resume

A relatively factual description of me, which can also be found in a PDF/Latex format.

Research

2022 - Present: Chargé de Recherche at CNRS, Institut de Physique de Rennes, Univ. Rennes, CNRS (France).
Multiscale modelling and simulation of amorphous and biological materials properties.
2021 - 2022: Post-doctorate Research Fellow at Fondation ARC for Cancer Research, Institut de Physique de Rennes, Univ. Rennes, CNRS (France).
Multiscale modelling and simulation of bone tissue self-assembly and emergence of mechanical properties.
2017 - 2021: Post-doctorate Research Assistant at the Centre for Computational Science, Department of Chemistry, University College London (UK).
Multiscale modelling of graphene-based polymer nanocomposites mechanical properties and fracture behaviour.
2015 - 2016: Post-doctorate Research Assistant at the Groupe Interdisciplinaire en Biomécanique Ostéoarticulaire et Cardiovasculaire, Institut des Sciences du Mouvement, Aix-Marseille Université (France).
Modelling single cell mechanics of mesenchymal stem cells during adhesion and migration.
2015: Post-doctorate Research Assistant at the Laboratoire de Mécanique et Technologie, Département de Génie Civil, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (France).
Hierarchical multiscale modelling of masonry fracture and cyclic behaviour.
2012 - 2015: PhD student at the Laboratoire de Mécanique et Technologie, Département de Génie Civil, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (France).
Hierarchical multiscale modelling of quasi-brittle materials fracture and cyclic behaviour.

Education

2017 - 2018: Post-graduate, University College London (UK).
Statistical Analysis of Data and Machine Learning with Big Data
2012 - 2015: Thèse, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (France).
Génie Civil
2009 - 2011: Master, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan and Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France).
Matériaux et Structures
2006 - 2009: Licence, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France).
Mécanique et Technologie

Supervision

2020-2023: W. M. Roa, PhD student, University College London (UK).
High-performance multiscale simulation of the influence of processing on the material properties of graphene and graphene-oxide nanocomposites.
2022: K. Bronik, Post-doctoral Research Associate, University College London (UK).
Developing reduced-order models of molecular dynamics simulations using online machine learning approaches.
2020: K. Gopalakrishnan, Post-doctoral Research Associate, University College London (UK).
Investigating the mechanical properties of graphene-polymer films used as pressure sensors using chemically specific hybrid multiscale simulations.
2017: M. Gnahan, Master student (2nd year), Aix-Marseille Université (France).
Simulation of stem cell adhesion on three-dimensional fibrous substrates using LMGC90.
2016: F. Demeusy, Engineering student (2st year), École Centrale de Marseille (France).
Bead-spring modelling of three-dimensional elastic fibrous structures made of electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone).
2014: T. Heitz, Master student (2st year), École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (France).
Finite element continuum modelling of reinforced concrete structural elements up to failure with degradation of the steel-concrete interface.

Teaching

2017: Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University College London (UK).
Mathematics for natural sciences for first year bachelor students.
2013 - 2015: Teaching Assistant, École Polytechnique Féminine de Sceaux (France).
Solids mechanics, kinematics, continuum mechanics for first year engineer students.
2013 - 2014: Teaching Assistant at the Département de Génie Civil, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (France).
Computational modelling methods for first year master students, and continuum mechanics for third year licence and first year master students.
2012: Teaching Assistant, École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée (France).
Continuum mechanics for first year apprenticeship engineer students.
2012: Teaching Assistant at the Licence de Mécanique et Technologie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI (France).
Solids mechanics for second year licence students.

