Joint Research Projects
PARTICLES, MOLECULES, AND THE UNIVERSE
Uncovering the Physics at the Horizon: Tidal Deformability and Symmetries of Black Holes
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
This project is using new data on the behavior of merging binary systems of black holes to investigate how black holes are or are not deformed by tidal forces exerted on them. The project will elucidate properties of black holes as they relate to physical and temporal symmetries, as well as the interactions between tidal forces at a black hole’s horizon.
Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Senior Member, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
The University of Chicago
Director of Research, AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC)
CNRS – University of Paris – CEA – CNES.
Novel Radical Cyclization Cascades for the Total Synthesis of Sclerocitrin
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
This project aims to develop a new approach to allow for the synthesis of sclerocitrin molecules, which are the basis of a particularly bright yellow pigment first isolated from earthball mushrooms. If successful, the synthesis of sclerocitrin will serve as a model that will advance our general ability to synthesize complex organic chemicals.
Professor, Department of Chemistry
The University of Chicago
Professor, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires
The University of Bordeaux (CNRS)
Physics and potential for quantum technologies of KTaO3 two-dimensional electron gases
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
This project aims to investigate the quantum-level physical properties of potassium tantalate, a crystalline substance that demonstrates the ability to generate superconductivity through two-dimensional electron gases that form between thin films of potassium tantalate and an insulator. This superconductivity is interesting because it seems to only be present in thin films and not in bulk potassium tantalate crystals (i.e. shaped crystals at a 3-5cm scale) and is able to be generated at relatively higher temperatures than other similar substances (such as strontium titanate). This substance has the potential to advance our ability to create technologies in spintronics and topological quantum computation.
Chair, Department of Physics
Professor, Department of Physics, James Franck Institute, and the College
Fellow, Institute of Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Laboratoire Albert Fert (CNRS/Thales/Université Paris Saclay)
CNRS
Powering future on-board quantum technologies with high energy density solid-state batteries (Q-Batt)
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
This project is working to expand on previous partnership between the PIs to create an enhanced formulation for amorphous oxynitride electrolytes and then employ them in the design of a more stable, higher performing microbattery that can meet future demand for powerful, stable, but miniaturized sources of stored energy.
Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
Chief Scientist, Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS)
Argonne National Laboratory
Professor, Institut des Matériaux de Nantes Jean Rouxel
CNRS-University of Nantes
NActive nematic flow networks: From autonomous microfluidics to computation
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
Active nematics are non-equilibrium fluids composed of self-driven units that transform chemical energy into mechanical motion. A distinctive hallmark of these systems is their spontaneous self-organization into collective states with long-range orientational order, as well as their capability to adapt to the environments where they reside. Recent theoretical and numerical works have shown the potential of these active fluids to control information transport in active flow networks, i.e. networks of connected channels. These theoretical and numerical works have laid the conceptual foundation for developing autonomous microfluidic transport devices and design principles to construct universal logical operations, Fredkin gates, or memory storage in set-reset latches, through the synchronized self-organization of many individual network channels. Despite the fascinating perspective of using active fluids for computation, these ideas have not been experimentally explored yet. This research project will combine experiments and numerical simulations to build active flow networks capable of sustaining autonomous flows and performing logical operations for the first time.
Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories, and Global Initiatives
Senior Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory
The University of Chicago
Research Scientist
École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris)
CNRS
Water decontamination using a Plasma-in-liquid technique: application to PFAS treatment
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2023-June 30, 2025
The production, application, and disposal of PFAS – anthropogenic chemicals widely used in consumer and industrial products – continue to cause grave environmental and health issues around the world. The mitigatory efforts made by the United States and the European Union over the past decade have been largely unsuccessful, and there still exists a pressing need for real-time detection of these PFAS chemicals for better water risk management. As such, this project will develop and implement an efficient and environmentally friendly technique for PFAS removal –based on plasma-liquid interactions (PLI) – and the demonstration of a field-effect transistor sensing platform that can in-situ monitor various PFAS species during the oxidation process. In doing so, the project will open a novel avenue for a more efficient and affordable PFAS detection, as well as introduce new perspectives for clean processes such as the PLI technique.
Crown Family Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
Lead Water Strategist
Argonne National Laboratory
Senior Engineer, Process and Materials Science Laboratory
CNRS
Read about the project’s presentation at the UChicago-CNRS PhD Workshop.
