FRANCE-STANFORD CENTER
FROM THE DIRECTOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2 Conferences & Lectures
4 Research
8 Fellowships & Internships
Undergraduate Fellowship
Undergraduate Internship
Visiting Student Researcher Fellowship
Visiting Junior Scholar Fellowship
Visiting Fellowship in the Humanities/Social Sciences
Roxane Debuisson Collection Fellowship
Gustave Gimon Fellowship
23 Student Prizes
23 Executive Committee
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Jessica Riskin Director
Christophe Laux Associate Director
Isabelle Collignon Program Manager
I hope everyone had a nice summer! We’ve had lots of interesting new projects at the France-Stanford Center this past year. These have included a project on exploring the vulnerabilities and residues generated by extraction and use of four energy materials: coal, oil, uranium, and lithium; another project on exploring microorganisms living in the deep sea; and a conference examining the way “Oriental languages” were printed between the 16th and 19th century, in and beyond Europe.
As part of our fellowship program, graduate students and young scholars were able to conduct research on topics ranging from understanding Archimedes’ original contribution to the science of water to exploring the Kurdish diaspora in France. We were delighted to be able to send our undergraduate students to France this past summer! The internship program, now in its sixth year, is a great success and the center received many applications this year. The program enables Stanford undergraduates to pursue research in France at institutions such as INSERM, the Gagosian Gallery, Sorbonne University, the University of Montpellier, the Ecole CentraleSupélec, and the Paris-Saclay FAST Laboratory. We were pleased to send our first students to the Paris Brain Institute. We are deeply grateful to these institutions in France for hosting our students during their summer internships.
In 2023-24, we hosted lectures and visits on topics including how multiracial identities shape citizenship and how tv series change us and the world.
We awarded our fourth round of student prizes: the Josephine Baker Honors Thesis Prize, the Louise Bourgeois Essay Prize for Masters-level and early Ph.D. students, and the James Baldwin Essay Prize for advanced Ph.D. students. Two fellowships were awarded as part of our collaboration with Stanford Libraries:
Jessica Riskin
Jean-Paul Gimon Director of the FranceStanford Center, Professor of History
the Roxanne Debuisson Fellowship for Stanford graduate students to work on the Roxanne Debuisson Collection on Paris History; and the Gustave Gimon Fellowship to support a visiting researcher in the Gustave Gimon Collection on French Political Economy. We are also pleased to announce a new fellowship in partnership with the Stanford Libraries, the David Rumsey Map Center Fellowship. For more information on the Center, including a complete list of conferences and grant and fellowship recipients, I invite you to visit our website.
Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank the members of our Executive Committee for generously providing their time, hard work, and invaluable expertise to make sure the Center’s mission is fulfilled. We are extremely grateful to our colleagues at Stanford and in France, including the French Embassy in Washington, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the French Cultural Services in New York, the Office for Science & Technology in Washington, D.C., and the French Consulate in San Francisco.
This is my last Director’s Note, since I’ll be stepping down. I’ve greatly enjoyed working with all of you and helping foster the exchanges and collaborations that are our Center’s mission. Many thanks to the France-Stanford Center community for the last six years of fine work, and a special thanks to our extraordinary Program Manager, Isabelle Collignon. We’ve faced unprecedented challenges in these last years but through flexibility, creativity, and persistence we’ve managed to come through them thriving. I’m so happy to be handing the directorship over to my friend and colleague, Professor Fiona Griffiths. Fiona: over to you!
Wishing you all the very best for the new academic year,
Jessica Riskin (continued from
CONFERENCES & LECTURES
The France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies provides funding for scholarly conferences or workshops to be held at Stanford or at any French research institution. For more information, please visit our website
CONFERENCES
Oriental Impressions: Printing Oriental Languages Between West and East, 16th-19th Centuries
Thomas Mullaney, Department of History, Stanford University
Fabien Simon, Université Paris Cité, Paris
The “Oriental impressions: Printing Oriental Languages between West and East, 16th-19th Centuries” conference brought together an international consortium of researchers to examine the way “Oriental languages” were printed between the 16th and 19th century, in and beyond Europe. It welcomed scholars and practitioners, and provided an opportunity for dialogue between historians, linguists, typographers and graphic designers. The conference also offered the opportunity to visit the still-active typographic workshop of Paris’s Imprimerie nationale and its renowned collection of typographic material. The conference highlighted especially the deep historical connections between non-Latin type, Christian missionary work, Orientalism, and European empire-building, a connection seen most readily through the phenomenon of “typographic imperialism.” The idea was to bring together researchers — historians, typographers and graphic designers, linguists — whose works focus on the way “Oriental” languages were printed, in various places, between the 16th and 19th century, and on the technical, social, political or cultural issues of such practices. There were colleagues from the USA, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italia, Greece, Korea.
“Beyond the papers themselves, the exchanges were extremely fruitful and it was important to be all together in the same room for that reason. The visit of the typographic collection of the Imprimerie nationale in Douai, one of the most important in the world, was a highlight for the colleagues also.” — Fabien Simon
CONFERENCES & LECTURES
LECTURES
“Captivity, Chaos, and Conversion: Writing Empire From Below in French Africa, 1895-1955”
Elizabeth Foster, Department of History, Tufts University
Co-sponsored by the Africa Research Workshop, the Center for African Studies, Department of History, the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages
“Remembering Bruno Latour”
Co-sponsored by the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, The Program in History & Philosophy of Science.
“How Multiracial Identity Shapes Citizenship”
Rachel Jean-Baptiste, Department of History, Stanford University
Co-sponsored by The Europe Center, the Department of African and African American Studies, the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Humanities Center.
