Hortense Le Ferrand

As Industry 4.0 is developing, sustainability and durability have to be established. I lead a multidisciplinary team of researchers that explore natural materials, bioinspired concepts, microstructural engineering and 3D printing to develop multifunctional durable structures. These materials can be 3D printed, are generally light weight, hard, and comprise various functionalities like stimuli responsiveness or resistance to extreme environments.

Dr. Hortense Le Ferrand holds a master and a doctorate degree in Materials Science from ETH Zürich in Switzerland and a diplôme d'Ingénieur from the Grande Ecole ESPCI Paris, France. Her doctoral thesis on magnetically-driven of bio-inspired composites was acknowledged with several prizes and awards.

After a visiting period in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, where she focused on morphing structures, Dr. Hortense obtained funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation to study protein assemblies at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.

In January 2019, she joined the schools of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) of NTU as an Assistant Professor and was awarded the prestigious NRF fellowship in January 2020.

Areas of expertise: composite materials, ceramics, additive manufacturing and bioinspiration

Media coverage: 

Stretching the limits of composite materials (page 23), RIE News, National Research Foundation, January 2020 

Prizes & awards

  • National Research Foundation Fellowship, Singapore, 2020

  • Research as art Runner Up 2019, Swansea University, UK

  • MRS Bulletin Postdoctoral Publication Prize 2018 

  • ETH MaP (Materials and Processes) award 2018 

  • 3rd prize Art of Science competition from Microscopy center FACTS, NTU, 2018

  • Chemistry prize from Dimitri N. Chorafas foundation, 2017 

  • ETHZ silver medal for outstanding thesis, 2017

  • Poster prize at MRS Boston, symposium Bio-inspired nanomaterials, 2016

  • Research Fellowship Early Postdoc Mobility, Swiss National Science Foundation, 2016

  • Mobility grant from IDEA League (twice) and Erasmus, 2011, 2012

  • Excellence Scholarship awarded by Michelin Company, 2011

Nanyang Technological University
Picture of Hortense Le Ferrand

Website

Singapore
Department: 
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering
Languages: 
English
French
Academic discipline: 
Materials Science and Engineering
News topics: 
Materials