Portraits of UM

American geneticist Randall Wisser has just joined INRAE to design the seeds of tomorrow. His approach involves drawing on the genetic resources of seeds from around the world and then using computer modeling to adapt them to new environments. Coming from the University of Delaware, his arrival in Montpellier follows an EXPLORE mobility program, MUSE's international mobility program.

The French Society of Ecology and Evolution has awarded its 2020 Grand Prize to Philippe Jarne, a CNRS researcher at the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology. The prize recognizes his research in evolutionary and population biology, invasion biology, and ecology. Portrait of a gastropod specialist.

A specialist in wine microorganisms, biologist Fabienne Remize is changing scale by taking over the management of a large unit, the UMR Sciences pour l'œnologie (SPO: University of Montpellier, INRAE, Institut Agro – Montpellier SupAgro) as part of the I-SITE MUSE attractiveness program. 

Johanna Calderon, a researcher in neuropsychology and psychiatry at Harvard University, will take up a chair in neurodevelopment of congenital heart disease at the University of Montpellier in January 2021. This is a first in France.

On October 22, the University of Montpellier, and more specifically its Faculty of Law and Political Science, paid tribute to Professor Georges Frêche, who passed away ten years ago. We look back on the career of an extraordinary academic and political figure who did not wait for posterity to build his own legend.

This is an important distinction in the field of theoretical physics and mathematics, awarded to André Neveu on August 10 by the ICTP (International Centre for Theoretical Physics). The 2020 Dirac Medal recognizes the emeritus research director of the Charles Coulomb Laboratory—along with two other eminent physicists—"for their pioneering contributions to the creation and formulation of string theory."