“How TV Series Changed Us and Our World”—Michel Serres Distinguished Lecture
Sandra Laugier, Paris I University PanthéonSorbonne, Paris
Co-sponsored by the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, the Department of Philosophy, the Film & Media Studies Program
“French Speaking Worlds: Then and Now”
Visit our website to see upcoming conferences and events, and to find out more information.
Co-sponsored by the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and Stanford Global Studies.
The France-Stanford Center facilitates research between Stanford and French Institutions, across all disciplines. It provides funding to faculty, postdocs, young scholars, and students.
320K in Research Funding
7 Disciplines
13 Faculty
24 Students
4 Junior Scholars
RESEARCH
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
The France-Stanford Center sponsors high-quality collaborative research projects across all academic disciplines, to foster new linkages and deepen existing connections between French scholars and students and their counterparts at Stanford University. For more information, please visit our website
Under Pressure: Microbial Carbon Sequestration in the Deep North Atlantic Ocean
Anne Dekas, Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University Christian Tamburini, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Marseille
This grant funded a collaboration between the research groups of PI Anne Dekas (Stanford University, USA) and PI Christian Tamburini (Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Marseille, France). During a 45-days expedition on a French research vessel to the North Atlantic Ocean (port of Brest, France), members of the Dekas and Tamburini groups collected deep-sea samples to test the activity of microorganisms and their role in carbon sequestration. Sampling was largely successful and experiments were conducted on-board to test the growth rates and metabolisms of recovered microbes. After the trip, Chloé Baumas, previously a graduate student with Tamburini, joined Dekas’ group at Stanford as a postdoc, and worked with Dekas and Stanford graduate student Amanda Semler to analyze the samples on Stanford’s nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometer (nanoSIMS). Regular Zoom meetings were held between Dekas’ and Tamburini’s groups to discuss the results, and Baumas returned to Marseille for two weeks mid-year to present results and meet with the Tamburini group in person. Our research groups are continuing to collaborate as we analyze the data and prepare manuscripts. Additionally, we are planning another expedition in the spring, in the Northeastern Atlantic, to continue our productive collaboration.
a French ship in the North Atlantic
“We have enjoyed our culture exchange and find that science, food, and laughter are common languages. This grant has been a significant help in solidifying the collaboration between the Dekas and Tamburini groups. For me personally, it has helped to bring my research in a new and exciting direction that I think will pay off for years to come. We are in the process of preparing two manuscripts with the data collected with support from this grant. One will likely be submitted this fall and the other next year. Journals have not been selected yet. Thank you so much for your support! This was a great opportunity and we appreciate the support.” — Anne Dekas
Chloé Baumas (Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, France, and Stanford University, USA) and Amanda Semler (Stanford University, USA) holding deep-sea sampling bottles on-board
Ocean. Photo credit: Anne Dekas
Postdoc Chloé Baumas analyzes deep sea microorganisms collected in the North Atlantic Ocean on the Stanford nanoSIMS to measure their growth and metabolic capabilities. Photo credit: Anne Dekas
Probabilistic Phonology: Formal Analysis & Empirical Assessment of Two Theories
Arto Anttila, Department of Linguistics, Stanford University
Giorgio Magri, Université Paris 8, Paris
An empirical study that documents probabilistic aspects of syllable structure in two unrelated languages, Finnish and Dagaare, was undertaken starting in June 2023, with funding from the ViceProvost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) at Stanford. In the summer, Anttila involved two undergraduate students, Emiyare Ikwut-Ukwa and Kushal Thaman, both with programming experience, with the goal of developing an R data frame that would constitute a solid empirical basis for the analytical work to be undertaken in later phases of the project. A preliminary version of the Finnish study was conducted by Annalisa Welinder in the summer of 2021 and is described in our project proposal under "Our previous work." In this preparatory step, Ikwut-Ukwa and Thaman first replicated Welinder's study and added the Dagaare component. We presented this work at the 42nd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 42) at Berkeley on April 13, 2024. As an analytical framework, the paper employs uniform probability inequalities developed in our earlier project and it is our hope that the data frame will remain useful for testing the new analytical ideas that we are currently exploring and beyond. We wrote up the results as a short paper that is under revision for publication in the conference proceedings. The France-Stanford Center grant was used to cover our travel expenses to the Berkeley conference.
“Our meeting in Paris was both fun and scientifically successful. Over four days in our "bootcamp" (a student's term) we worked on two separate topics: one empirical (Dagaare syllable structure), another formal (thinking through Magri's generalization). We had more success with the second topic and managed to write up a successful abstract, whereas the first topic turned out more puzzling and did not yield a clear result we could report. One important lesson is that it makes sense to approach a problem from multiple angles because you never know which line of attack will be successful. Beyond the conference presentations (and eventually publications), the grant has helped us involve multiple students, both graduate and undergraduate. We hope that it has shown them how to do research in linguistics and that it will shape their careers in positive ways.” — Arto Anttila
Antón de la Fuente, a linguistics graduate student, at a project meeting in Paris (CNRS). Photo credit: Arto Anttila
Sarang Jeong, a linguistics graduate student, at a project meeting in Paris (CNRS). Photo credit: Arto Anttila
African Airs: A Collaboration to Explore the Inside-Out Earth
Gabrielle Hecht, Department of History, Stanford University
Over the last three decades, French physical chemist Cathy Liousse (Laboratoire d’Aérologie, Toulouse) and Ivorian physical chemist Véronique Yoboué (Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny) have conducted joint research on air pollution in West Africa. The two scientists met in graduate school; ever since, they have been working—together and separately—on air pollution, emissions inventories, and atmospheric and climate models. Their current project pioneers an interdisciplinary approach. Entitled APIMAMA (Air Pollution Mitigation Actions for Megacities in Africa), it includes physical chemists, medical doctors, epidemiologists, biologists, sociologists, and geographers from France and Côte d’Ivoire. Their uniquely interdisciplinary approach juxtaposes personal exposure on air particulates with medical tests on patients to measure their respiratory and cardiovascular health and oral accounts of their working lives. In close collaboration with communities and policymakers, project leaders have begun to develop and test technologies and work methods to reduce pollution exposure. APIMAMA is thus a prime example of how scientists, citizens, and policymakers strive to repair the air together.
