Toutes nos felicitations, Matthieu Barreau!

How does it feel to receive this award, what does it mean?

“I am very proud of this award. When I started my doctoral studies, I was not expecting such reward, one of my advisors, Alexandre Seuret, received it in the past and I did not feel I was at his level. Actually, the funny thing is that I am following his path since he also did a postdoc at KTH. If I keep on his path the future it would be pleasant!  

I am also very grateful to my advisors who pushed me to apply for this award and helped to improve my thesis. It was not the easiest period of my life since I became father at the same time. The hours spent feeding my baby during the night probably helped my thoughts, but I am really not sure about that!”

Tell us a little about your thesis?

“My doctoral thesis was about stability analysis of coupled infinite / finite dimensional systems. That might seem a bit esoteric but it has many physical applications. Before writing my manuscript, I thought of applying the obtained results on a concrete example and I chose the control of a drilling pipe. Since the drilling well is very long, one of the most efficient model is a partial differential equation. The controller at the surface and the interaction with the rocks at the bottom are modelled by ordinary differential equation. That makes a coupled system! Analysing the stability of this kind of systems is a real issue today so I am very proud of having made a little contribution in this field.”

Due to COVID-19 we are under special circumstances, how will you celebrate?

“I moved to Stockholm with my partner and son. I think we will order some food on mathem.se and celebrate this in our small apartment, maybe with a Skype call at the same time. Luckily (or not), it is my birthday this weekend, so I can kill two birds with one stone!”