PROF. ALEJANDRO A. FRANCO'S GROUP

Prof. Dr. Alejandro A. Franco

Université de Picardie Jules Verne

Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides (UMR CNRS 7314) - Amiens, France

Researcher unique identifier: orcid.org/0000-0001-7362-7849        

Date of birth: December 10, 1977

Nationalities: Italian and Argentinean

Web sites: Professor Franco's Group Webpage & ARTISTIC Initiative Webpage   

Professional address : Hub de l’Energie – 15 rue Baudelocque – 80039 Amiens, France

Professional phone : 0033 3 22 82 53 36

E-mails : alejandro.franco@u-picardie.fr  &   a.a.franco.electrochemistry@gmail.com

2001: 

MSc. in Physics (Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina).

2005: 

PhD (Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France; hosting laboratory: CEA Grenoble, France). 

Topic : Multiscale modeling of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.

2010:   

Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches / Habilitation to Direct Research (Université of Lyon 1, France).

2011: 

Qualification to become University Full Professor (Section 31).

2002:   

Visiting Scientist (CEA Grenoble, France).

2005-2013:   

Research Engineer (permanent position at CEA Grenoble/LITEN, France).

2013: 

Visiting scientist (Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides -LRCS-, UMR CNRS 7314, Université de Picardie Jules Verne -UPJV-, Amiens, France).

2013-2019:   

Full Professor (PR2, Section 33), UPJV/LRCS, Amiens, France.

2013-present: 

Research Scientist at Réseau sur le Stockage Electrochimique de l’Energie/ (CNRS FR 3459) and

ALISTORE European Research Institute (CNRS FR 3104).

2013-present: PI of the ARTISTIC research group (Multiscale Modeling, Data Science, AI, Digital Twins and VR/MR for Electrochemical Energy Devices) (Prof. Franco's research group). 

2014-2017: 

Chercheur Haut Niveau Grantee (Région Picardie).

2015-present:   

Leader of the Theory Open Platform at the ALISTORE European Research Institute -ERI- (CNRS FR 3104).

2015-present:   

Prime d’encadrement doctoral et de recherche (PEDR).

2016-2021:   

Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF).

2017-present:   

Member of the Direction Committee of the LRCS, Amiens, France.

2018-present:   

ERC Consolidator Grantee (European Research Council).

2019-present:   

Full Professor (PR1, Section 33), UPJV/LRCS, Amiens, France).

2019:   

Recipient of National Award for Pedagogy Innovation (PEPS 2019).

2019: 

While reporting the top institutions in Chemistry for 2018, the journal Nature mentioned Prof. Franco's name as one of the Rising Stars from France. See here. 

2020-present:   

Editorial Advisory Board Member of the journal Batteries & Supercaps (Chemistry Europe, Wiley).

2021-present: 

Chairman of the Expert Group “Digitalization, Measurement Methods and Quality” in the LiPLANET Battery Manufacturing European Network.

2021-present: 

Honorary Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF).

2021-present: 

CNRS Prématuration Program Grantee.

2022-present: 

ERC Proof of Concept Grantee (European Research Council).

2022-present: 

Editorial Board Member of the journal Scientific Reports (Nature).

2022-present:

Guest Editor of the journal Energy Storage Materials (Special issue about AI applied to Energy Materials).

2022-present:

Consulting expert of a major battery gigafactory company.

2023-present:

Grantee of the CNRS Innovation RISE program for the creation of startup.

2023-present:

Coordinator of the Erasmus+ International MSc. programme i-MESC (Interdisciplinarity in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion). 

2023-present: 

Elected responsible of the newly created LRCS research team "Advanced Characterization and Numerical Modeling" (involving a staff of  20 permanent CNRS researchers & UPJV professors). 

2024-present: 

Promoted to Exceptional Class Full Professor (National Level -CNU-).

2024: 

Recipient of the Battery Division M. Stanley Whittingham Mid-Career Award of the Electrochemical Society (ECS).   

2002:  

Fabrication/characterization of anionic polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

2003-2005:   

Multiscale modeling and characterization of polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

2005-2013:   

Multiscale modeling of fuel cells, water electrolyzers and batteries.

2013-present:   

Multiscale modeling and experimental characterization of lithium ion batteries and their manufacturing (e.g. ERC Projects ARTISTIC and SMARTISTIC, IUF project), lithium sulfur, lithium air and redox flow batteries, polymer electrolyte fuel cells, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning) applied to batteries, physical electrochemistry, virtual reality/mixed reality applied to energy technologies.

