- Gianluca Iaccarino & Pietro Congedo
Pietro Congedo (Inria CARDAMOM) and Gianluca Iaccarino (Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University) have been collaborating for 8 years.
Since 2011 they are the principal investigators of the Inria@SiliconValley associate team AQUARIUS on Advanced methods for uncertainty quantification in compressible flows. The 4 month sabbatical stay of Prof. Iaccarino in the CARDAMOM research team is a perfect opportunity to present their fruitful cooperation!
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- Pietro, Gianluca, can you present your respective research teams and field of research?
PMC : The Cardamom Team at INRIA aims at providing a robust model development methodology, as well as a quantitative approach to model certication, allowing to assess the robustness of the model w.r.t. each of its components (equations, numerical methods, etc), and to assess the variability of the outputs w.r.t. random variations of the data. The group working more specifically on Uncertainty Quantification (four Phd students, two post-docs and two master students) deals with the development of uncertainty quantification and robust optimization methods and its application to Computational Fluid Dynamics problems.
GI: The collaboration between Stanford and Inria is framed within the Uncertainty Quantification Laboratory (UQLab) in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford. Researchers in the UQLab work on both algorithmic development for uncertainty analysis and applications to complex engineering applications. Currently the group consists of 5 PhD students, and 4 post-doctoral fellows. The UQLab was founded in 2008 and counts 16 alumni (among graduate students and postdocs).
- For how long have you been working together? On what project are you currently working on together?
PMC : We have worked together since nearly eight years. We got in touch during a proposal that I have submitted for participating to the NASA Center for turbulence research Summer Program, held in 2010. Since then, we started a strong collaboration, with a continuous and fruitful exchange of students and researchers. Thanks to this constant flux of information, we are now working on several topics at the same time. It is worth mentioning the investigation of robust design techniques and an innovative way to deal with a global representation in the space of both design variables and uncertain parameters.
GI: The exchange of researchers has been especially fruitful; one of the first students who joined Stanford from Inria has become a key team-member in the UQLab and is now a leader of a large research project funded by the US Department of Energy and focused on the computational design of a novel solar energy harvesting device.
- Gianluca you obtained a IDex grant (from the University of Bordeaux) for your sabbatical : what does it bring you?
GI: The sabbatical is an invaluable instrument to rethink and renew ones own research thrust. The IDex grant and the opportunity to spend time in INRIA Bordeaux has certainly provided me the opportunity for stimulating discussions, and to gain new insights into the complex worlds of uncertainty quantification which sits at the interface between statistical sciences, computational engineering and physics – exactly where Inria has its strengths.
- What do you both expect from this stay and what would be the next step?
PMC and GI: this stay should further strengthen our collaboration, allowing a more intense collaboration on several topics. The intention is to associate each action with a clear source of funding (public or private), by building a network for long-term activities.
- What advice would give to a young American researcher that is willing to work with a French Team and vice-versa?
GI: I find students and, in general, researchers very well versed in quantitative thinking and complex mathematics across a spectrum of disciplines; so definitely working on problems which involve advanced analysis is the most attractive part of my collaboration. I would suggest selecting a research topic that provides broad opportunities to engage diverse communities. Theoretical and computational mathematics, blended with physics and perhaps out-of-the-box thinking can be quite a powerful mix to establish long-lasting relationships.
Interview by Tania Castro, European and International Partnerships Department
Related Articles: Focus on joint research project: AQUARIUS
BIO
Gianluca Iaccarino
Gianluca Iaccarino is an associate professor in Mechanical Engineering and Institute for Computational Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Italy from the Politecnico di Bari in 2005 working on numerical methods to simulate turbulent industrial flows. In 2008 Prof. Iaccarino started the Uncertainty Quantification Lab working on algorithms to assess the impact of tolerances and limited knowledge on the performance predictions of engineering systems, such as wind turbines, hypersonic propulsion systems, low-emission combustors. Since 2009, he has served as the director of the Thermal and Fluid Sciences Industrial Affiliate Program a forum for technology transfer and interactions between members of the Stanford community and engineering corporations. In 2010 Prof. Iaccarino received the PECASE (Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers) award from the US Department of Energy. In 2011 he received a Humboldt fellowship from the University of Munich. He is the Director of the Exascale Computing Engineering Center, the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (with Margot Gerritsen), the Thermal Fluid Science Affiliates Program and the Uncertainty Quantification Laboratory.
Pietro Congedo
Pietro Marco Congedo is a Research Scientist (CR1) at INRIA Bordeaux. He graduated with honours in Materials Engineering at University of Lecce (Italy). After his Master in Fluid Mechanics at Arts et Métiers (Paris, France), he received his Ph.D. in Energy Systems at University of Lecce in 2007, and he joined Inria in September 2010. He has been awarded with the Best Paper Prize in Applied Aerodynamics of the AAAF (Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France) in March 2009, research fellowships from Stanford University in 2010 and 2012, and the prize of scientific excellence from Inria in 2012 and 2016. He is the founder and coordinator of the AQUARIUS Associated Team, and the Co-Director of the INRIA-CWI International Lab. He is author of about 50 scientific papers, in international journals and books. His research interests are in the numerical simulation and optimization of real gas flows, thermodynamics of complex flows, multiphase flows, intrusive and non-intrusive uncertainty quantification methods and robust optimization.
