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Published: 14 September 2022

French American Chambers of Commerce (FACC) all over the United States are well known by its activities of promoting mutual understanding of economic, commercial and financial relations between France and the United States.

As a non profit organization with the mission of supporting French A&M alumni and students in the US, AFAM closely follows FACC activities, participates in its events and encourages our community to take advantage of events and services offered by different FACC all over the United States.

On September 7th AFAM community Manager Albina Patou-Chebykina participated in an online event "SF meets Chicago" where two Chambers presented their activities.

Albina introduced AFAM and its programs to the participants of the online events. As FACC has its chapters in different regions of the United States, AFAM also has its groups and representations in the US: West Coast, East Coast and Central groups, as well as city representations of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Southern California.

To know more about AFAM/la SOCE regional groups, please visit:

https://americanfriendsam.org/about-us/regional-groups.html

FRENCH AMERICAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE is an important source of information. There are plenty of interesting events happening at every FACC chapter every month. Do not miss your local FACC events.

The one AFAM wants to invite you is a webinar on VIE program which will take place on September 20th:

https://americanfriendsam.org/calendar/20-partner-events/619-vie.html

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Published: 09 September 2022

On September 6th, 2022 Gadz US energy networking online event took place. The event was organized by Patrice Brossard (Bo195) and featured two speakers:
 
•    Olivier Clerc (Ai 205) (Bloom Energy company)
•    Robert Stelly (Ch 197) (e-commerce platform named BeHub-e created by Vallourec)

Thank you to all the participants and speakers for a wonderful event!
 
Next event is planned at the end of 2022.

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Published: 31 August 2022

Climate change is happening. We decided to launch a “Green and Clean” interview series to ask our alumni working in environmental careers how their companies and their work can lead us toward a greener future.

AFAM: Hello Julien. You are a R&D engineer at a French startup named Airthium. Please tell us more about your company and your job.

Julien: Hello and thank you for your interest. Heat pumps are a great technology for affordable and low carbon heat production, but existing solutions are limited to 200°C (400F). Airthium is developing a ultra-high temperature heat pump that will reach 550°C (1000F). This improvement will enable us to decarbonize new industrial processes, such as drying or steam generation, for various industries, such as paper, cement, chemicals, glass, mining, food and some heat networks.

My job at Airthium is to build a working prototype of a modified Stirling engine, capable of pumping heat at these temperatures. Another goal is to master a new process named Fast Near-Isothermal Compression. This would enable record-high efficiencies, and thus more energy savings.

AFAM: how did you break into this industry? Was it just a coincidence or a logical path in your career?

Julien: During my studies at Arts et Métiers, I led a team of 15 students that worked on a home hydrogen refueling station for cars. I started a company to study its commercial potential, but found that despite a record low price for a hydrogen station, it was not competitive enough against batteries.

When I was looking for an internship at the end of my degree, I had the opportunity to talk with Airthium executives about hydrogen compressors, which were a key technology in their previous research as well. By the end of the meeting, I had an internship at Airthium

AFAM: what do you enjoy the most about your job?

Julien: While trying to fight climate change at a large scale is of course satisfying, I especially enjoy following a technical project through all steps, from conception and manufacturing to assembly and testing.

AFAM: what is the most challenging thing about your work?

Julien: An experienced welder who worked on a part I designed at Airthium, told me that it was his most stressful job since he welded parts in the space industry. The reason for such difficulty is that I have to monitor many additional physical parameters during the R&D phase. There are also many constraints on the sensors we can use, such as operating temperature and pressure, with limited available space.

AFAM: How did Arts et Métiers prepare you for your current work? How does being a Gadz’Arts help you in your everyday tasks at work?

Julien: Doing R&D on a Multiphysics systems requires a deep understanding of various scientific fields, while mastering a wide set of skills. Arts et Métiers gave me both, plus the capacity to fill in any gaps by looking into literature. The Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation course also gave me a taste of the fast-changing startup world.

While my two years of classes préparatoires gave me a solid scientific background, I would not have been able to manufacture a first prototype without the classes and projects I had at Arts et Métiers.

Finally, being a Gadz’Arts is helpful for introductions when I need extensive data from a company on their industrial process, which helps Airthium to evaluate its target market, and find potential customers. The Gadz’arts network is wonderful for helping each other and sharing information, and I am grateful to be a part of it.

AFAM: thank you Julien for your time

Photo: Airthium team (courtesy of Julien)

About Airthium

Airthium is a startup company headquartered in the US and operating in France with 12 employees, among which 6 PhDs. We are backed by Y Combinator (prestigious US startup accelerator), Accel'air (Air Liquide's accelerator, where we have our current lab) and personalities like Philippe Kavafyan (CEO Aker Wind) and Jérome Pécresse (CEO GE Renewable Energy).

Our team develops a very high-temperature industrial heat pump (up to 550°C) able to tackle 3% of global CO2 emissions (1 Gt of CO2). There is currently no green solution to economically decarbonize industrial heat production between 200 and 550°C.

We are launching a 2nd crowdfunding round of $5 million to accelerate the development of our technology, notably by moving to an industrial warehouse in September and supporting the current build of our 1 kW prototype.

Climate is changing fast, but there is still a chance to act !

You can invest in Airthium at https://wefunder.com/airthium and help us decarbonize our planet.

If you wish to know more, do not hesitate to make an appointment with us via our calendar https://calendly.com/airthium

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Published: 18 August 2022

In a few days our parcours US students will start their master's programs in the American Universities. This year 100% of our parcours US students were admitted to American universities! Congratulations!

What are some advice we can be giving them today, just a few days before the classes start?

- Work hard and stay focused!

- Reach out and ask questions!

- Form study groups, go to office hours - anything you can do to add to your learning in class

- Meet people, socialize with your classmates!

- Find ways to connect with people early in the semester

- Connect with the Career Center and go to Career Fairs as Employers will be looking for Interns!

- Have Fun!

- Last but not least, contact AFAM and your regional groups to say hello!  Sign up for AFAM newsletter and stay in touch with other gadz'arts in the US

Good luck to all of you and see you soon!

Picture: Some members of our gadz'arts community in SF bay area including several of our UC Berkeley ( parcours US) students