Overall scientific production (as for April, 2024):

• 160 publications (h = 48, Google Scholar) (e.g.  A.A. Franco et al., Chemical Reviews, 119 (7) (2019) 4569-4627, IF = 60.622).
• 12 invited book chapters, 3 invited edited books, 23 patents. 
• 140 invited plenary/keynotes/invited oral presentations in international conferences.
• 67 invited seminars in first class universities, institutes and companies all over the World (e.g.  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, University of Washington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, University of California San Diego, Helmholtz-Institut Ulm, Deakin University, Université de Montreal, Texas A & M University, Chalmers University of Technology, Bosch, Samsung, Northvolt).

2013-2016:  

Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics (PhD students), Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries (2nd year MSc. students -M2-), Nano-catalysis (M2), Applied mathematics (1st year MSc. students -M1-), General Thermodynamics (2nd year undergraduate students -L2-), History of Science (3rd year undergraduate students -L3-), invited lectures on Battery Modeling at IFP School (Rueil Malmaison, France) and Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste, Italy).

2016-present: 

Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics (PhD students), Fuel Cells and Advanced Batteries (including modeling) (M2), Multiscale Modeling of Materials (M2), invited lectures on Multiscale Modeling of Batteries at IFP School (M2), invited lectures in Science Popularization events (e.g.  Pint of Science festival, 

EU Science is Wonderful, presentation to President of France Mr. Emmanuel Macron, etc.).

2005-2013 (CEA/LITEN, Grenoble): 

• Responsible of Electrochem. Energy Devices Modeling Team (ca.  13 people).
• Supervisor of 11 MSc., 1 engineer, 6 PhD, 6 postdoctoral researchers.
• Coordinator/PI of several projects + Work Package Leader of several projects (EU, ANR, coll. with industry). Details available in Prof. Franco's full CV.
• Organizer/Co-organizer of several symposia about multiscale modeling of electrochemical energy devices (e.g.   International Society of Electrochemistry).

2013-present (UPJV/LRCS, Amiens):

• Supervisor of 32 MSc., 5 engineers, 32 PhD (19 already defended), 17 postdocs.
• Coordinator/PI of numerous research projects + Work Package Leader of numerous projects (w/USA, w/EU & Japan, EU, ANR, CNRS, Region, coll. with industry). Details available in Prof. Franco's full CV.
• Leader of the Big Data/Artificial Intelligence infrastructure at the French Network of Electrochemical Energy Storage (RS2E) (in link to the EU “BIG MAP” Project of the European Battery 2030+ initiative, involving 34 EU partners).
• Leader of the Theory Open Platform at the ALISTORE-ERI.
• Responsible of LRCS Research Topic "Modeling: from materials to systems".
• Coordinator of the UPJV Pedagogy Innovation Projects VISION, SMART GRID, MANUFACTURING TWIN and SIMUBAT 4.0 (use of Virtual and Mixed Reality for chemistry and battery education).
• Responsible of the Teaching Unit “Energy Conversion” in the Erasmus Master MESC+, member of the MESC+ students selection committee. 
• Member of the Comité de Direction of the LRCS.
• Member of the Scientific Council of IFP Energies Nouvelles, and past member of  University Professor Selection Committees at Université de Picardie Jules Verne (France), Technical University of Denmark, Norwegian University of Life Sciences and University of Bayreuth (Germany). 
• Organizer/Co-organizer of ca. 20 conferences and symposia about electrochemical energy devices (e.g. International Society of Electrochemistry, Electrochemical Society). Recent examples include the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th “Battery Manufacturing Days - ARTISTIC Project webinar series” and “1st Batteries & Supercaps Journal (Wiley – Chemistry Europe) Virtual Symposium on Machine Learning Applied to Batteries”.
• Member of face-to-face ANR scientific evaluation committees (Energy, Artificial Intelligence topics) & frequent evaluator of ERC/EU proposals.
• Referee/evaluator/president of/in external 37 PhD and Habilitation à Diriger de Recherches (HDR) thesis/defences. 
• Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Batteries & Supercaps (Chemistry Europe, Wiley-VCH).
• Editorial Board Member of the journal Scientific Reports (Nature).
• Chairman of the Expert Group “Digitalization, Measurement Methods and Quality” in the European LiPLANET Battery Manufacturing Network.
• Guest Editor of the journal Energy Storage Materials (special issue about AI applied to energy materials). 
• Consulting expert of an important battery gigafactory company. 
• Coordinator of the Erasmus+ MSc. programme i-MESC (Interdisciplinarity in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion).
• Elected Responsible of the newly created LRCS team "Advanced Charaterization and Numerical Modeling" (involving a staff of 20 permanent CNRS researchers & UPJV professors).