Pierre and Marie Curie University

Pierre and Marie Curie University
Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Established 1 January 1971
Type Public
President Maurice Renard
Admin. staff 10 640
Students 31 000
Location Paris, France
Campus Paris
Ivry
Orsay
Saint-Cyr-l'École
Roscoff
Banyuls-sur-Mer
Villefranche-sur-Mer
Nickname Paris 6 University
Affiliations Sorbonne universités, LERU,
EUA
Website www.upmc.fr

The Paris VI University (French: Université Paris VI), or the Pierre and Marie Curie University (French: Université Pierre et Marie Curie, UPMC), is a university located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France.

It was established in 1971 following the division of the University of Paris, and is a principal heir to its Faculty of Sciences.

UPMC is the largest scientific and medical complex in France, active in many fields of research with scope and achievements at the highest level, as demonstrated by the many awards regularly won by UPMC researchers, and the many international partnerships it maintains across all five continents.[1] Several university rankings have put UPMC at the 1st place in France, and it has been ranked as one of the top universities in the world.

It has over 125 laboratories, most of them associated with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). Some of its most notable institutes and laboratories include the Institut Henri Poincaré, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Laboratoire d'informatique de Paris 6 (LIP6), Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu/Chevaleret (shared with University Paris Diderot) and the Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel (shared with Ecole Normale Supérieure).

The university's Faculty of Medicine includes the Pitié-Salpêtrière and Saint-Antoine hospitals (the latter itself being the successor to Saint-Antoine-des-Champs Abbey).

Contents

History

The campus was built in the 1950s and 60s, on a site previously occupied by wine storehouses. The Dean, Marc Zamanski, saw the Jussieu campus standing as a tangible symbol of scientific thought in the heart of Paris, with the Faculty of Science, set in the Latin Quarter, as part of an intellectual and spiritual continuum linked to the university history of Paris. In 1968, the Paris Faculty of Science was divided into a number of different universities. The University of Paris 6 became the scientific center and was set up in 1971; it shares the Jussieu campus with the University of Paris 7 and the Paris Geophysical Institute (Institut de Physique du Globe). In 1974, the University of Paris 6 chose a prestigious champion when it adopted the name "Université Pierre et Marie Curie", after Pierre and Marie Curie, and ever since has endeavored to perpetuate the scientific legacy of these forebears. UPMC is now the largest scientific and medical complex in France, active in all fields of research with scope and achievements at the highest level.[2]

In 2008 the university joined the association Paris Universitas changing its logo accordingly[3] and adding the name of the association after its own. Two years later the association dissolved and reformed as PRES (pôle de recherche et d'enseignement supérieur) Sorbonne Universités, reuniting the Pantheon-Assas Paris II University, the Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) and the Pierre and Marie Curie University; for this occasion the logo were changed again.[4]

Research sectors

Research at UPMC covers fields in all the major areas of international research, including life sciences, health, genomics & post-genomics, sciences of the universe and the environment, optics, laser technology, information processing, communications, and modeling.

Research falls into four broad interdisciplinary sectors.[5] These sectors cover a full range, from pure and basic research to applied science. Many research laboratories are involved in more than one sector. The development of research projects can be seen as the foundation stone for innovation and as the medium-term response to the challenges of a modern society.

Modeling and engineering

UPMC has achieved levels of excellence in most fields in the modeling & engineering sector. UPMC is a leading university in the world in mathematics: pure mathematics, digital computation, probability, statistics, and combinatorics. Information Technology is focused on areas of excellence: architecture, networks, systems, artificial intelligence, programming and scientific computation. In the field of electronics, work is concentrated on the articulation of architecture, electronics, artificial intelligence and signal processing.

In mechanics strong links have been built up with applied mathematics and macroscopic physics, working on future developments: fluid dynamics, instability, turbulence, energy transfers, complex systems and coupled phenomena.

In this sector, UPMC encourages initiatives in scientific and medical imaging, artificial intelligence and robotics. Such genuinely multidisciplinary initiatives involve the concerted efforts of mathematicians and experts in electronics, information technology and mechanical science, who have the facilities for working with medical teams wishing to collaborate on projects on medical imaging, micro-surgery, assistance for disabilities and artificial organs. Research cooperation agreements have been set up with leading industrial groups and these cooperation programs will now be institutionalized through the new department for industrial and business activities SAIC - Service d’Activités Industrielles et Commerciales.