“In January 2024, thanks to funding from the FranceStanford Center and the Lounsbery Foundation, I spent two weeks in Abidjan learning about APIMAMA. The project as a whole gathers detailed data about specific exposures in various communities of workers, each exposed to distinct forms of airborne wastes: fish smokers, home cooks, and charbonneuses (charcoal makers). Each group is represented by a cohort of about thirty women. These cohorts had already gone through one round of air pollution monitoring and medical checks the previous year, and were getting ready for a second round. This grant has enabled me to launch the fourth part of my ambitious new research project, which involves an innovative collaboration with these scientists and a South African photographer. Many thanks for funding me!” — Gabrielle Hecht
Accelerating Physics-based Models with Generative Neural Networks
Grant Rotsk, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University
Marylou Gabrié, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau
Over the past few years, the potential of machine learning methods that can generate text and images has expanded significantly. This project seeks to explore the implications of these advanced techniques for simulating and characterizing chemical and biological systems computationally. Our objective is to investigate how generative models commonly used in traditional "AI" tasks can be adapted to generate chemical and biological systems, incorporating physical intuition such as symmetry and volumetric constraints.
Extremely Dense Gamma-Ray Pulses in Electron Beam-Multifoil Collisions
Douglas Storey, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Sébastien Corde, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau
Intense sources of high-energy gamma-ray photon beams are of great interest for scientific endeavors in fundamental and applied sciences such as probing the limits of the Standard Model of particle physics, as well as for applications in industry, medicine, and material science. However, existing photon sources are extremely limited in photon intensity at these high energies. This project will employ the electron beam at the FACET-II National User Facility to develop a novel type of gamma-ray photon source capable of producing many orders of magnitude greater photon density than currently possible.
UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
The Undergraduate Fellowship Program funds Stanford undergraduate research and internships at French institutions. During the academic year 2023-24, the center awarded three fellowships. For more information on the Undergraduate Fellowship Program, please visit our website.
3 Awarded Fellowships
Paris Brain Institute
Naomi Checoury Taub, Undeclared, Stanford University (2027)
Visiting Institution: Paris Brain Institute
Internship Paris Brain Institute
As part of my grant, I worked at Paris Brain Institute. I interned for seven weeks in the Karalis Lab within the “Neuronal Circuits & Brain Dynamics” team, which investigates alterations in neuromodulatory landscapes and their impact on neural circuits and brain dynamics. Over the course of my internship, I became familiar with the Matlab interface; coded and sorted neuronal activity (based on waveform, wavelength and frequency). In addition, I performed in depth literary analysis and review on academic papers discussing how blood pressure pulsations modulate central neuronal activity via mechanosensitive ion channels as well as how neurons in the prebotzinger complex promote arousal in mice. These two presentations were carried out in front of the entire under the format of a "Journal Club".
“This has been a memorable experience by many means as it was my first time working in a scientific laboratory for such a prolonged period of time. Through this, not only did I acquire further coding skills, become familiar with technological interfaces used in neuroscience (such as DeepLabCut) to perform various forms of neuronal activity analysis and strengthened my oral and analytic skills through the "journal club" presentations, I was first and foremost thrust within a team of researchers and I was able to witness their daily dynamic.” — Naomi Checoury Taub
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Kathaleen Mallard, Department of Biology, Stanford University (2025)
Visiting Institution: Paris Brain Institute
Internship Paris Brain Institute
During my internship, my main focus was to learn how to code data in MATLAB as well as code animals in DEEPLABCUT, two software programs I had yet to experience with previously. I spent the first few days learning how to work, sort, and code neuronal data into graphs in MATLAB. This was the first time I had the opportunity to analyze raw data and draw meaning from it myself. It expanded my knowledge and thinking skills so much further than what is offered inside the classroom. The process of DEEPLABCUT involves coding an AI system with pictures of animals and their skeletons so the program can identify the body parts of the animal in any video that is plugged into the program. Finally, I created a program in DEEPALB cut that analyzed videos of capybaras. The potential applications of this program when applied to a lab setting are huge, and it saves researchers time by creating graphs of movements that can be useful in different experiments.
“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the France-Stanford Center for funding this internship. Without your support, none of this would have been possible. This experience helped me develop research skills in neuroscience and coding and opened my eyes to the beauty of cross-cultural collaboration and how global scientific collaboration can be. The summer I spent at the Paris Brain Institute has profoundly shaped my academic and personal growth, and I will carry the lessons and memories from this internship with me for years to come. Thank you once again for this unforgettable opportunity.” — Kathaleen Mallard
Alexandre
Ravel
, Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University (2026)
Visiting Institution: Paris Brain Institute
Internship Paris Brain Institute
This summer, I worked as a research assistant at the Paris Brain Institute in the “Genetics and Development of Nervous System Tumors” team. I was placed into a subgroup focusing on the interactions between glioblastoma and the immune system. Glioblastoma is the most common and most aggressive type of adult primary brain cancer, accounting for about 60% of adult brain cancer diagnoses. Despite advances in our understanding, it still has a dismal life expectancy of 15-18 months after diagnosis as it is resistant to conventional cancer treatment with chemo, radio and immunotherapy. It almost always recurs, even after complete surgical tumor resection. Glioblastoma is very challenging to treat because it has an immunosuppressive microenvironment, is highly mutagenic, constantly changing and evading treatments, and is difficult to reach due to the blood brain barrier (BBB) blocking most drugs. Other than conducting wet lab work, I also helped the lab by conducting literature reviews of papers regarding glioblastoma-immune system relations and presenting papers to my postdoc and life science professionals. This work proved useful for my lab and will help them guide their research.
