Driss El Khoukhi, PhD engineer at the LAMPA laboratory on the Arts et métiers campus Arts et métiers , looks back on his career and his experience as a PhD student in a CIFRE (Industrial Agreements for Training through Research) program at PSA. This type of contract allows a company to hire a doctoral student and advance research projects in collaboration with a laboratory. He tells us about his daily life, dividing his time between his professional life and the laboratory.
From ENSAM Meknes to a PhD in Arts et Métiers
A native of Morocco, Driss El Khoukhi studied atENSAM Meknès. Ranked among the top 10 students in his class during the first four years of his program, he was selected in 2012 to pursue the Master of Science dual-degree program at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Paris.
A graduate of ENSAM Meknès, an Arts et Métiers engineer, Arts et Métiers holder of Master of Science MAGIS Master of Science , his thirst for knowledge continues as he pursues Master of Science in “Materials and Structures Design” at Mines ParisTech. He worked for one year on an issue related to the manufacturing of Ariane 5 rocket tanks for the company “Eurocryspace,” a subsidiary of Airbus and Air Liquide. “I was employed by the company as a research engineer. It was a very enriching, highly professionalizing experience.” Drawing on this experience , he decided to continue his career path with a Ph.D. “to stay connected to the world of industrial research, acquire the skills of a researcher, and earn a degree that opens doors internationally,” he explains.
A desire: to meet industrial needs
Driss El Khoukhi then applied to PSA and landed the contract. His goal was to provide solutions to resolve a specific industrial issue at PSA concerning the reliability-based design of combustion engine cylinder heads. "I wanted to propose a concrete solution that the company could quickly implement for an industrialization phase. It's very motivating to see the direct impact of our research work!" " It was a successful gamble, as Driss El Khoukhi presented the results of his research on October 12 during his thesis defense on "the study of the effect of microstructural heterogeneities on the dispersion of fatigue life over a large number of cycles of cast aluminum alloys: transition from volume element to structure," to PSA, who was delighted with the results presented.
When you are the first to find a scientific solution to an industrial problem... it's the reward for three years of hard work, and it's very rewarding!
Academic and industrial support
During the three years of his thesis, Driss El Khoukhi was in constant contact with his research laboratory, LAMPA, and PSA, particularly with Pierre Osmond, his industrial supervisor. His thesis supervisors, Franck Morel, Director of LAMPA, and Nicolas Saintier, Director of the DUMAS department at the I2M Institute in Bordeaux, as well as Daniel Bellett and Viet-Duc Lefrom AMVALOR, supported him in his research to overcome scientific and industrial obstacles. "It is then up to the doctoral student to sort through the information and keep the essentials in order to achieve the final goal," he explains. As for the work-life balance, Driss El Khoukhi nevertheless insists on striking the right balance. "You have to be careful not to shut yourself away too much, not to underestimate the workload, and to surround yourself with the right people. This is very important for the success of your project."
The benefits and opportunities of a CIFRE thesis
Being a CIFRE doctoral student means benefiting from three years of experience as an employee in a company and acquiring the skills, working methods, approach, and scientific culture of a doctorate, which can then be applied to any sector of activity. It opens many doors, such as pursuing a post-doctorate (funded by one or more companies), working directly in industry, academia, or teaching!
Driss El Khoukhi has chosen to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at the I2M laboratory in Bordeaux as part of the SLAM (Structures LAttices très Hautes perforMances) project. More specifically, he will be working on the topic of "Fatigue behavior and sensitivity to defects in Ta6V obtained by additive manufacturing," a project in collaboration with STELIA Aerospace.