Matter and new materials

Research in physics at UPMC covers virtually every field in the discipline. Subject areas which are often cross-disciplinary, involving a number of research laboratories, have been organized around four lines where the university has developed extensive expertise and is now at the leading edge of research:

The chemistry laboratories have based their lines of research on the principle of interdependence between synthesis, analysis, studies of structures and properties of new chemical compounds:

Projects involving a number of disciplines are mainly joint studies of new materials. Applications concern fields as diverse as concretes, catalysis and new materials for rapid information technology, for analytical sciences and environmental tests, as well as new forms of energy storage and conversion.

Living Earth and environment

Environmental studies, ranging from global to local, are at the borderlines or intersections of physics, chemistry, earth sciences and biology, and have expanded greatly. Two key lines have been developed:

Life and health

Modern biology requires an integrated approach encompassing genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology, cell biology, the biology of development and physiology. UPMC has focused on two strategic areas as priorities:

1) further development of Group Research Institutes [IFR - Instituts Fédératifs de Recherche] --

The IFR at Saint-Antoine Teaching Hospital specializes in the physiopathology of cancers, inflammatory processes, and the hormonal mechanisms involved.

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Teaching Hospital contains two IFRs, one concentrating on neuroscience and the other on the heart, muscle and vessels. A third area of research covers the subjects of immunity and infection.

The IFR on Cell Communication & Regulation on the “Cordeliers” campus specializes in the field of cell biology, nutrition and immunology.

On the Jussieu campus, the IFR for integrated biology focuses on the integrated study of cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in development, reproduction, and the major physiological functions of animal and plant organisms, and their evolution.

2) network development of the interface between physics, chemistry, biology and medicine—by establishing a network of laboratories around an interdisciplinary technological platform development of a group program on post-genomics and proteomics, and specifically focused on the phenotyping and imaging of small animals.

UPMC doctoral schools

The UPMC Doctoral Schools (Les écoles doctorales de l'UPMC) are built around their own research teams, which are mostly associated with the CNRS, INSERM, INRA, INRIA, or IRD, as well as with research teams from other universities and partner organisations in the Île-de-France area. Each school organises doctoral studies in its own particular field and these are grouped around the four main research themes of the university. Links below are to UPMC branches, or to school head offices elsewhere:

Pole of Modeling and Engineering

Pole of Matter and New Materials

Living Earth & Environment

Pole of Life and Health

Research Institutes

Research laboratories and units

(Selected, just to indicate the variety—for complete lists see, Les écoles doctorales de l'UPMC

Pole of Modeling and Engineering

Pole of Matter and New Materials

Pole of Living Hearth and Environment

Pole of Life and Health

Notable people

Some known academicians affiliated to UPMC (in the past or present) include:

Campus locations

(See: University Campus Locations)

Paris

Rest of Île-de-France

Other regions

University rankings

The university is ranked 36th in the world, 6th in Europe and 1st in France by the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities.[6] It was ranked 1st in the world in the field of mathematics by the same study. However the 2011 QS World University Rankings[7] ranked the university 119th overall in the world and 3rd in France. In the QS subject rankings it came 31st for natural sciences. In 2010, according to University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP),[8] Pierre and Marie Curie University is the best university in France and 38th university in the world. The UPMC is a member of Sorbonne Universités.

Statistics

A collection of statistical information, as collected on the university website:[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ University Website
  2. ^ Brief overview of the university's history
  3. ^ http://www.upmc.fr/fr/salle_de_presse/communiques/archives/l_universite_paris_6_devient_l_upmc_paris_universitas.html
  4. ^ http://www.upmc.fr/fr/salle_de_presse/communiques/nouveau_logo.html
  5. ^ Les écoles doctorales de l'UPMC
  6. ^ Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2009
  7. ^ http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011?page=2
  8. ^ "URAP - University Ranking by Academic Performance". http://www.urapcenter.org/2010. 
  9. ^ UPMC - A few Statistics

External links

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