“This internship in France enabled me to immerse myself in a widespread and important type of research which will allow me to study cancer neuroscience in a different way in the future. Conducting the literature review was also very helpful. I gained a deeper understanding of the field by reading papers in depth and understanding how certain experiments and models used in the papers worked and were designed. I hope to use these newly acquired research skills at Stanford and beyond in the future.” — Alexandre Ravel
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
The France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies sponsors undergraduate internships with leading French-based institutions during the summer through the Global Studies Internship Program. For more information, please visit our website.
5 Awarded Internships
Gagosian Gallery • Paris-Saclay University FAST Laboratory • Sorbonne University • University of Montpellier (LIRMM)
Chantal Le, Department of Biology & Computer Science, Stanford University (2026)
Visiting Institution: Paris-Saclay University FAST Laboratory, Orsay, France
FAST Laboratory Internship
I worked alongside Dr. Mojtaba Jarrahi at University of Paris-Saclay's FAST Lab in Orsay, France. I largely researched microalgae's potential for application in pharmaceuticals and renewable energy. My individual research project involved testing phototactic motion of the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under different light conditions and analyzing its potential to fuel a low energy, stirless photobioreactor – experiments include culture preparation, image recording, and utilization of ImageJ and Python for image processing and analyses. Working in the FAST Lab, I’ve had the chance to observe and learn from the many other groundbreaking experiments happening around me. Seeing such innovative research up close has been inspiring and has broadened my understanding of what’s possible in the lab.ng its potential to fuel a low energy, stirless photobioreactor — experiments include culture preparation, image recording, and utilization of ImageJ and Python for image processing and analyses.
“Receiving this grant has been a game-changer for my academic and professional journey. It’s not just about the opportunity to live and work abroad — although that’s been incredible — but also about how it’s helped me refine my future career path. Through this experience, I’ve been able to dive into a new field of research, exploring the fascinating intersection of environmental engineering and cell culture. It’s opened my eyes to areas of science I hadn’t previously considered.” — Chantal Le
Picnic with the FAST Lab! Photo credit: Chantal Le
Our experimental setup with algae culture and a stimulating light. Photo credit: Chantal Le
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Autumn Parrott, Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University (2024)
Visiting Institution: Paris-Saclay University FAST Laboratory, Orsay, France
FAST Laboratory Internship
During my internship at the University of Paris-Saclay, I conducted a study on the use of phototaxis in microalgae to enhance mixing in bioreactors without mechanical stirring, a process aimed at capturing atmospheric CO2 for renewable energy production. The algae will be used to capture atmospheric CO2 for renewable energy production. This hands-on research not only deepened my technical skills in renewable energy but also reinforced my passion for sustainable energy solutions. A key lesson I took away was the value of perseverance in research. There were several instances when our experiments didn't go as planned, requiring us to troubleshoot and adapt our methods. This taught me to approach challenges with flexibility and patience, qualities that are crucial for any career in renewable energy. The experience of working on the frontlines of innovative renewable energy technology gave me a practical understanding of how scientific principles can be applied to address real-world environmental challenges.
“This experience broadened my perspective on the global importance of renewable energy and its potential to drive change in rural and Indigenous communities. This insight has been particularly influential as my tribe is exploring renewable energy as a means of diversifying away from gaming, creating new jobs, and upholding our values of environmental stewardship. This internship solidified my commitment to pursuing a career at the intersection of science, policy, and sustainability, with a specific focus on implementing renewable energy solutions that benefit both people and the planet.” — Autumn Parrott
Giancarlo Ricci, Department of Bioengineering (2025)
Visiting Institution: Sorbonne University: Computational & Quantitative Biology, Paris Sorbonne University Internship
During my time as a Research Assistant at the Laboratory of Computational and Quantitative Biology (LCQB) at Sorbonne University in Paris, France, I focused on enhancing the accuracy of protein mutational landscape predictions. My primary project involved developing an ensemble scheme that integrated three state-of-the-art models—ESCOTT, ESM-IF1, and ESM-2. By combining these models, I was able to improve the average Spearman correlation coefficient of predictions with experimental data from the DMS ProteinGym benchmark by over 15%. Additionally, I engineered more than 20 protein-specific features, drawing from protein sequential information, secondary structure, and experimental context. These features were used to predict ensemble weights via regression, which allowed the model to adapt to different proteins. This approach proved highly effective, as it increased the Spearman correlation of predictions for over 92% of crossvalidated proteins, demonstrating the scalability and robustness of the method beyond the initial dataset. I gained exposure to a new problem setting (predicting protein mutational landscapes), important research methodology (slow, incremental progress; visualizing and gaining intuition behind results to interpret them), and exposure to working in a different cultural context.
“This grant gave me incredible exposure to the kind of work expected of a researcher, and has made me consider applying to Ph.D. programs. This grant also helped me deploy several of the ML skills I gained at Stanford in a new context (Computational Biology), which was really exciting. I'm incredibly thankful for this opportunity, and this funding created a huge impact on my professional and personal life. Thank you so much for this opportunity!”
