I was born in Lyon near the French Alps and spent most of my childhood there and in the greater Paris region. As a kid, I was always interested in sport and sciences and spent most of my time outdoors playing tennis, rollerblading, hiking, and camping. A few years later, I passed my high-school diploma with a specialization in physics.

At that time, aeronautics and space were mostly unknown to me and I started my studies in medicine and biology. After discussing with passionate engineers, I knew I found my vocation and switched to a five year aerospace master program at the Elisa Aerospace school of engineering.

Having made my internships and summer placements abroad (USA, Taiwan, and Germany), I wanted to start working in another country. So, after graduating in 2013, I accepted an offer to work for Tecplot’s European distributor, Genias Graphics, in Germany. The great team and high quality of life in Germany got me hooked!

• Location: Regensburg, Germany
• Current position: Customer Development Manager
• Current computer: Dell precision 7510 (WIN10, Intel i7 6^th gen, 16Gb RAM, NVIDIA Quattro M2000M)
• One word that best describes how you work: Happily

What software or tools do you use every day?

I’m using Pointwise, Fieldview, and Tecplot on a daily basis, assisting engineers and researchers in their pre- and post-processing tasks. I typically develop small Fieldview and Tecplot macros in Notepad++, Python/Glyph automation and UI in Visual Studio Code, and more comprehensive projects such as add-ons in Visual Studio. MS Office is my standard suite of tools for day-to-day business. Regarding online meeting tools, our users’ preferences have me using GoToMeeting, Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx and others.

What does your workspace look like?

The Pointwise team moved to our four-person open space. I like it because it is large, crammed with plants, and is bright thanks to a lot of windows.

What do you see are the biggest challenges facing CFD in the next 5 years?

Having helped people post-process their valuable data for the past six years, I am convinced that CFD can be beneficial in a plethora of applications. Running CFD simulations however requires knowledge and experience. Presenting reliable results in an automated way to non-CFD experts is the to-be-solved challenge that would benefit the product development process across many industry segments! The latest version of Pointwise (v18.4) is doing a great job working toward that goal with a lot of automation resulting in high-quality grids.

What are you currently working on?

I am about to start writing an interface between Pointwise and a code developed by the ONERA in France. Being a novice with Pointwise SDK, I anticipate a few mistakes but feel confident thanks to the great level of support provided by the Pointwise developers.

What would you say is your meshing specialty?

I love structured meshes and the associated puzzle for defining the topologies. It is basically like building stuff out of Lego bricks, but for adults.

Any tips for our users?

Look into the manual and Google around. If you don’t find your answer, simply call in. Who can assist you better than a multi-year experienced team fully dedicated to Pointwise support?

What project are you most proud of and why?

In 2014, we decided with two friends to visit Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. While we all already had lived abroad and extensively traveled, none of us had high-altitude mountaineering or expedition-planning experience. It turned out to be as hard as we’d expected and we all got altitude sickness, though the great memory we brought back was worth the effort.

What CFD solver and postprocessor do you use most often?

I do not run numerical simulations myself. I am using Tecplot and Fieldview extensively to support our users in Europe and western Asia.

Are you reading any interesting technical papers we should know about?

I am not reading many technical papers at the moment, but rather am absorbed in James Maxwell’s Evermen Saga. I you like fantasy, I highly recommend these four books. The universe is great, the plot full of suspense, and the lore quite original.

Do you plan on attending any conferences or workshops next year?

I typically attend the AIAA’s SciTech conference at the beginning of January. Next year I‘ll make travel plans on short notice due to the ever changing Coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

What do you do outside the world of CFD?

I spend whatever free time I have outdoors and commuting 25km by bike every day, going climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and kayaking.

What is some of the best CFD advice you’ve ever received?

Unless you know what you are doing, do not try to get it perfect from scratch and instead simplify as much as possible and iterate:

1. Solve
2. Validate/question the results
3. Implement a finer model, mesh…
4. Iterate back to step 1)

If you had to pick a place to have dinner, where would you go?

The Orphée restaurant in Regensburg has great quality food for a fair price. I always go there whenever I miss tastes from my homeland.