- École nationale des ponts et chaussées
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Coordinates: 48°50′28″N 2°35′16″E / 48.84111°N 2.58778°E
École des Ponts ParisTech 
Established 1747 Type French Grande Ecole, member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology) Director Philippe Courtier Students 1,200 Undergraduates No undergraduate student Postgraduates 1,000 Doctoral students 150 Location Paris, Champs-sur-Marne, France Nickname Les Ponts Affiliations ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology), Conférence des Grandes Ecoles Website www.enpc.fr Founded in 1747, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC, pronounced: [ekɔl nasjɔnal dɛ pɔ̃ e ʃose]) (literally "National school of Bridges and Roads"), often referred to as les Ponts, is the world's oldest civil engineering school. It remains to this day one of the most prestigious and selective French Grandes Écoles.
It is headquartered in Marne-la-Vallée (suburb of Paris) and a member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology).
Contents
History
1747-1794: Origins
Following the creation of the Corps of Bridges and Roads in 1716, the King's Council decided in 1747 to found a specific training course for the state's engineers, as École royale des ponts et chaussées. In 1775, the school took its current name as École nationale des ponts et chaussées.
The school's first director, from 1747 until 1794, was Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, engineer, civil service administrator and a contributor to the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Without lecturer, fifty students initially taught themselves geometry, algebra, mechanics and hydraulics.
1794-1945: Growth and industrialisation
During the First French Empire, a number of members of the Corps of Bridges and Roads (including Barré de Saint-Venant, Belgrand, Biot, Cauchy, Coriolis, Dupuit, Fresnel, Gay-Lussac, Navier, Vicat) took part in the reconstruction of the French road network that had not been maintained during the Revolution, and in large infrastructural developments, notably hydraulic projects.
From 1945: Modernisation
Teaching and degrees
With traditional core competences in civil engineering, environment, transport, town and regional planning, mechanics, industrial management and logistics, École des Ponts ParisTech offers high-level programmes in an extensive range of fields, from applied mathematics to economics and management.
École des Ponts ParisTech is among the schools called "généralistes", which means that students receive a broad, management-oriented and non-specialised education, and often quickly become top industrial managers.
Three major types of programmes are on offer :
- Engineering programmes: leading to a 5-year postgraduate engineering degree (accessible, after competitive examinations, by both undergraduate-graduate curriculum and the 2-year master course) or to masters of science
- Doctoral programmes: Ph.D.s
- Professional programmes for postgraduates: Mastères spécialisés (M.S.), and also MBA Programs at the ENPC School of International Management.
- In conjunction with Temple University-Philadelphia, USA, École des Ponts ParisTech is the first leg of the Fox School of Business International MBA, with study in Paris, Philadelphia, and Tokyo.
École des Ponts ParisTech is also an application school of École Polytechnique, and provides education for the Corps of Bridges and Roads.
Departments
Education for the Master of Engineering is organised in the six following departments:
- Civil Engineering and Construction
- Transport, Planning, Environment
- Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
- Applied Mathematics and Computer Sciences
- Economics, Management, Finance
- Industrial Engineering and Management
Research
École des Ponts ParisTech runs research in the following disciplines (the names of corresponding research centres are in brackets):
- atmospheric environment (CEREA)
- water, urban planning and environment (LEESU)
- mathematics and scientific computing (CERMICS)
- information technologies (IMAGINE)
- international environment and development (CIRED)
- regional planning and social sciences (LATTS)
- urban planning and transport (LVMT)
- economics (PSE)
- soil mechanics (CERMES), materials (LAMI), materials and structures of civil engineering (LMSGC), grouped together within UMR Navier
École des Ponts ParisTech was also the lead developer of Scilab along with INRIA. Scilab is now developed by the Scilab Consortium.
Laboratoire central des ponts et chaussées or LCPC is an Établissement public à caractère scientifique et technologique.[1]
Alumni and faculty
Augustin Louis Cauchy
Alumni include (by alphabetical order, French unless indicated):
- Paul Andreu, architect
- Guy Béart, singer and songwriter
- Henri Becquerel, physicist
- Eugène Belgrand, engineer
- Fulgence Bienvenüe, chief engineer for the Paris Métro
- André Blondel, engineer and physicist
- Albert Caquot, civil engineer, considered the "best living French engineer" during half a century
- Emiland Gauthey, civil engineer, desginger of bridges, canals and roads, uncle of Claude-Louis Navier
- Marie François Sadi Carnot, French president from 1887 to 1894
- Jules Carvallo, civil engineer
- Augustin Louis Cauchy, mathematician
- Louis-Alexandre de Cessart, civil engineer
- Antoine de Chézy
- Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, mathematician and physicist
- Augustin-Jean Fresnel, physicist
- Eugène Freyssinet, structural and civil engineer, pioneer of prestressed concrete
- Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, chemist and physicist
- Fouad Laroui, Morrocan economist and writer
- Alain Lipietz, economist and politician
- Charles Joseph Minard, civil engineer and pioneer of information graphics
- Claude-Louis Navier, engineer and physicist, known for Navier-Stokes equations
- Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, architect and structural engineer
- Antoine Picon, Professor of History of Architecture and Technology and Co-Director of Doctoral programs (PhD & DDes) at Harvard Graduate School of Design
- Prince Souphanouvong, president of Laos from 1975 to 1991
- Jean Tirole, economist
- Daniel-Charles Trudaine, administrator and civil engineer
- Pierre Veltz, academic and École des Ponts ParisTech's former director
- Louis Vicat, engineer, inventor of artificial cement
Past and present faculty include:
- Étienne-Louis Boullée, architect
- Alexander Spiers, English lexicographer
References
External links
- Official site
- (French) History of École des Ponts ParisTech on the official website
- (French) Alumni website
- (French) Student association website
- (French) ENPC MBA Paris School of International Management
Top Industrial Managers for Europe (T.I.M.E. network) Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Centrale Graduate School (École centrale de Lille · Lyon · Marseille · Nantes · Paris) · École Supérieure d'Électricité · École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace · École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées · École nationale des ponts et chausséesGermany Greece Hungary Italy Norway Poland Portugal Russian Federation Spain Universidad de Sevilla · Universidad Politécnica de Madrid · Universitat Politècnica de València · Universidad Pontificia Comillas · Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaSweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom French scientific research facilities University-grade institutes Public research labs Public industry Categories:- University research collaboratives
- Grandes écoles
- 1747 establishments
- Education in Paris
- Science and technology in France
- 6th arrondissement of Paris
- Paris Institute of Technology
- Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
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