From scholarship student to major patron of the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA). This is the incredible story of Franck Diard who will make a donation of €300,000 over three years to his former higher education establishment, in order to support research and students in computer science. “These funds will be used for training or equipment. It will be a bubble of comfort to be able to move faster, in the American way, in the fields of images, super calculations or artificial intelligence,” says the man who discovered computer science at the IUT of Reims. , in 1992.
Since then, the 53-year-old man has made his fortune, through hard work, will and talent, at Nvidia, the American computer giant, where he joined in 2000. A quarter of a century later, the group led by Jensen Huang dominates the graphics chip and artificial intelligence market, so much so that last June it became the world’s largest market capitalization ($3,344 billion), ahead of Microsoft and Apple.
Astronomical figures which contrast with the modest origins of Franck Diard, a baccalaureate with just 10 out of 20 and failed in all the engineering school competitions he attempted. “When I returned to the IUT of Reims, I discovered computer-generated images,” remembers the engineer. Pixar didn’t exist, we made pixels from our coding, it’s a very strong memory. »
The scholarship student obtains a license and a master’s degree in Reims, then defends a thesis in computer science at the University of Nice. There is no shortage of work. “We were dying,” says the Nvidia executive. We had no documentation, no internet, we had to manage among ourselves and with the teachers. We spent whole days in the lab until the code worked. » For him, the discovery of computing allows him “to satisfy [sa] thirst for discovery. It was an endless mine of knowledge. »
Initially a convenience store, he has already filed 104 patents
With his diplomas in hand, Franck Diard decides to cross the Atlantic. He joined Silicon Valley in California, but started at the bottom of the ladder as technical support: “I did troubleshooting over the phone,” he explains. The native of Aube was finally recruited, in 2000, by Nvidia, which had just invented the graphics processor. Through persistence, once again, he climbed the ranks, until today he became a “distinguished engineer” and “master inventor”. In 24 years, Franck Diard has filed no less than 104 patents!
“I have a great professional career, which began at the IUT of Reims. Financially, things are going very well for me, so I wanted to demonstrate my attachment to what I had learned here,” explains the man who has, for several years, prioritized his family life, and now teleworks from the Côte d’Azur. Azure. While the University of Reims, like other establishments, faces budgetary difficulties, this is a timely Christmas gift.
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