campus system in 24 locations throughout the state. Its student body numbers 80,000, with 14,000 graduates every year. It has an annual research budget of 400 million dollars.

College of Engineering
The Penn State College of Engineering was created in 1896.
It includes several departments, in particular: Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Science, Technology and Society as well as several interdisciplinary centers including the Propulsion Engineering Research Center and the Hydrogen Energy Center.
The College of Engineering had 7,679 undergraduates, 733 master's students and 780 PhD candidates enrolled in 2002. One out of every fifty American engineers is a graduate of Penn State. Its research budget in 2001-2002 was approximately 78 million dollars.

 



Researcher contacts:
Iskender Gökalp LCSR/EPEE
Tel: +33 2 38 25 54 63
E-mail: gokalp@cnrs-orleans.fr

Press Contact CNRS:
Laëtitia Louis
Tel: +33 1 44 96 49 88
E-mail: laetitia.louis@cnrs-dir.fr

CNRS International Relations contact:
Claude-Isabelle Chauvel
Tel: +33 1 44 96 46 89
E-mail: isabelle.chauvel@cnrs-dir.fr