PROF. ALEJANDRO A. FRANCO'S GROUP

This is a 24-hours course, taking place once a year, fully designed by Prof. Franco, which focuses on the recent research progresses and technological development of modern fuel cells and next generation rechargeable batteries. On a multidisciplinary basis, enriched with epistemological thoughts, serious games and scientific curiosities aiming to stimulate the students’ creativity, this course provides a complete and comprehensive critical review on topics related to fuel cell and battery materials, electro-catalysis, transport phenomena and degradation. Furthermore, the program provides the students with novel and practical methodologies for the multiscale modeling,  numerical simulation and AI (machine learning) applied to fuel cells and batteries, jointly with demonstrations and exercises carried out with Prof. Franco's team computational software, in an environment of strong interactivity. At the end of this lecture-series, the students are being asked to propose, in the format of short oral presentations, the schematics of improved designs or operation conditions of electrochemical energy devices vs. given technical constraints in a “challenge exercise” which is being presented in the inaugural lecture of Prof. Franco (“Students’ Challenge”). Since 2016 Prof. Franco implements in his course practical exercises based on cutting-edge Virtual/Mixed Reality-software technology with the aim of reviewing some of the taught concepts in an interactive and immersive environment.

Link to some of the recorded Prof. Franco's  lectures will be available through a dedicated YouTube channel. The videos below show some Prof. Franco's Virtual Reality activities in practice. 

Most of the systems found in the Universe are not in thermodynamic equilibrium, thus they are changing or can be triggered to change over time, and are continuously and discontinuously subject to flux of matter and energy to and from other systems. Systems not in thermodynamic equilibrium offer a large diversity of intriguing behaviors, such as choatic dynamics, self-organization processes arising from "disordered" systems, and the autocatalytic reactions in biological systems. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a modern scientific theory which aims to describe systems that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium. This theory already offers a very powerful tool for the understanding of the dynamic physicochemical mechanisms and processes in a large diversity of application domains in Chemistry, Physics and Biology.

This multidisciplinary UPJV Doctoral School module created and given by Prof. A.A. Franco, introduces the fascinating Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics Theory and aims to teach the PhD students on how to use it in their day-by-day scientific work to describe, analyze, understand and predict physicochemical mechanisms and processes. Within a highly interactive and comprehensive approach, the lectures aim stimulating the students to think "out of the box" and to develop their creativity within a transversal view of sciences.

Prof. A.A. Franco's lectures are enriched with epistemological concepts and practical application exercises, including numerical simulations on cases of interest for the students' PhD thesis.

Beyond the Masters mentioned above, Prof. Franco has delivered/been involved in several lecture-series in other Masters in the 2013-2020 period. Some of them are listed below and others are listed in the detalied Prof. Franco's CV.

• Multiscale Modeling of Energy Materials (Applied Mathematics Master, 2nd year MSc. students, 10 hours/year): 2016-2020. In this lecture-series, fully designed by himself, Prof. Franco have taught about multiscale modeling techniques for the computational simulation of electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices, including batteries and fuel cells. Different simulation techniques explained included Coarse Grained Molecular Dynamics and Finite Element Method. 
• Mathematics for Chemists and Biologists  (Master on Transformation and Valorisation of Natural Ressources, 1st year MSc. students, 10 hours/year): 2013-2014. This was an introductory course  combining both theoretical and practical aspects of mathematics, with strong application to both Chemistry and Biology. Concepts revisited include vectorial calculus, differential calculus, differential equations, matricial calculus and Fourier/Laplace transforms. Exercises were solved in strong interaction with the students, on a large diversity of relevant applications, including exciting examples on the analysis of Fourier spectra of chemical clocks, the description of the dynamics of predator-pray systems (Lokta-Volterra-like systems) and diffusion-reaction equations describing, for example, why zebras have stripes.
• Nanocatalysis (Master on Transformation and Valorisation of Natural Ressources, 2nd year MSc. students,  4 hours/year): 2013-2016. This course introduced the fundamentals of the use of "nano-objects" in catalysis and electro-catalysis. The fascinating chemical and physical properties of such nano-objects were explained in relation to some of their important application domains, including energy generation, environmental chemistry and biology. Experimental and modeling methods to characterize their activity, selectivity and stability towards a large number of catalytic reactions of interest were explained in detail. This course concluded by highlighting challenges and opportunities on the use of these nano-objects for catalysis and electro-catalysis in both academics and industry.
• Electrochemical Devices for Energy Conversion and Storage (Master on Transformation and Valorisation of Natural Ressources, 2nd year MSc. students, 10h): 2014. This course introduced the operation principles and application areas of batteries and fuel cells. The main scientific and technological challenges in relation to their performance, cost, durability and safety were in particular discussed. For batteries, special focus is on lithium ion, sulfur, air batteries. For fuel cells, special focus was on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. At the final lecture, a puzzle game called "Find your component" was proposed to the students  bringing them to solve a real technological problem with these technologies. 
• Epistemology (Master on Teaching, Education and Training Careers, 2nd year Master students, 10 hours): 2013. This was a course on Epistemology in relation to the Chemistry and Physico-Chemical Sciences. An historical perspective of the evolution of the scientific ideas and approaches in these disciplines was provided. The role that Chemistry historically played in the Human imaginary in search of the understanding of the Cosmos is also studied. The course also analyzed the sociological impact of Chemistry and revisited pedagogical aspects within different educational paradigms. 

Prof. Franco has delivered several lecture-series at the undergraduate level in the 2013-2016 period. Some of them are listed below and others are listed in the detalied Prof. Franco's CV.

•  History of Science (University 2nd Year Students, UPJV, 20 hours/year): 2014-2016. This was a course fully-designed by Prof. Franco on the History of Science and of the Scientific Method. The lectures cover several aspects, from the steam machine to the artificial intelligence, from the fire discovery to the LHC at CERN, the theories of the origin of life, the evolution of our view of the Universe all along the centuries...Quantum Mechanics, Particles Physics, Relativity, Big Bang, Gödel Theorem, Thermodynamics, Chaos, Fractals...are some of the keywords representative of what is explained in this lectures-series. The course was enriched by epistemological concepts aiming to develop the students' creativity. Onsite and online games were also proposed all along the lectures aiming to develop a strong interaction with the students. At the final lecture, the students were requested to make a short oral presentation and provide a short report on a scientific topic of their choice, but under some "formal constraints" explained in hte inaugural lecture.
• Oral and written expression (University 1st year students, 24 hours/year): 2013-2014. Many students entering in the University suffer timidity and thus have difficulties to communicate in front of an audience. This interactive course provided hints to succeed in oral presentations, to manage the stress and to prepare scientific reports. The students were in particular asked to prepare a research project on a topic of their choice, in the form of a report, a poster and an oral presentation. Technical tips for the preparation of good reports and presentation materials through the use of specific software (e.g. Word and PowerPoint) were also provided.
• Practices on Equilibrium Chemistry (University 1st year students, 40 hours): 2014. This was a practice on Equilibrium Chemistry, Thermodynamics and Electrochemistry related concepts covered through comprehensive exercises.