Distinctions for two leading young chemists
These two young woman have started in Chemistry Department of Ecole normale Paris-Saclay.
Nathalie Carrasco
Nathalie Carrasco was awarded the medal of Chevalier in the French National Order of Merit on 12 October at the Versailles St Quentin Observatory. This distinction follows on from the 2016 Prix Irène Joliot Curie she received in the young woman scientist category at the Collège de France for the “quality of her scientific research on atmospheric reactivity conducive to the emergence of life”.
In attendance at the Order of Merit ceremony were Alain Bui, president of Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Sylvie Retailleau, president of Université Paris-Sud, Gilles Bloch, president of Université Paris-Saclay, and Pierre-Paul Zalio, president of ENS Paris-Saclay, who presented her with the medal.
Nathalie Carrasco joined the School's Chemistry Department in 1998, where she completed a Master of Chemical Physics—an advanced multidisciplinary programme with intensive training in the main fields of chemistry, in partnership with Université Paris-Sud.
In third year, she studied for and passed the competitive examination for the agrégation in Physics, Chemistry option, before completing a research-based Master's degree and a PhD at LISA, Université Paris Diderot.
She is currently a lecturer at Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, where she received the UVSQ scientific excellence award in 2011. She has been a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France since 2013. She was chosen as sponsor of the first graduating Master's degree class from Université Paris-Saclay's School of Basic Science on 3 March 2017.
Indira Fabre
©Fondation L’Oréal
Indira Fabre was awarded a L'Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science grant on 11 October 2017 for her research on greener chemistry.
Her studies at ENS Cachan began in 2010 in the Chemistry Department, after passing the ENS entrance exam in Physics and Chemistry. She completed a multidisciplinary programme in partnership with Université Paris-Sud (Master of Chemical Physics).
She then chose to take a dual programme in third year with Chimie Paris Tech, before doing a research-based Master's degree followed by a PhD on the mechanisms of transition metal catalysis.
During her studies at ENS Cachan, she complemented her training with various internships abroad (Rhodia in Shanghai for six months, Roche in Basel, and the French consulate in Atlanta as part of a science and technology mission).