Portraits of theUM

Thanks to groundbreaking findings on semiconductor nanostructures—and in particular on the physical properties of boron nitride—physicist Guillaume Cassabois of the Charles Coulomb Laboratory at theUM has just been awarded the 2025 Jean Ricard Grand Prize by the French Physical Society. While the award recognizes an individual achievement, the researcher emphasizes the importance of the team throughout his research.

A political scientist at theUM, Laura Michel has been coordinating a research group focused entirely on the social sciences and humanities and dedicated to public transition policies since 2024. This role led to her appointment as director of the Mak’it program, the Montpellier Institute for Advanced Studies, which specializes precisely in transition.

Irène Georgescu, a professor at Montpellier Management, is researching the resilience of healthcare professionals. This work earned her a 5.6 million euro European Research Innovation Action grant in 2025.

Madhur Anand, an ecologist and professor at the University of Guelph in Canada, bridges the gap between science and the arts, even in her own work. A modeler and author, she is taking advantage of her visit to Montpellier in the first semester of 2025 to combine interdisciplinary seminars with book signings at the Comédie du livre.

Tomasz Hueckel, professor emeritus at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina, United States), has joined the growing community of honorary doctorate recipients at the University of Montpellier. An engineer, researcher, and educator, he has been collaborating with teams at the University of Montpellier for more than 15 years, particularly those at the Laboratory of Mechanics and Civil Engineering (LMGC). The ceremony on May 16, 2025, provided an opportunity to trace his journey step by step, from his native Poland to the United States, as well as to highlight his significant contributions to the field of civil and environmental engineering.

Noémie Coulon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Marbec laboratory, is one of nine young researchers selected by the Ocean Institute to cover the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice in early June. This task is a perfect fit for this specialist in the impact of climate change on rays and sharks in Europe.