Neutrino reconstruction in the DUNE experiment using machine learning
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2023-June 30, 2025
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that will examine neutrino interactions to ultimately address some of the most fundamental questions in particle physics. To study neutrinos is very difficult and a more sophisticated reconstruction approach must be developed to fully exploit the high-resolution detection technology used by the DUNE Collaboration. The goal of this project is to develop innovative algorithms to optimize the reconstruction of neutrino interactions in the DUNE ‘Far Detector’ (FD), while exploiting the full potential of the detector design to maximize the sensitivity to neutrino oscillation parameters. Building on existing efforts in the DUNE Collaboration, the researchers plan to develop a Machine Learning (ML) based framework to perform neutrino event reconstruction in the FD of the DUNE experiment. As such, this project holds great potential to improve techniques crucial to the reconstruction of neutrino energy, which is the key challenge when performing neutrino oscillation analysis with DUNE’s wide spectrum of neutrino energies.
Professor, Department of Physics
Director, Enrico Fermi Institute
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Astroparticle and Cosmology Laboratory
University of Paris (CNRS)
Functional Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles with Elastin-like Peptide Segments
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022
This proposal combines the innovative work of the Bordeaux team on elastin-like polypeptides (ELP) with the experience of the UChicago team on polyelectrolyte complexation of nucleic acids with the eventual goal to create new delivery vehicles for nucleotide therapeutics. The project will begin by examining the temperature sensitivity of these objects enabled by the inclusion of ELP components. The second part of the project will examine specifically the packaging of nucleic acids. Altogether, this project combines innovative thermosensitive polyelectrolytes based on ELP-b-polypeptide copolymers, leading to a new generation of PECM with pH and T-responsiveness and possibly to a smart mechanism of delivery of charged biomacromolecules by physical inversion.
Director, Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques (LCPO-CNRS)
Full Professor, Bordeaux-INP
The University of Chicago
Gale Johnson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
HgTe Quantum Dot Electronic Structure and Infrared Sensing
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022
Semiconductor nanoparticles are extraordinary materials that present broadly tunable optical spectrum from the UV to the THz. This arises from the wide range of material that can be synthesized by the colloidal approach and the quantum effect of the size, hence they are called “Colloidal Quantum Dots” or CQD for short. Within the quantum sensor technologies, CQD devices have now useful performance, but they do not yet match the best devices based on the very expensive HgCdTe epitaxial materials. The two teams will conduct a systematic study of the energy position of CQDs using the two complementary methods of electrochemistry and photoemission, which are respective strengths and expertise of the two groups. They have also developed complementary experimental setups to probe carrier relaxation using ultrahigh
bandwidth electronic measurements and ultrafast time resolved optical spectroscopy.
Professor, Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry, James Franck Institute, and the College
Director, Enrico Fermi Institute
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Institut des nanosciences de Paris (INSP)
Sorbonne University (CNRS)
New Ideas in the Search for Dark Matter
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022
Albeit increasingly precise measurements have allowed cosmologists to determine that more than 80% of the matter content of the universe is dark matter (DM), little is known about the DM properties beyond its gravitational interaction. With our project, we design a twofold strategy to get further insight onto the nature of DM by: a) Scrutinizing the space left for WIMP DM matter with current telescopes and provide accurate predictions for the sensitivity of future instruments to DM signals. The faintest detectable galaxies and their “dark” counterparts represent very promising targets to probe the WIMP paradigm with multi wavelength, observations. b) Developing the reach for constraints on or detection possibilities of exotic signals, via purely gravitational probes and multi-wavelength techniques in gravitational waves (GW) and high-energy astrophysics. This objective is motivated by the renewed studies concerning exotic scenarios such as Primordial Black Holes (PBH), and their cosmological and astrophysical applications, notably in the GW channel.
Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Senior Member, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Laboratoire d’Annecy-le-vieux de Physique Théorique
Université Savoie mont Blanc (CNRS)
Role of the Trigeminal System in Odor Perception
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022
The branch of the trigeminal nerve that is in the nose is responsible for cool of mint, the heat of chili peppers, and the tickle of CO2 bubbles. Despite its ubiquity in smelling, interactions between olfactory and trigeminal sensing are rarely acknowledged or studied in olfactory research, particularly in physiological analysis of this system. The Martin group in Paris will use cutting-edge chemogenetic and imaging techniques in mice to monitor OB activity and activate or inhibit trigeminal activity in response to stimulation by odor mixtures. The Kay group at UChicago will use behavioral and electrophysiological methods in rats to study perceptual effects of trigeminal odors in mixtures and to probe the effects on olfactory system processing as compared to the absence of trigeminal influences. The Martin group will use results of preliminary behavioral studies (currently underway in the Kay group) to inform selection of odorants and odor mixtures, and the Kay group will use the methods developed by the Martin group to inactivate trigeminal nerve endings in the OB.
