Confrères Report on FACCTS 2026

France And Chicago Collaborating in The Sciences (FACCTS)—April 9 and 10, 2026 

Sandra Barreto, Chief Financial Officer, MIL ZONAS S.A.S.

Tem Horwitz, Managing Broker, Horwitz & Company; recipient of French Legion of Honor

Gigi Mathews, Upper School Science Teacher at Francis W. Parker School of Chicago

Christopher Melvin, Portfolio Manager, Chicago River Capital

Leslie Webster, Upper School Science Teacher at Francis W. Parker School of Chicago

Daniel Horwitz, son of Sandra Barreto and Tem Horwitz, student at Francis W. Parker School of Chicago

Jack Melvin, son of Christopher Melvin, student at Francis W. Parker School of Chicago

The FAACTS process began with a meeting between Sandra Barreto, Tem Horwitz, Gigi Mathews and Leslie Webster on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. We talked briefly about the concept: Members of the scientific community from the University of Chicago would propose collaborations with individuals from various scientific institutions in France (i.e., CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in an exchange of research, information, processes and talent. The Parker connection was to choose projects we thought students would be interested in and able to understand. We each discussed our favorite proposals of the 36 presented.

The Paris portion of the process began on April 9. A new confrère joined us this year: Christopher Melvin of Chicago River Capital, who is also a Parker parent with Sandra and Tem. The first event involved an evening dinner meeting at Baca’v with several FACCTS members present. We spent time with Larry Norman, the executive faculty director of the France Chicago Center. It was very interesting to speak with someone who is both faculty at the University of Chicago and part of the regular faculty at the Paris Center. It was delightful and interesting to talk with him! 

Friday, April 10 began with a tour of the Collège de France, which is a higher education and research institution established in 1530. Their lectures are open to anyone who would like to attend. It was fascinating to learn that to be part of the Collège de France, one must be chosen—there is no application process.

We then had an introduction to the research of Jean-Marie Tarascon, professor of chemistry of materials and energy and a close research collaborator of Shirley Meng (past FACCTS-supported). Both of them conduct research that involves batteries. Highlights included developing a more environmentally sound battery system, solid state batteries and how to identify what actually happens inside batteries in real time with fiber optic sensors.

After the tour, we broke for lunch and convivial conversation at the Bouillon Racine. We were especially grateful to sit with Dan Bertsche, associate director of the France Chicago Center, who made us feel very welcome and shared stories about his many adventures in France.

Preceding lunch, we met at the University of Chicago’s John Boyer Center in Paris where the FACCTS Review Committee shared their criteria for evaluating the proposals and their rating system. In the newly adopted procedure, the committee members did some work ahead of time. They ranked the proposals before the meeting began, giving each a score of one to four, with one being the most well-developed proposals, while four was less developed and in need of feedback. The proposal names and their scores from the reviewers were then shared with all the members of the larger group. Dr. Stephanie Palmer (professor in the Departments of Physics and Organismal Biology & Anatomy and France Chicago Center faculty director) then led a brief summary of the proposals and invited the other reviewers to advocate for their choices. One of the key components to qualify for financial support was helping support folks who were in the earlier part of their career. It was very interesting to see the different disciplines.

After the top choices had been discussed, the University began allocating funds. There was then a short period for the confrères to discuss our priorities and how to maximize our budget. The proposals chosen were:

We are very excited about the Alveolar Chip Modeling System! We had never heard about organoids before reading the proposals. They connect engineering, biology, systems, cells, and chemistry, all of the best things! The Stable Isotope Kelp Forest proposal ties nicely with the freshman curriculum of studying the environment and ecosystems through a unit on the kelp forests, sea urchins and otters. It’s also a good connection to the microbiome of humans. We are learning more every day about how the microbiome influences behaviors and larger issues. The transcriptional regulators would be a great tie to the second-year biology curriculum since that class spends most of the first semester working on proteins, transcription and translation.

A bonus this year was our ability to take in the opinions of Daniel Horwitz (son of Sandra and Tem) and Jack Melvin (son of Christopher). Daniel and Jack are 8th grade students at Parker. They gave us the student perspective on what they found interesting and intriguing. They chose the proposal about oxidative DNA damage since it is a topic we often hear in our daily lives.

We are hoping to make connections with the principal investigators either during the summer or early fall with the possibility that they either come to Parker or Parker students go to their labs to interact and learn more about their research.

Click here for photos.