— Giancarlo Ricci
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Natalia Seniawski, Department of Sustainable Architecture & Engineering (2025)
Gagosian Gallery, Paris
Gagosian Internship
I worked at the Gagosian Gallery in Paris for seven weeks. The work consisted of assisting the gallery with any daily tasks, performing artist research, and helping with exhibitions and openings. There are three Gagosian gallery spaces around Paris, so I, alongside two other interns, moved between the three spaces each week. learned about the international art market, and about commercial contemporary gallery spaces. I learned new vocabulary in French during my job, which was in French. I learned about Gagosian's business model, including learning about the different roles within the commercial art world and how they come together to create a dynamic workspace. Performing market research to understand fluctuations in the global art market helped ground my work at the gallery, and helped lend a practical lens to work within the art world. I hope to continue working on gaining a deeper understanding of the art market through classes, and gain gallery experience in the US to compare to the professional art world in Paris.
“I loved getting to participate in the annual pétanque (similar to bocce ball) tournament between all the galleries in Paris. The staff is quite international and welcoming, and everyone speaks English, making the transition to working in French quite smooth. The business side of commercial art galleries is something I hadn't had much exposure to, and greatly enjoyed.” — Natalia Seniawski
Gabrielle Walrath, Department of Mathematics & Biomedical Computation, Stanford University (2026)
Visiting Institution: University of Montpellier, LIRMM, Montpellier
LIRMM Internship
This internship aims to explore the applicability of explainable AI techniques in system microarchitecture design to help understand the impact of known architecture parameters on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as the response time and power consumption.
Sarah Sze Exhibit at Gagosian Ponthieu. Photo credit: Natalia Seniawski
Petanque tournament between Paris galleries. Photo credit: Natalia Seniawski
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
VISITING STUDENT RESEARCHER FELLOWSHIP
The Visiting Student Researcher Fellowship is available to graduate students affiliated with a French institution who are interested in pursuing a course of research at Stanford, and to Stanford graduate students interested in undertaking research or pursuing an internship at a French institution. For more information, please visit our website.
11 Awarded Visiting Student Researcher Fellowships
Engineering • Humanities & Arts • Medicine • Physics • Computer Science • Social Sciences
Paul de La Sayette, CentraleSupélec, Gif-sur-Yvette
Visiting Department: Department of Computer Science, Stanford University
Robotic Emergency Medical Technician
The Salisbury Robotics Lab at Stanford is developing a robotic Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). After performing visual and verbal inspection its initial responsibility will be to measure the vital signs of the patient, such as pulse, blood pressure, respiration, and temperature, as well as performing ultrasonic and electrocardiogram examinations. As these actions require the robot to skillfully touch the patient, it is vital for it to be able to detect, characterize, control the interaction forces and behave appropriately during contact. Force and acceleration measurements will be used to alert the robot to contact and enable it to determine contact status and properties in real time. This will be done by extending the active robotic touch perception techniques developed in the lab that exploit classical techniques in System Identification and Machine Learning.
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Deniz Demir, Department of Anthropology, Stanford University
Visiting Organization: Kurd Institute,
Paris
French Foreign Volunteers and the Kurdish Diaspora in France
With the generous support of the France-Stanford Center’s grant, I was able to complete the France component of my ethnographic research for my dissertation. An ethnographic work always continues as long as the researcher and interlocutors collaborate, and this process requires more follow-ups and additional returns to the field site until a certain point. This grant helped me complete it and enabled me to connect with my interlocutors for long-term research and follow-ups. This grant helped me set foot in France before all and enabled me to establish my base in Paris for multi-sited work in and outside of the city. It allowed me to connect with the Kurdish Institute of Paris, which is one of the most significant diasporic organizations representing the Kurds and Kurdish culture in France/ the Francophone world. It is a privilege to be part of their daily activities, even as a visiting researcher and a highly mobile ethnographer-in-training, as that institution in the diaspora is the custodian of Kurdish cultural memory of the five parts of historical Kurdistan and the Kurdish people, a stateless nation around 40 million people. During my visit, they kept all the sources of its rich library, database, and special collections accessible while granting me a safe space in their library. More importantly, they provided me with key contacts for my ethnographic research. They also supported my research logistics and facilitated my work stint in France and beyond. By receiving support from Dr. Kendal Nezan, Prof. Joyce Blau, and Melis Kaya, M.A., together with all the help of other staff of the institute, including the retiring yet still dedicated librarian Gerard Gautier, my fieldwork research and the ethnographic engagement in France became possible.
