Research interests

    I obtained my Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Paris IX, France in December 1999 with highest level of distinction. The domain of my expertise is Numerical Analysis and in particular I have been working on the development, analysis and implementation of efficient numerical methods for wave propagation problems. My main contributions are in the following areas: fictitious domain methods, higher-order finite elements with mass-lumping and techniques for treating unbounded media (absorbing boundary conditions and perfectly matched layers). On this subject, I have 14 publications in peer-reviewed international journals which total 539 citations (excluding self-citations; source: ISI Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar), 3 chapters in collective volumes and more than 20 presentations in international conferences.

    In parallel to my research on forward wave propagation problems, I have also been working on inverse problems and more precisely on time reversal and imaging. Imaging with waves in complex media is the main area of my current activities. My research in this area was initiated during my post-doctoral position at Stanford University (2000-2001). My main collaborators are L. Borcea (University of Michigan) and G. Papanicolaou (Stanford University). Together we have developed statistically stable methodologies for imaging in cluttered media. The word clutter here describes inhomogeneities in the wave speed of the propagation medium that are unknown and we model with random processes. More precisely, we are interested in imaging in a regime where multipathing due to the inhomogeneities is significant. Imaging in such regimes is quite challenging and requires very different methods from the usual ones. Since 2010 a close collaboration with J. Garnier (University Paris Diderot) has been also established. My most recent activities concern the development and analysis of correlation based imaging and velocity estimation techniques that rely on ambient noise recordings associated to natural or anthropogenic activities in our environment. The key idea exploited is that information about the Green’s function in the medium can be obtained from cross-correlations of noisy signals. To resume, my work on imaging is very well known in the Inverse Problems community. In this area, I have 27 publications in peer-reviewed international journals which total 533 citations (excluding self-citations; sources: ISI Web of Knowledge and Google Scolar), 1 chapter in collective volumes and more than 25 invited presentations in international conferences.

 

Research grants

  • European Research Council Stanting Grant, GA 239959 (PI)
  • European grand under the FP7 regional potential program, GA 245749 (CO-PI)
  • Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant MIRG-CT-2007-203438. (PI)