Scientific publications

In silico analysis shows that dynamic changes in curvature guide cell migration over long distances.: Manifacier, I., Carlin, G., Liu, D., Vassaux, M., Pieuchot, L., Luchnikov, V., Anselme, K., Milan, J.L.
Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, in press, 2023
Large‐Scale Molecular Dynamics Elucidates the Mechanics of Reinforcement in Graphene‐Based Composites.: Suter, J.L., Vassaux, M., Coveney, P.V.
Advanced Materials, Volume 35 (35), 2302237, 2023
Mechanically Stable Ultrathin Layered Graphene Nanocomposites Alleviate Residual Interfacial Stresses: Implications for Nanoelectromechanical Systems.: Vassaux, M., Suter, J.L., Vijayaraghavan, A., Coveney, P.V.
ACS Applied Nano Materials, Volume 5 (12), 17969-17976, 2022
Hybrid parallelization of molecular dynamics simulations to reduce load imbalance.: Morillo, J., Vassaux, M., Coveney, P.V., Garcia-Gasulla, M.
The Journal of Supercomputing, Volume 78, 9184-9215, 2022
Ensembles are required to handle aleatoric and parametric uncertainty in molecular dynamics simulation.: Vassaux, M., Wan, S., Edeling, W., Coveney, P.V.
Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, Volume 17 (8), 5187-5197, 2021
VECMAtk: a scalable verification, validation and uncertainty quantification toolkit for scientific simulations.: Groen, D., Arabnejad, H., Jancauskas, V., Edeling, W.N., Jansson, F., Richardson, R.A., Lakhlili, J., Veen, L., Bosak, B., Kopta, P., Wright, D.W., Monnier, N., Karlshoefer, P., Suleimenova, D., Sinclair, R.C., Vassaux, M., Nikishova, A., Bieniek, M., Luk, O.O., Kulczewski, M., Raffin, E., Crommelin, D., Hoenen, O., Coster, D.P., Piontek, T., Coveney, P.V.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, Volume 379 (2197), 20200221, 2021
Accelerating Heterogeneous Multiscale Simulations of Advanced Materials Properties with Graph‐Based Clustering.: Vassaux, M., Gopalakrishnan, K., Sinclair, R.C., Richardson, R.A., Suter, J.L., Coveney, P.V.
Advanced Theory and Simulations, Volume 4 (2), 2000234, 2021
Actomyosin, vimentin and LINC complex pull on osteosarcoma nuclei to deform on micropillar topography.: Wakhloo, N.T., Anders, S., Badique, F., Eichhorn, M., Brigaud, I., Petithory, T., Vassaux, M., Milan, J.L., Freund, J.N., Rühe, J., Davidson, P.M., Pieuchot, L., Anselme, K.
Biomaterials, Volume 234, 119746, 2020
Toward High Fidelity Materials Property Prediction from Multiscale Modeling and Simulation.: Vassaux, M., Sinclair, R.C., Richardson, R.A., Suter, J.L., Coveney, P.V.
Advanced Theory and Simulations, Volume 3 (1), 1900122, 2020
A biophysical model for curvature-guided cell migration.: Vassaux, M., Pieuchot, L., Anselme, K., Bigerelle, M., Milan, J.-L.
Biophysical Journal, Volume 117, Issue 6, Pages 1136-1144, Septembre 2019
The Role of Graphene in Enhancing the Material Properties of Thermosetting Polymers.: Vassaux, M., Sinclair, R.C., Richardson, R.A., Suter, J.L., Coveney, P.V.
Advanced Theory and Simulations, Volume 2 (5), 1800168, 2019
The heterogeneous multiscale method applied to inelastic polymer mechanics.: Vassaux, M., Richardson, R.A., Coveney, P.V.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, Volume 377 (2142), 20180150, 2018
Curvotaxis directs cell migration through cell-scale curvature landscapes.: Pieuchot, L., Marteau, J., Guignandon, A., Dos Santos, T., Brigaud, I., Chauvy, P.F., Cloatre, T., Ponche, A., Petithory, T., Rougerie, P., Vassaux, M., Milan, J.-L., Wakhloo, N. T., Spangenberg, A., Bigerelle, M., Anselme, K.
Nature Communications, Volume 9, Article 3995, 2018
Numerical modelling of adherent Mesenchymal Stem Cells mechanical behaviour and substrate’s curvature analysis.: Vassaux, M., Milan, J.-L.
Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, Volume 16, Issue 4, pages 1295-1308, August 2017
Beam-Particle approach to model cracking and energy dissipation in concrete: Identification strategy and Validation.: Vassaux, M., Oliver-Leblond, C., Richard, B. and Ragueneau, F.
Cement and Concrete nanocomposites, Volume 70, pages 1-14, July 2016
Regularised crack behaviour effects on continuum modelling of quasi-brittle materials under cyclic loading.: Vassaux, M., Richard, B., Ragueneau, F. and Millard, A.
Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Volume 149, pages 18-36, Novembre 2015
Lattice models applied to cyclic behavior description of quasi-brittle materials: Advantages of implicit integration.: Vassaux, M., Richard, B., Ragueneau, F., Millard, A. and Delaplace, A.
International Journal in Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Volume 39, Issue 7, pages 775-798, May 2015

Invited conferences

Heterogeneous Multiscale Modelling for Polymer Nanocomposites. [Slides]: Vassaux, M., Richardson, R., Sinclair, R., Suter, J., and Coveney, P.V.
Multiscale Computing, from the Desktop to the Exascale, Leiden, April 2018
Cell biomechanics and multiscale modelling. [Slides]: Vassaux, M.
Institut de Génétique et Développement de Rennes, Rennes, May 2018

Computational skills

Scientific programming: C/C++, FORTRAN95, Python, MPI
I develop code for applications in Finite Element (Cast3M/F95, Deal.II/C++), Discrete Element simulations (LMGC90/F95, Python). I also implemented a software coupling library (DeaLAMMPS/C++, MPI) for highly parallel computations.
Communication: Latex, Markdown, Illustrator, Photoshop
Web development: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Jekyll, Markdown
Software management: Git, CMake
Data analysis: Python (pandas, numpy, scipy, matplotlib, seaborn, scikit-learn, tensorflow)
I have a long experience in using the wide range of Python libraries to perform analysis (pandas, numpy, scipy) and visualisation (matplotlib, seaborn) of large amounts of simulation results. Also, switching from a physics-based to a data-based modelling approach, I have also an experience with Python statistical inference tools (scikit-learn), and more briefly with computational graphs (TensorFlow) to handle computations at larger scales.