“My ethnographic engagement in France became possible with this grant. It helped connect me to my interlocutors directly. I traveled extensively in the country, such as to Marseilles and Orleans. All these travels were in addition to the extreme mobility inside the city and across the banlieues around the vicinities of Paris. So, I conducted several interviews in different parts of the city and across the country. With my interlocutors, I had the privilege of engaging in certain activities. I sometimes became part of their daily routine, sometimes just shared the space with them in a common activity or was involved in hours-long conversations in different spaces, sometimes common places, sometimes private houses. With this grant, I was also able to observe the political transformation of the Kurdish political struggle and its internationalization in a highly vibrant diasporic space, which is France in this specific case. In this particular process, I was able to witness certain engagements where solidarity practices were realized between the pro-Kurdish and French activists, intellectuals, artists, and political elite.” — Deniz Demir
Paris Kurdish Institute. Photo credit: Deniz Demir
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Lydia Kamenoff, Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Visiting Department: Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Stanford University
The History and Memory of Cossack's Emigration in France
The grant enabled me to conduct my Ph.D. research in the Hoover Archives. I found an abundance of letters, memoirs, and photos related to my thesis, “The history and memory of the Cossack émigrés in France (1920-1945)”. I was also able to visit Columbia University in New York, where I found more valuable sources to support my thesis. With all these sources combined, I can reconstruct collective trajectories of the Cossacks in the interwar period, their contribution in the anticommunist movement, and their commitment in the Wehrmacht in WWII. Being at the heart of Stanford University for eight months was a wonderful experience, especially at Stanford CREEES (Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian studies) where they organized weekly seminars. My tutor, Professor Amir Weiner, was a great help for me. I really enjoyed his soviet history classes and his way of teaching, creating an atmosphere for debate and fostering intellectual emulation. I was also honored to present my research on Cossack Émigrés at the 48th Annual Stanford-Berkeley Conference in March 2024. Stanford University is a great place for exchanges and meetings, and you really feel like part of a community.
Stanford-Berkeley Conference. Photo credit: Lydia Kamenoff
“I am thankful to Isabelle Collignon and Professor Jessica Risking from the FranceStanford Center for organizing great meetings with the other visiting student researchers and for giving me this wonderful opportunity to spend an academic year at Stanford. The grant has been crucial in building my international academic career. I think it’s essential to emphasize academic mobility and create a large network while you are a student. After spending three years in Russia, this academic year at Stanford University will open up further career opportunities.” — Lydia Kamenoff
Kolesnikoff papers. Photo credit: Lydia Kamenoff
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Angélique Lemarchand, University of Nantes, Nantes
Visiting Department: Department of Classics, Stanford University
Theoretical Water: Archimedes’ Floating Bodies (3rd c. BC)
Ancient philosophers significantly contributed to build a rational discourse on water, which in many ways is still in use today. This new approach would obviously stir questions about the nature of the element, among others. This is one of my fields of interest, within the Greek and Latin tradition (6th c. BC to 2nd c. AC). In line with this, Archimedes’ Floating Bodies (3rd c. BC) deserve more than a detour in my research. Thanks to the France-Stanford Center, I will do a philological reading of the text together with Pr. Reviel Netz who is an Archimedes scholar, in the Department of Classics. Specific questions will be addressed: How does Archimedes use water in his theoretical reasoning? Do Archimedes’ “floating bodies” actually float on water? Or, what are they floating on? Such a specific reading obviously falls within my topic as I look into the nature of water as an element, and liquid bodies at large, their nature and properties, the boundaries between fluids and water within the Greek and Latin tradition (6th c. BC to 2nd c. AC). This in-depth reading will definitely help me understand Archimedes’ original contribution to the science of water.
Florence Lienhard, Université Paris Nanterre, Nanterre
Visiting Department: Department of Classics, Stanford University
What is a Barbarian ? A Study of Hector in the Homeric Scholia to the Iliad
The Homeric scholia to the Iliad are a corpus of commentaries found in the marginalia of the manuscripts of the poem, and, for the most part, they are the last remains of the work elaborated in the library of Alexandria. For my thesis, I am working on the characters of Achilles and Hector in these scholia and, during my stay in Stanford, I intend to focus on the question of Hector’s barbarian identity. The scholia conveys the idea of a binary world where Greeks are fundamentally different from non-Greek populations, who are considered barbarians.
Lloyd May, Department of Music, Stanford University
Visiting Organization: IRCAM, Paris
Improving Access to Online Media through Haptic Feedback
This project aims to improve accessibility for D/deaf and/or Disabled individuals in online media experiences by: (1) designing and developing new ways to send vibration and haptic information online, and (2) designing ways to seamlessly incorporate user preferences and accessibility features, such as caption sizes, vibration feedback intensity, and audio customization options, into online media experiences. Throughout the process, I will be actively engaging with communities of interest to involve them in the co-design and development of these tools. The expected outcomes include novel works of vibration/haptic art as well as designs for ways to share these works in real-time online.
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Aimé Matheron, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris
Visiting Department: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park / Pulse Institute, Stanford University
Experimental Studies of Strong-field Quantum Electrodynamics
I traveled to the SLAC accelerator to join the FACET team in order to participate in the E320 experiment. During this experiment we have successfully made collisions between the electron beam and the laser. Those collisions aim at studying the Strong Field QED regime in which an electron can absorb "n" photons from the field, re-emit a hard gamma ray and this high energy photon can then decay together with "n" photons from the laser field into an electron positron pair. During the experiment we have shown that the colliding electrons were decelerated from 10 GeV to energies down to 6 GeV, demonstrating that they entered a very non linear regime.
“This grant really helped my academic career as it provided me with the funding for traveling and participating in this experiment which is part of my thesis subject.” — Aimé Matheron
Alexandre Perez, INRIA, Paris
Visiting Department: Department of Computer Science, Stanford University
Beyond Calibration: Links to Algorithmic Fairness and Impact in Decision-Making
As machine learning is seeping into all strata of modern societies, it is increasingly used to automate decisions or draw conclusions. However, myriads of recent examples have revealed patent discrimination: Flickr’s and Google Photos’ image labeling in 2015, recidivism risk assessment with COMPAS in 2016, Amazon’s job application review in 2018, Twitter’s image cropping in 2020, DALL-E image generator in 2021, etc. All displayed strong ethnic or gender biases. This questions the models’ quality and the evaluation methodology, opening up challenges and research directions. In this project, we focus on the probabilistic classification framework—for example, predicting the probability of a disease from a patient’s biomarkers.
