Professors Stéphane Bordas and Alexandre Tkatchenko have been ranked among the most influential scientific researchers in the “Highly Cited Researchers 2018” list published recently by Clarivate Analytics.
Prof. Stéphane Bordas
Prof. Alexandre Tkatchenko
The list highlights world-class researchers who have demonstrated significant influence, as measured by the number of citations of published papers within the top 1 per cent by citations for field and year in the citation index Web of Science. The 2018 ranking is based on citations by peers during the period 2006-2016 and includes, for the first time, cross-field performance. Almost 6,000 researchers are part of this prestigious list, 4,000 in 21 research fields and 2,000 for cross-field performance.
At the University of Luxembourg, two researchers from the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC) have been ranked among the world’s most influential scientific minds: Prof. Stéphane Bordas in the fields of computer science and engineering and Prof. Alexandre Tkatchenko in the cross-field category. Both scientists received a grant from the European Research Council: Prof. Bordas won an “ERC Starting Grant” in 2012 and Prof. Tkatchenko was awarded an “ERC Consolidator Grant” in 2017. In addition, they both adopt a multidisciplinary data and computational sciences approach in their research activities: Prof. Bordas works at the interface between applied mathematics and applications in engineering, medicine and biology, while Prof. Tkatchenko combines physics and artificial intelligence.
Stéphane Bordas, Professor of computational mechanics within the Research Unit in Engineering Sciences (RUES) focuses his research activities on the development of data-driven numerical methods for engineering and medicine. The multidisciplinary approach combines mathematical skills with computer science tools while taking into account needs and expectations from practitioners. Already listed in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Prof. Bordas is part of the ranking for the fourth time: “This recognition of excellence is a great honour and I want to share it with all the colleagues who have worked hard alongside me for almost two decades. I thank them for their drive, their commitment and their tremendous work. As a civil engineer, being mentioned for the fourth time in computer science confirms the visibility of our work in this field. It also shows that multi-disciplinarity has become an essential part of our research life,” Bordas comments. “Being listed for the second time in the field of engineering indicates that our work is not only theoretical in nature, but has been becoming important to help the design of practical engineering systems.”
Alexandre Tkatchenko, Professor of condensed matter physics within the Physics and Materials Science Research Unit (PHYMS), investigates the interaction between molecules to better understand the properties and predict the behaviour of materials. His research activities focus on new methods combining physical models with machine learning to discover novel phenomena in complex molecular systems and to apply them to real-life problems. Prof. Tkatchenko has been listed for his exceptional cross-field performance: “This is a great pleasure and honour to be part of this ranking. It rewards our efforts over the years and highlights our research performance and impact at an international level. Being part of the new cross-field category demonstrates the interdisciplinarity and impact of our research”.
Prof. Jean-Marc Schlenker, Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC), is very proud of this achievement. “We conclude 2018 as a flourishing year for our faculty, with two new ERC grants and two members of FSTC in the “highly cited” list of Clarivate Analytics. Those are additional indications that the faculty is emerging as a center of excellence for research in science and technology!”