Director of Research
Université Paris Cité (CNRS)
Professor, Department of Psychology
The University of Chicago
Read about the project’s presentation at the UChicago-CNRS PhD Workshop.
Modeling transcriptional bursting in space and time
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022
In order to generate a functional organism, cell fate decisions must be taken at the right place and at the right time. Decades of genetic studies in Drosophila have dissected the gene regulatory networks responsible for the establishment of precise patterns of gene expression. Our project is concerned with a particular class of transcription factors (TFs) called pioneer factors. The binding of pioneer factors facilitates the subsequent binding of classical transcription factors. Here, we propose to build on that work by decoding the impact of two Drosophila pioneer factors, Zelda and Opa, on transcriptional bursting and the consequences of such control on the spatio-temporal precision of gene expression.
Director of Research, Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier
CNRS
Full Professor, Laboratory of Pathogen Host Interactions (Lphi)
The University of Montpellier (CNRS)
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Molecular Genetics and Systems Biology, and Committee on Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology
The University of Chicago
Characterizing mm-Wave Loss for On-Chip Spectrometry
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2019-June 30, 2021
In astronomy, observing millimeter (mm) ad sub-mm astronomy has historically been challenging due to atmospheric absorption bands. Yet, observations at these wavelengths contain a wealth of information which can further our understanding of the universe and provide a vital complement to near-future, large optical instruments such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) that U. Chicago and the national labs are currently building.
Associate Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Institut Néel
CNRS
Coupling active and passive liquid crystals
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2019-June 30, 2021
In cells, thousands of nanometer-sized molecular motors coordinate themselves and intertwine similar protein components that operate either as scaffold constituents or force-generators to accomplish mechanical tasks such as cell motility, division and replication. The assembled active material exhibits sought-after properties such as autonomous motility, internally generated flows and self-organized beating. A much simpler active system can be replicated in vitro using a recently developed method where bundled polymerized tubulin filaments (microtubules) are mixed with kinesin motors. When this biomimetic material is confined to an interface, the microtubules develop long range orientational order. However, unlike conventional nematic liquid crystals, continuous energy consumption leads to chaotic flows often termed as “active turbulence”. Understanding and controlling these chaotic flows is not only relevant to fundamental problems of pattern formation in biology but could also pave the way to the design of “smart” active materials.
Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories, and Global Initiatives
Senior Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory
The University of Chicago
Research Scientists
École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris)
CNRS (CNRS)
Search for Light Dark Matter with DAMIC-M
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2019-June 30, 2021
The experimental search for dark matter (DM) particles has been guided for several decades by the compelling weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) hypothesis. A surprisingly unexplored possibility is the existence of light DM particles with masses 1 eV – 1 GeV, which may have escaped detection because the small kinetic energy that they carry cannot be efficiently transferred to the much heavier nuclei.
Current experiments have limited sensitivity to DM-electron interactions, and a light DM particle may have well escaped detection. In this context, DAMIC-M’s (Dark Matter in CCDs at Modane) innovative detector technology, which is capable to detect a single electron with high resolution, provides unprecedented sensitivity to the DM hidden sector.
Professor, , Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, the Erico Fermi Institute, and the College
The University of Chicago
Postdoctoral Fellow
The Lagrange Institute (CNRS)
Postdoctoral Fellow
IMT Atlantique(CNRS)
PLANET EARTH
Multiscale biophysical characterization of the Campylobacter flagellar system
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
This project is examining the biological systems of Campylobacter bacteria (a widespread bacterium that is the most common cause of foodborne enteritis), specifically those that are used to power motion through the mucosal barriers and intestinal systems of host organisms, to understand their ability to cause infection. The project will catalogue the biomechanics of Campylobacter flagellar systems, examine how those systems coordinate across the poles of the bacterium, and investigate how those flagella allow for chemotaxis (chemically motivated travel) in structured environments. This will further serve to establish the bacterium as a model organism with implications for the study of other flagellated bacteria’s motility.
Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
The University of Chicago
Research Scientist, Biophysics and Bio-Engineering
Centre de Biologie Structurale (CNRS – Inserm – Université de Montpellier)
Algae-microbe interactions: role and evolution of halogen metabolism in the ocean
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2024-June 30, 2026
In marine environments, host-microbe interactions are likely highly complex — the relative density of microbes in marine habitats compared to terrestrial ones means that marine organisms must be able to effectively repel pathogens while facilitating partnerships with beneficial microbes. At present, the functions of these microbes and the molecular mechanisms that mediate their relationships with their hosts remain poorly understood. This proposed research project aims to elucidate the relationship between marine macroalgae (commonly called seaweed) and their microbes by studying the biochemistry and evolution of vanadium-haloperoxidases, a protein family implicated in algal pathogen response, and which is responsible for the biosynthesis of halogenated compounds.
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution
The University of Chicago
Research Director
CNRS
Dissolution of planetary atmospheres in magma oceans
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2024-June 30, 2026
Thousands of large planets, ranging in size between Earth and Neptune, were identified in observations from the space telescopes. These planets have a sufficient mass to generate a gravitational field that can retain a huge atmosphere. The traditional view of such a planet consists of the outer atmosphere laying on top of a condensed layer of oxide and silicates — solid like the crust of a terrestrial planet, or liquid like a magma ocean, and deep inside the planet an iron-based core. The purpose of this research project is to refine this traditional view that is strongly biased to the image we have about our own atmosphere by obtaining the dissolution of gases (H2 and H2O) in magma oceans with pyrolytic composition. The project will employ atomistic simulations based on first-principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) to compute the solubility of the volatiles in molten silicate, sample a representative part of the atomic configurational space, and then study the integrity of H2 and H2O molecules. This study will have extreme implications in our understanding of exoplanets and might even explain the famous Fulton gap in the exoplanet distribution.
Professor, Department of Geophysical Sciences
The University of Chicago
Senior Researcher, Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris
Université de Paris (CNRS)
ATLAS AnaTomicaL shApeS: Transferring knowledge about computational anatomy to study early human evolution in Africa
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Programme
Active dates: July 1, 2023-June 30, 2025
In paleoanthropology, species diagnosis is no simple task, and the current research methods used for shapes analysis still face considerable limitations and do not yet account for significant methodological advancements made in recent years. As such, ATLAS will re-approach paleoanthropology with added high-value data on early hominins and improved shape analysis methods. By uniting knowledgeable paleoanthropologists from Toulouse and UChicago with expert computer scientists from Montpellier to reanalyze living and fossil hominins, ATLAS maintains high potential to lead to major breakthroughs in paleoanthropology. A multi-disciplinary and cutting-edge approach to explore paleo diversity in early hominins, ATLAS also offers a unique opportunity to better understand how, where, and when early hominins evolved and rapidly colonized Africa’s contrasted ecosystems.
Donald N. Pritzker Professor, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
The University of Chicago
Professor
University Toulouse III- Paul Sabatier (CNRS)
Read about the project’s presentation at the UChicago-CNRS PhD Workshop.
Predictability, adaptation, and navigation
Supporting mechanism: International Research Network
Active dates: 2019-2023
The IRN PAN in biophysics investigates differences and similarities between biological systems such as co-evolving viruses and immune receptors, odor and chemical sensing animals and microbes, animals following visual cues and coevolving microbial species.
The biophysics of predictability, adaptation, and navigation have emerged as topics of interest over the recent years due to novel quantitative experiments, data collection and analysis and extensive integration of theoretical ideas from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, machine learning and Bayesian inference and nonlinear dynamics. Bringing together leading biophysicists from France, Europe and the US, this IRN investigates the differences and similarities between biological systems that predict, adapt and navigate their ever changing environments: co-evolving viruses and immune receptors, odor and chemical sensing animals and microbes, animals following visual cues and co-evolving microbial species.