Tatiana Smorodnikova, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University
Visiting Organization: Université Sorbonne, Paris
Producing Extreme Light Intensities with Relativistic Plasma Mirrors
Multi-petawatt laser facilities, such as Apollon in Paris, will generate very high light intensities to explore novel strong-field frontiers in plasma- and laboratory astrophysics. Relativistic plasma mirrors represent a promising technology to significantly boost the peak laser intensity by utilizing highly nonlinear light-plasma interactions that happen at the mirror surface. The objective of my research is to numerically simulate these laser-plasma interactions to understand how they impact the maximum laser intensities that can be achieved. The results of my simulations will support the experimental campaign at Apollon and could also be relevant for the future science program at FACET-II (SLAC).
Experiment. Photo credit: Aimé Matheron
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
Pierre France, Université Aix-Marseille, Aix-en-Provence
Visiting Department: The Program in History & Philosophy of Science, Stanford University Deviant Technopolitics and Fake(d) Epistemology
Conspiracy milieus tend to have a strong interest in science, showing in the constant display of professional qualities—‘engineers’, ‘scholars’, ‘doctors’—for many of the individuals involved in these collectives; or through mimicking practices, be they peer-reviewing, the creation of journals, correspondence with established journals, reflexive articles dealing with epistemology, up to laboratory work and calculations. This situation poses an interesting challenge to the sociology and history of science as a case of deviant amateurs. Through the study of this scientific frame of reference and this set of seemingly scientific practices, I intend to approach this deviant form of science and its underlying technopolitics. This project extends to new fieldwork in the United States, a research first conducted as an ethnography of conspiracy militants (2013-2019) in France and then Lebanon (2020-2023).
Edwin Garcia, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris
Visiting Department: Department of Sociology, Stanford University
Vulnerability of the Unbanked and Underbanked in California in the Twenty-first
This project investigates the mechanisms of financial exclusion that result in a significant portion of the population becoming unbanked or underbanked. Despite the United States being an ultra-financialized country with a plethora of financial products available, there remains a substantial number of individuals living on the fringes of these institutions. This exclusion intensifies financial insecurity, deepens inequality, and hampers social mobility, posing a threat to democratic principles. To examine this issue, I will conduct a sociological analysis of underbanked and unbanked individuals' financial exclusion, to understand the strategies employed by marginalized individuals and develop alternative financial solutions to alleviate their exclusion from mainstream systems. I will conduct fieldwork in the San Francisco Bay Area, chosen for its significant income gaps and high poverty rates, making it an ideal location to study this issue.
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
VISITING JUNIOR SCHOLAR FELLOWSHIP
The Visiting Junior Scholar Fellowship is available to junior scholars from Stanford and from France seeking a research visit either in a French Institution or at Stanford. For more information, please visit our website.
1 Awarded Visiting Junior Scholar Fellowship
Law
Cléa Hance, Institut National des Sciences du Politique, Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Gif-sur-Yvette
Visiting Institution: Law School, Stanford University
Defining a Legal Standard and the Participation of Cultural Heritage Holders
My project focuses on the completion of a scientific publication questioning the legal issues surrounding the protection of cultural practices specific to local communities that compose the cultural diversity of a country (traditional folk dances and music, storytelling, ways of life, spiritual beliefs, etc). Many nation states recognize today the importance of promoting such cultural diversity through cultural policies, but they remain reluctant to adopt an explicit right of community members to participate in the protection of their cultural tradition, in fear of communitarianism. Nevertheless, such a right is crucial to ensure the effective protection of these practices, notably to fight against the very State actions that can limit them. Based on a comparative analysis of the French and American legal system, I argue that, despite such reluctance, we can identify a binding right if we consider that this participation has become a social practice amounting to a legal standard. I want to stress the fact that the France-Stanford Center fellowship is a unique opportunity, especially in the social-legal science field, to create space for fundamental research at an international level. It is rare, although vital, to get financial support to root one’s research for a period of time in a new institution. International collaboration is not only the fact of directly interacting with people, but it is also having the time to appreciate all the other moments in between that inspire transcultural understanding.
“This experience at Stanford was a privileged time for me to reflect on where I stand in my career and how to prepare my next moves: A welcomed pause from my Parisian responsibilities. This trip confirmed my attachment to the Stanford community and the desire to build strong professional international relationships there.” — Cléa Hance
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
VISITING FELLOWSHIP IN THE HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCES
The Visiting Fellowship in the Humanities and/or Social Sciences is open to scholars from Stanford and from France who have completed a Ph.D. no more than three years from the date of applying for the fellowship and who hold a tenure-track/ permanent position, postdoctoral scholars and lecturers. For more information, please visit our website.
1 Awarded Visiting Fellowship in the Humanities and/or Social Sciences
Medhi Marot, Clermont-Auvergne University, Clermont-Ferrand
Visiting Department: Department of Psychology, Stanford University
Socioeconomic Inequalities Impact Support on Campus: A France-USA Comparison
In this project, I aim to investigate the relationship between growing economic inequality and social cohesion by studying the psychology and behavior of people from contrasted socioeconomic backgrounds. We believe that, on collaborative tasks for which performance is important for one’s self-definition, being outperformed by relevant peers is more harmful for self-worth and self-esteem among higher (vs. lower) socioeconomic status students. This research will help us to understand how to facilitate collaboration between students.
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
ROXANE DEBUISSON COLLECTION FELLOWSHIP
The France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the Stanford Libraries are pleased to announce the new joint Roxane Debuisson Collection Fellowship. The annual fellowship to be held during academic year will provide funding to a Stanford graduate student to improve access and knowledge about the Roxane Debuisson Collection on Paris History. For more information, please visit our website.
