Institute of High Performance Computing

International Attachments - Teuchos Safran Group

IHPC Internat ional Project Col laborat ion - Miss Sylviane F. (Teuchos Safran Group)

In late 2006, Miss Sylviane was sitting at her desk in Paris, France when she was asked if she would like to go on a 3-month working stint in Singapore. Her task was to train and familiarise the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) researchers at IHPC with Star-CD, a program her company regularly uses. Adaptable and always eager to explore different ways of increasing her repertoire of knowledge, she jumped at the opportunity.

Several months later in February 2007, Sylviane joined the ranks of researchers at IHPC and became the first, but certainly not the last, engineer from Teuchos to visit and work side by side with IHPC staff.

At IHPC, she received a warm and enthusiastic reception from the staff, making her feel very welcomed both professionally and personally.

Specialising in engineering applied to computational fluid dynamics, Sylviane dealt mainly with industrial clients in Paris and her work consisted of meeting specific requirements of clients and handling tight deadlines. Here at IHPC, she had the opportunity to work in a different cultural framework that involved sharing her viewpoints with fellow researchers. Although there was a major difference in work culture, she viewed this to be essential to the holistic growth of her capabilities as an engineer and cherished this opportunity to be involved in CFD research.

“The researchers have an in-depth understanding of the physics of CFD which enabled them to pick up Star-CD and the Teuchos methodology of work very quickly. In fact, the biggest problem I faced was scheduling time to meet the entire team together due to the large number of projects currently handled by the CFD team due to their competency.”

While this was not her first trip to Asia, it was the first time Sylviane had visited Singapore and she was most impressed with the ease of accessibility around the island, where Clarke Quay and the Orchard Road area were within walking distance of her accommodation. She was also heartened to find Singapore a very cosmopolitan country with people from all over the world living and working together harmoniously; a melting pot of cultures which was a truly enriching experience for her.

“In Singapore, I like the ethnic brew which allows us to dip into the cultures of China, India and Muslim Malaysia all in the same day. I like the balance and juxtaposition of the rich cultural and architectural legacy with the ultra modern shopping mall”

As Sylviane returns to Paris, she brings with her many happy memories of her time in Singapore and the exposure of working in a foreign country. This experience amongst the talented researchers in IHPC will certainly be greatly beneficial to her work and career in the future.

“Thanks to IHPC and the researchers, the work that we had accomplished together made these three months a very productive one. This is a relationship which I feel will be possible to build on.I forsee the beginning of a long lasting collaboration between our two organizations.”