Full listing of partner institutions:
CNRS
Emory University
ENS Paris
Harvard University
Institut Curie
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Max Planck Gesellschaft
Mount Sinai Hospital
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
Princeton University
Sorbonne Université
Université Nice Sophia Antipolis
Université Paris Diderot
University of California, San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Cologne
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rome “La Sapienza”
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Laboratoire de Physique
École Normale Supérieure (CNRS)
Discovering common principles in learning to predict in biological systems
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2019-June 30, 2021
Guiding behavior in a dynamic environment requires biological systems to make rapid predictions about the future state of sensory inputs because of the significant response delays present in all biological transducers. This predictive behavior is learned over many iterations of biological sensing and honed over evolutionary time. For the adaptive immune system, we have proposed the optimal form of the repertoire for a specific static pathogen distribution, but the rules governing its learning during somatic evolution have yet to be revealed. While these operate with different microscopic machinery, at different time scales, and with different signaling mechanisms, our hope is to identify common biophysical strategies for solving the prediction problem.
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
The University of Chicago
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, James Franck Institute, and the College
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Laboratoire de Physique
École Normale Supérieure (CNRS)
SML: Innovative methodological developments for the high-performance simulation of complex biological systems
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2013-June 30, 2025
The primary objective of the IRP-SML is to develop methods for high-performance molecular simulation with the aim of understanding the function of complex biological assemblies, transcending the frontiers of traditional disciplines by uniting mathematicians, physicists, theoretical chemists and biologists on both sides of the Atlantic. Uniting scientists from the physical and theoretical chemistry, biology, biophysics and mathematics communities, IRP-SML members gather the scientific expertise that will allow the timescales of molecular simulations and of biology to be bridged, and the slow processes of living cells to be tackled. Such an ambitious objective requires at its core the development of new approaches leaning among others on artificial intelligence strategies for preferential sampling, most notably in the context of free-energy calculations, together with the search of reaction pathways, leveraging the many benefits of high-performance molecular simulations with utmost efficacy. Over the years, the team has gleaned milestone results in such diverse research areas as membrane transport, interaction with membrane, the membrane biological protein structure and function, as well as self-organized molecular systems. They also develop original approaches in the field of free-energy calculations to tackle rare events in biology.
Full listing of partner institutions:
CNRS
Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives
École des Ponts ParisTech
Institut de Biologie Structurale
Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique
Laboratoire d’Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires
Université de Grenoble-Alpes
Université de Lorraine
Université de Paris
University of Chicago
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Weill Cornell Medicine
Amgen Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques
Université de Lorraine (CNRS
DIGITAL WORLD
Efficient and environment-friendly scheduling and resource management algorithms
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2024-June 30, 2026
Cloud computing has been very successful in providing on-demand computing resources for various compute-intensive applications. However, cloud-data-centers have increased in size to become large facilities with a huge environmental overhead and high carbon emissions. This research program aims at optimizing the scheduling of large-scale distributed applications with the primary target of decreasing power usage and carbon emissions. The two main directions being considered to achieve these objectives are: (1) focusing on the locality of computations and (2) recognizing that with edge resources the carbon content of power is complicated. To drive intelligent edge-note selection to reduce carbon emissions, this project proposes to create a more refined carbon-emissions model that captures information for specific load-serving entity (utility) contracts for edge sites (static, dynamic), as well as local renewables (eg. onsite solar), and energy storage (eg. onsite batteries). The ambitious goal of the project is then to design clever scheduling algorithms that will dynamically account for all these environmentally-driven changes.
William Eckhardt Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Computer Science
The University of Chicago
Senior Computer Scientist
Argonne National Laboratory
Associate Professor
École normale supérieure de Lyon (CNRS)
HYBOXI- HYBrid MBE-CVD rare-earth doped Oxide films for on-chip optical quantum technologies
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2023-June 30, 2025
In the field of Quantum Technologies (QT), specially engineered solid-state materials – and their development – are essential to innovation. Uniquely successful amongst these material systems, rare-earth ions (REI) exhibit particularly long optical coherence lifetimes and record spin coherence lifetimes. Still, REI have yet to be integrated into practical and scalable quantum devices, and their optical and spin properties in thin films continue to lag behind that of their bulk counterparts. This project aims to develop epitaxial REI doped oxide films with limited structural defects in order to build a new generation of quantum photonic devices. Facilitating developments in both material science and device fabrication, this project will address fundamental challenges in quantum optics and contribute greatly to advancing a new field of research.
Assistant Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Chemistry Research Institute of Paris
Chimie ParisTech – PSL (CNRS)
Read about the project’s presentation at the UChicago-CNRS PhD Workshop.
HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE
Characterization of breast sensation for bionics and the science of erogenous touch
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2023-June 30, 2025
Simple (total) mastectomy, the most common type of mastectomy for women with breast cancer, is a procedure that amputates the entirety of the breast tissue and leaves the breasts without sensation. This loss of sensation leads to major adverse effects, however, including disembodiment of the breasts (e.g., the feeling they are no longer part of one’s body) and chronic pain that cannot be reliably alleviated by standard interventions. As such, the researchers hope to develop a device – the Bionic Breast Device – that would restore touch sensation and reduce pain following mastectomy. A prototype and preliminary data are two central objectives of this project. Thus, drawing from the success of touch restoration and chronic pain alleviation in bionic hands, the researchers will investigate the sensory correlates of intercostal nerve stimulation. These experiments will be the inception of a larger research plan to characterize the neural basis of touch on the breast, and their results will all but guarantee the success of the Bionic Breast Device.
Catherine Lindsay Dobson Professor, Department of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Cognitive Science Laboratory
Aix-Marseille Université (CNRS)
Read about this project in the University of Chicago News.
Institute for Philosophy in Biology and Medicine
Supporting mechanism: International Research Network
Active dates: 2020-2024
Philosophy in science uses the conceptual tools of philosophy to contribute to solving scientific problems. The aim of the Institute for Philosophy In Biology and Medicine (PhilInBioMed) is to develop the first international network of philosophy in biology and medicine in order to give an institutional basis to the philosophy in science approach, and to strengthen and sustain it. PhilInBioMed fosters interdisciplinary initiatives that use the conceptual tools of philosophy to solve scientific problems through the co-production of knowledge by the direct interactions of philosophers, biologists, and medical doctors.
Full listing of partner institutions:
Arizona State University
CNRS
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI)
Marine Biological Laboratory
Université de Bordeaux
University of Cambridge
University of Chicago
University of Cincinnati
University of Exeter
University of Pittsburgh
University of Sydney
University of Utah
Program Administrator and McDonnell Foundation Fellow
Marine Biological Laboratory
Research Director, Philosophy of Biology
Université de Bordeaux (CNRS)
How is sensory information transformed into appropriate motor output?
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2019-June 30, 2021
Somehow animals transform sensory information about the environment into a set of patterned muscle contractions that drive behavior, but the structure and function of these circuits is poorly understood at the cellular and synaptic level. Gaining this knowledge is absolutely required for understanding the genetic basis of behavior, and has implications for evolution, biomedicine, and robotics.
We propose to study the structure and function of a neural circuit underlying sensorimotor behaviors in the moderately complex nervous system of larvae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We expect to identify one of the first complete sensory-to-motor circuits described at single neuron resolution.
Associate Professor, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology and the Neuroscience Institute
The University of Chicago
Research Scientist, Institut NeuroPSI
Université Paris-Saclay (CNRS)
CULTURES, CREEDS, ARTS AND SOCIETY
Veridicality, rhetorical tropes, and epistemic vigilance in on-line communication: semantic and pragmatic underpinnings
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
This project will examine what semantic and pragmatic conditions must be met for an individual to recognize that a claim made online requires investigation and cannot be taken at face-value, as well as what epistemic conditions must be met for individuals making genuine truth claims to anonymous collectives. Using methodologies from linguistics and from the philosophy of language, the team will examine whether or not social media reshapes what users consider “evidence” to be, what specific interactions between evidence and truth arise in a social media environment that do not arise in normal speech, and what kinds of evidence serve to form the basis of judgements of truth value and trustworthiness.
Frank J. McLoraine Professor, Department of Linguistics
Director, Center for Hellenic Studies
Co-Director, Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language
Faculty Fellow, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge
The University of Chicago
Director of Research, Institut Jean Nicod
CNRS – EHESS – ENS/PSL
Effects of subcortical neural encoding on second language phonetic learning
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2025-June 30, 2027
The effects of subcortical neural encoding on second language phonetic learning
This project is investigating the role of subcortical and cortical neurological structure and encoding of speech signals in the successful differentiation and learning of non-native phonetic cues. It is hypothesized that individual variances in that encoding can impact and predict success in learning new phonological contrasts (i.e. subtle differences in vowel sounds, voiced and unvoiced stops, intonation, etc.) and thereby predict success in new language acquisition.