Chloe Edmondson, Department of French and Italian, Stanford University
Visiting Institution: Stanford Libraries, Stanford University
Roxane Debuisson Collection Fellowship
As the France-Stanford Center Fellow for the Roxane Debuisson Collection, I conducted archival work processing the newly acquired private collection on the history of Paris, from the mid-eighteenth century to the twentieth century. My work focused primarily on the photographs in the collection, processing the Roland Liot photographs, the photographs by the Union Photographique Française from the early twentieth century, and the Marville photographs from the nineteenth century. This work took place at Special Collections on the Stanford Redwood City campus, where I worked through numerous boxes of the archive to ensure that materials were organized according to the library’s system, in addition to respecting conservation processes. I also input and enriched the metadata, identifying unknown photographs’ locations and transcribing Roxane Debuisson’s handwritten notes, in order to prepare the collection to be accessible to researchers.
“Working with the collection has been a highlight in and of itself. To gain first access to this fascinating and vast collection, and to track the transformation of Paris in images, has been a privilege. In spring quarter, it was meaningful to begin working with Sarah Sussman on curating the upcoming exhibit for the Stanford Library, set for fall 2025. This process has allowed me to begin reflecting more deeply on what aspects of the collection ought to be showcased for the broader community. I look forward to continuing this work in the new academic year. It was also a delight to organize a visit for former Consul General of France in San Francisco, Frédéric Jung, to highlight some of the precious materials in the Roxane Debuisson Collection.” — Chloe Edmondson, Debuisson Fellow
Selecting materials for exhibit
“The fellowship has expanded my skillset for working with archival materials, and I have learned a great deal from the processing archivists in Special Collections. I also continue to learn a great deal from Sarah Sussman, Stanford Libraries’ Curator of French & Italian, and I am excited to continue working together on the upcoming exhibit. In addition, the collection has been a source of inspiration for future research projects that I look forward to pursuing.” — Chloe Edmondson, Debuisson Fellow
Processing Marville Binder.
FELLOWSHIPS & INTERNSHIPS
GUSTAVE GIMON FELLOWSHIP
The Gustave Gimon Fellowship is offered by the Stanford Libraries and co-sponsored by the France-Stanford Center. The Gimon Collection contains approximately 1,000 titles that concentrate broadly on the evolution of French economics and politics from the late sixteenth to the mid nineteenth century. For more information, please visit our website.
Elizabeth Heath, Baruch College, New York
Visiting Institution: Stanford Libraries, Stanford University
Invisible Empires: Colonial Commodities, Capitalism, and the Making of the Modern French Self: 1750-1970
Thanks to the generous funding of the Gustave Gimon Fellowship, I was able to spend three weeks in Stanford University Library’s special collections analyzing a wide range of documents related to the rise of Romantic Socialism in France in the early to mid-nineteenth century. My research focused on the evolution of conceptions of work and labor and, in particular, how socialist writers and politicians gradually defined what kind of labor qualified as both necessary and productive. The length of my stay made it possible to engage these sources in detail in order to track the evolution of these ideas as well as to consider how these conceptions of productive work eventually shaped claims to “the right to work,” a major issue for socialists and workers in the Revolution of 1848. Finally, I used my time with the Gimon collection to explore how socialist thinkers employed conceptions of slavery and servitude in order to draw attention to the plight of the metropolitan working class and petition for work reform in the 1830s and early 1840s.
“I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity that the fellowship has provided to move forward with my research. I would also like to acknowledge the work of the Stanford Library staff, and especially Sarah Sussman, who helped to make this a particularly productive and enjoyable research trip.” — Elizabeth Heath, Gimon Fellow
STUDENT PRIZES
The student prizes are named for three people whose lives and careers spanned France and the United States, bringing French and American culture and society into dynamic conversation with one another: the Josephine Baker Honors Thesis Prize, the Louise Bourgeois Essay Prize, and the James Baldwin Essay Prize. For more information, please visit our website.
Josephine Baker Honors
Thesis Prize
Becca De Los Santos, Department of French, Stanford University
“Poor Souls” and “Dangerous Vagabonds”: the Enslaved Pursuit of Liberation in Post-Abolition Senegal, 1848–1865.”
Chloe Van Steertegem, Department of Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University
“Camus and Balzac: The Self in the World.”
James Baldwin Essay Prize
Wallace Teska, Department of History, Stanford University
“French Medical Science and the Criminalization of Trials by Ordeal in Interwar Côte d’Ivoire.”
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Executive Committee Membership
Stanford Members
Arto Anttila, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Department of Linguistics, Stanford University
Mark Cappelli, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
Richard Thompson Ford, George E. Osborne Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, Stanford University
Marisa Galvez, Associate Professor of French, Department of French and Italian, Stanford University
Julien Sage, Elaine and John Chambers Professor of Pediatric Cancer and Professor of Genetics, Stanford University
French Members
Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy in the United States, New York
Mireille Guyader, Counselor for Science and Technology, Office for Science and Technology at the Embassy of France in the United States, Washington, DC
Christophe Laux, Professor, CentraleSupélec, Gif-sur-Yvette
Reynald Pain, Director, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules,
Stéphane Tirard, Professor, History of Science, University of Nantes, Nantes
Leadership
Jessica Riskin, Jean-Paul Gimon Director of the FranceStanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Professor of History
Christophe Laux, Associate Director
Isabelle Collignon, Program Manager
Louise Bourgeois Essay Prize
The center’s annual executive committee meeting took place in Paris on Monday, June 17, 2024.