Monique PETITDIDIER
Directeur de recherche émerite | France | IPSL CNRS
Monique PETITDIDIER, a senior scientist at the Laboratory LATMOS / IPSL, is a specialist of atmospheric physics. She has contributed to the development of a “high resolution” photometer intended to observe changes in the intensity of the green line emitted by atomic oxygen at around 100km of altitude and of a stratospheric-tropospheric radar to study the dynamics of the lower atmosphere. Currently she oversees a thesis of a colleague from Burkina Faso on the African Monsoon system. This work was the subject of a publication on the variability of the African monsoon at the pre-COP21 scientific conference in Paris in July 2015. She has coordinated since 2001 and until recently applications in earth science in the framework of European projects on grids and Cloud as well as applications from DataGrid to EGI. She has been a coordinator at the EGU as part of the division ESSI (Earth and Space Science Informatics) since 2008 leading a session on “Science on Earth Grid, HPC and Cloud”, and in 2009 she lead a session on cyber infrastructure in Africa. The following years this issue has been addressed in different sessions with a presentation of eGYAfrica. In 2011 she was awarded the medal “Ian McHarg” for ” her exemplar work in support of African scientists and her recognition of the importance of outreach and ‘science citizenship’”. In the context of schools on space metheorology organized by the GIRGEA (International Research Group in Geophysics Europe-Africa and Europe-Asia) – in Cairo, Kinshasa and Algiers – she has organized days on supercomputing to connect the heads of the network and computing resources with scientists and their needs, and foster collaborations. She also advises in collaboration with teachers in the DRC, 3 students from DRC, 2 in computer sciences at Masters level and one in astroparticle physics completing her Phd.