William Colvin Professor, Department of Linguistics and the College
Director, UChicago Phonology Laboratory
The University of Chicago
Senior Research Scientist, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique
CNRS – ENS – EHESS
Impact of violence on the formation of children's social preferences in the Sahel region of Africa
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Programme
Active dates: July 1, 2024-June 30, 2026
Prosociality affects a wide range of socio-economic decisions and outcomes across a multitude of cultures, contributing to smooth relationships, social cohesion, citizenship building and cooperation among members of society. The origins of prosociality, such as other-regarding preferences and concern for fairness, emerge at a young age and are shaped by the norms, values, and culture of the local environment. However, this process can be disrupted by exposure to violence during childhood, which may not only hamper the formation of prosocial preferences but also favor the formation of antisocial preferences, with potentially long-term negative consequences on the propensity for cooperation, trust, and concern for social efficiency. While few studies have investigated the impact of violence exposure, there is a dearth of systematic research outside wealthy, Western cultural contexts. This research study will be conducted in Burkina Faso — a location that, according to UN news, is one of the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian and protection crises, with five percent of the population displaced.
Irving B. Harris Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Psychology
The University of Chicago
Research Professor in Economics
CNRS
Head of GATE-Lab
University of Lyon
International research network on postcolonial print cultures
Supporting mechanism: International Research Network
Active dates: 2023-2027
The network brings together postcolonial print culture scholars working in the fields of postcolonial studies, book history, print cultures and digital humanities – who are interested in the production, circulation, and consumption of print as an agent in social, cultural, and political life. Postcolonial print cultures and the multifaceted, multilingual (and long neglected) archives explored by scholars in the field are fascinating to examine because they have been instrumental to the development of literary cultures in the Global South, often represented sites of North-South and South-South cultural transfers and transnational exchanges, acted as testing grounds for political and aesthetical radicalism, and help us rethink the notions of genre, and the frontiers of the literary field itself.
Full listing of partner institutions:
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences
CNRS
Jadavpur University
New York University
Newcastle University
NYU-Abu Dhabi
University of Chicago
University of the Witwatersrand
George M. Pullman Professor, Department of English Language and Literature
The University of Chicago
Research Director, Theory and History of the Arts and Literature of Modernity, 19th-21st Centuries
CNRS
Transforming Homo Economicus: The use of other social sciences in US economics
Supporting mechanism: International Research Network
Active dates: 2022-2026
This project studies the relationships between economics and other social sciences from 1918 to the present. Concerning the changing nature of these relationships, our working hypothesis is that the image of economics as estranging itself from other social sciences from WWII on obscures its actual transformation over the past hundred years. The gradual shift away from interwar pluralism to postwar neoclassicism is well-established. What is less known, however, is that economists continued to draw on other social sciences even as their discipline became less pluralistic. Throughout the period, the use of findings and approaches from other social sciences remained inextricably linked with the critique and amendment of economics’ behavioral assumptions. In other words, the use of other social sciences in economics provides a window for considering its transformation throughout the twentieth century and in the first two decades of the next.
Full listing of partner institutions:
CNRS
CY Cergy Paris Université
Duke University
École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay
London School of Economics and Political Science
Université de Cergy-Pontoise
Université Paris Nanterre
Associate Professor, Committee on Social Thought
The University of Chicago
Professor, Department of Social and Human Sciences
École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay (CNRS)
Was the United States invented by a French philosopher?
Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Program
Active dates: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022
Could it be that the influence of Montesquieu on the Founding Fathers’ ideas has been largely overlooked? A mere historiographic study of influential philosophical thought in the late eighteenth century shows that the predominant importance of Montesquieu’s philosophy is not met with extensive and careful academic works capable of finding and then analyzing the way in which the Founding Fathers borrowed from his philosophy. Yet, such an analysis would permit us to understand why Montesquieu was considered an authority and even, according to the very words of the Founding Fathers, an oracle of the science of politics. Furthermore, this research would finally allow to lend cachet within the European academic world to a masterpiece of political philosophy, the Federalist papers, whom no less than Tocqueville once praised and which remains the very secular bible of the American Republic.
Professor, Sciences Norms Démocratie
Sorbonne Université (CNRS)
Professor of European History, Fundamentals, and the College
The University of Chicago
Awarded the 2024 CNRS medal, Céline Spector describes her international collaboration experience here.