Excellence with passion
Laurent Michel becomes head of the Ingénieur Programme at ISAE-SUPAERO
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From the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, Laurent Michel will be responsible for the smooth running of the Ingénieur Programme.
He will also be involved in developing the curriculum in line with the skills-based approach.
A professor of structural mechanics and materials, he has been head of the Department of Structural Mechanics and Materials (DMSM) at ISAE-SUPAERO for the past 5 years.
Short Biography
Laurent Michel graduated from INSA in 1987 with a degree in physical engineering, specialising in materials for electronics. He then went on to do a PhD on the study of the anelastic behaviour of polymer matrix composite materials by thermo-stimulated creep, funded by DGA-DRET, in the solid state physics laboratory at Paul Sabatier University.
In 1993, he joined ENSICA’s Mechanical Engineering department to teach mechanics and launch the school’s first research activities in the field of organic matrix composites.
A professor of structural mechanics and materials, in 2019 he became head of the Department of Structural Mechanics and Materials (DMSM) at ISAE-SUPAERO. Since 1 July, he has been head of the Ingénieur Programme at ISAE-SUPAERO.
You have been Head of the Ingénieur Programme at ISAE-SUPAERO since 1 July. What will your duties involve?
The main tasks of this new post concern the day-to-day running of the Ingénieur Programme. But the essential and immediate challenge is to overhaul this curriculum, incorporating a skills-based approach. New technologies (quantum, AI, cybersecurity, etc.), the energy transition and environmental and social issues will also have to find their place in this new curriculum, without losing its DNA.
How does this new position fit in with your professional career?
I have been a professor of structural mechanics and materials since 1993, first at ENSICA, then at ISAE-SUPAERO. I have also developed research activities, mainly around the damage tolerance of composite materials and their mechanical behaviour in fatigue or under the effect of the environment.
In terms of training, I have been responsible for a number of tasks in the Ingénieur Programme, including setting up a specific 2nd year course in structural design (120 hours) when the ENSICA curriculum was overhauled, recruiting student engineers on the basis of competitive examinations and admissions on the basis of qualifications, and setting up the ’Validation des Acquis de l’Expérience’ (VAE).
Finally, since the merger of the SUPAERO and ENSICA engineering programmes in 2015, I have taken on the role of training coordinator for the Structures and Materials Mechanics Department (DMSM), and then I have been responsible for the common scientific core module on the mechanics of deformable solids in the General Engineering programme, as well as co-responsibility for the 3rd year ‘Structures and Materials’ course.
How are you approaching your new role?
This will be an opportunity for me to get closer to all our students and explore their expectations of the Institute. I’ll be passing on a bit more, and in a different way. Finally, I attach great importance to the feeling of ownership, particularly among the teaching staff: I think it’s important that the teachers and students are in tune with each other and that they enjoy what they do.
