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ACTIVITIES
More information on work and
publications can be found at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pierre_Jacques_Courtois
Industrial
and Engineering
Since October 1991: Senior expert at Bel V
(formerly AV Nuclear), the technical support subsidiary of the Belgian
Federal Agency for Nuclear Safety (http://www.belv.be/).
Technical assessments and evaluations required for the regulatory licensing
of computer-based systems and software important to safety in nuclear power
reactors and other nuclear installations. Involved in related R&D,
standards, and international nuclear safety organisations’ activities. Academic
Emeritus Professor of the Computer Science
Department of the Ecole polytechnique of Louvain-la-Neuve University;
teaching (1972 – 2002) on computer networks, distributed and fault-tolerant
computer systems, and parallel programming. Teaching and research positions held at
Carnegie-Mellon University (1971-1972), Brussels University (chargé de cours
1971-1981), Pisa University (1980, 1982), and, as a "Lansdowne 1984
Lecturer" at Victoria University, British Columbia. Supervisor of master and PhD theses (two of which
were granted the Belgian FNRS-IBM prize, H. Vantilborgh (1982) and P. Semal
(1993). Member, from 1984 to 1987, of the international
jury of the Philips European Contest for Young Scientists and Inventors. Research
Research interests have been in the area of
distributed computer and communication systems engineering, and include
performance and reliability models applied to these systems. Early work,
started in the early seventies at Carnegie-Mellon University with D.L. Parnas
and Pr. H.A. Simon, Nobel Laureate, addressed methods for organising and
structuring complex artificial systems of cooperating parallel processes.
This work was later oriented to performance models and led, at Philips in the
seventies and eighties, to a now well used numerical decomposition method for
large stiff Markovian models . Research on optimisation methods for data
communication networks, routing and flow control algorithms, random access
protocols for satellite and mobile radio networks, and from 1988, on
admission and load control for ATM networks. With E.G. Coffman and E.N. Gilbert (AT&T
Laboratories, Associate member in the ESPRIT Basic
Research Action BRA 3092 on Predictably Dependable Computing Systems (PDCS) since
1991, and, from 1995, in the “Design for Validation (DEVA)” ESPRIT Long Term
Research Project 20072. Also representative member of Member of the European RACE Definition
Phase project 2037 on Methods for Piecewise Development and Construction of
Telecommunication Systems [50], and in the RACE initiating project 1022 on
Asynchronous Time Division Techniques (ATM). Also expert for the European RACE
training programme on Telecommunications (BRAIN), and in COST and DRIVE
projects of the CEC. Leader of the work package on safety
justification of the European Framework research project CEMSIS : Cost
Effective Modernisation of Systems Important to Safety, (http://www.cemsis.org/), 2000-2004. Former editor of the PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Journal, from creation in 1970 to 1997, and of the SIAM Journal on Matrix
Analysis. International
Seminars on evaluation,
verification and validation of safety digital instrumentation and control
systems used in nuclear power plants. EC assistance project on
Enhancing the capacity and regulatory capabilities of the Chinese National
Nuclear Safety Administration and its Technical Support Organisation,
EuropeAid/134058/C/SER/CN. Beijing, October 1014 and September 2015. Expert missions for safety critical software used
in nuclear applications for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA-UNO),
Vienna. Co-editor of a state of the art report and of the safety guide on
software important to safety in nuclear applications [8]. Expert for
EC PHARE and TACIS projects (transfer of methodology and
support to nuclear safety authorities) and for the CEC DG XI TSO study
on safety of European projects for large evolutionary Pressurized Water
nuclear reactors and on the development of a common safety approach in EC
countries. Founder of the CEC NRWG Task Force of nuclear
licensors on safety critical software (TFSCS) (http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/nuclear/nuclearsafety.htm).
(chair 1994-2007; secretary 2007- ) [9]. Member of the OCDE task force on nuclear
safety critical software used in nuclear reactors . Member of the United Kingdom Advisory
Committee on Nuclear Safety for safety critical computer based systems
since 1995. Reviewer for the CEC DG XIII and DG III
in European Research projects on information and communications technologies.
Evaluator for the RACE programme in 1991 and 1993 Founding member of the IFIP Working Group
WG 7.3 on Computer System Performance and Reliability Evaluation. Member of the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Association for
Computing Machinery (ACM). Education
Degree in Electrical Engineering (1961),
Certificate in nuclear sciences (1961), and "Doctorat en Sciences
Appliquées" (1973), from the "Université Catholique de
Louvain",
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