Bonjour. Je m'appelle Antoine et--
WELCOME
Welcome to my "As it's a happening one" blog. I'm going to give you guys a little preview into the world of Caltech intellectual offerings and opportunities, specifically some insight concerning my current summer research experience in France at École Polytechnique.
AWESOME
So my name is Anton and I just wrapped up my second year of AWESOME at Caltech. When I say "wrapped up" I mean I somehow managed to survive what was probably the most CUHRAZY week I have ever had at the big T. However, be pleased to find out that I am indeed still alive and tired... and in Paris... woohoo!
RESEARCH
You kids are prolly wondering "OK, why the HECK is he in Paris when this is supposed to be a Caltech blog?" Well the truth is these blogs are more about what "Caltech has to offer" than the physical location itself. Don't get me wrong; yes, Caltech is a gorgeous campus what with lots of delicious SUN and palm trees, but us bloggers limiting ourselves to its neighborhood confines is MOS DEF NOT what Tech is all about. ;-)
So, anyway yeah I'm in France right now starting a research project with a very well respected applied mathematician, Dr. Gregoire Allaire. You know a prof is hypercool (pronounced like "ee-pair" cool) when he's written a book or two. When he's written the entire wall lining his office; well, that's another story! :D Regardless, he is extremely friendly and down to earth and explains things quite clearly (both in French and English), so things are working out very well!
Anyway, today I asked one of his colleagues to take a photo of us; I definitely wanted the math symbols on the board in the background, but my camera couldn't pick up enough contrast so the board looks blank. Anyway, yes there are cool equations there, I promise! :D
For those of you that want to know what I'm working on this summer: I'm implementing Dr. Allaire's most recent shape optimization algorithm (for all the sincere tools, see the paper here). As for now, I'm doing some trivial programming in Scilab just to get the basics of finite difference methods, first and second order schemes, upwinding and downwinding approximation equations etc. etc. Fun, huh? And while I'm not doing that, well...
I'M IN FREAKING PARIS!!! Alright, well right now the current set up is VERY cool but I don't have a lot of time to describe it because I'm tired and I have to commute to work quite early in the morning tomorrow. So, when I write y'all next time, I will explain what the HECK is up with Mannton over here in Paris and at Ecole Polytechnique. Great stories to come concerning what the research environment is like (my new buds, woohoo!), where exactly I'm staying right now (ever heard of "the center of one of the most beautiful cities in the world?" If not, then you will!), how my French is working for me (lol), and other misc. bits of AWESOME that I have to share.
Until then, enjoy the beginning of summer!
Always,
Anton
Hey Monorina,
I know a bit of French (at Caltech I've taken the French cinema as well as culture class, both fully conducted en francais). However, I am here with many international students that know anywhere from 0 words to have for instance taken 3 years of the language in high school...
I speak English with my mentor but sometimes revert to French when we're having a friendly conversation. Occasionally we actually do math in French tho :D
Posted by: Anton Bongio Karrman | July 06, 2009 at 09:11 AM
Do you have to know French to be able to intern in Paris?
I mean, of course you need nominal French to get around, but is the academic part in French as well?
Posted by: Monorina | July 06, 2009 at 07:43 AM