Guillaume Mercere [People in Control]

Guillaume: Roughly speaking, by chance. I don't know if you are familiar with the French system of education. As usual, it is a bit complicated (typically French, isn't it?). If you want to become an engineer in France, the best way is to do the first two or three years of higher school preparatory classes (you mainly learn mathematics, physics, and the basics of engineering during these years) and then take national competitive exams to be allowed to enroll in one of the Grandes Écoles (highly selective and prestigious institutions for engineering). That is exactly what I did in 1998 after high school. In 2001, after three years of prep school, my goal was to be enrolled in a Grande École dedicated mainly to fluid dynamics, a topic I learned to appreciate during my finalyear studies of physics.