Hi! Somehow you ended up on my web page. It is now mostly a repository for my papers, but I do update it from time to time :-)
I can easily be reached via Gmail if you put my first name followed by a dot and my last name.
About me
I studied at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal (Canada) from 1999 to 2005, where I completed an engineering degree in physics, with a specialization in materials science, and a masters degree in mechanical engineering. In 2002, I spent a semester at the Université Libre de Bruxelles as an exchange student.
My masters thesis dealt with optimization for composite materials design. More specifically, I studied multi-objective optimization using evolutionary computing and statistical modelling (especially kriging) in order to deal with design problems integrating multiple objectives and for which the evaluation of the response variables is computationally intensive.
I did my PhD at the IGAR institute of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), in the field of unsupervised machine learning. My thesis was about adaptive and efficient methods for the clustering of large databases.
I now work as a scientist at Nuance Communications in Belgium.
Don't hesitate to drop me a line if you have any comment/question, or just to say hello.
Publications
Conference papers
F. Ratle, J. Weston, M. L. Miller. Large-scale clustering through functional embedding. European Conference on Machine Learning (ECML 2008), 2008.
J. Weston, F. Ratle, R. Collobert. Deep learning via semi-supervised embedding. Int. Conference on Machine Learning (ICML 2008), 2008.
F. Ratle, A.L. Terrettaz-Zufferey, M. Kanevski, P. Esseiva, O. Ribaux. A comparison of one-class classifiers for novelty detection in forensic case data. Int. Conf. on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning, Springer, 2007.
F. Ratle, D. Tuia. Ensemble methods for environmental data modelling with support vector regression. European Colloquium on Theoretical and Quantitative Geography, 2007.
F. Ratle, A.L. Terrettaz, M. Kanevski, P. Esseiva, O. Ribaux. Learning manifolds in forensic data, International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN), Springer, 2006.
F. Ratle, A.L. Terrettaz, M. Kanevski, P. Esseiva, O. Ribaux. Pattern analysis in illicit heroin seizures: a novel application of machine learning algorithms. Verleysen et al. (eds): European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks (ESANN), d-side publi., 2006.
F. Ratle, B. Lecarpentier, R. Labib, F. Trochu. Multi-objective optimization of a composite material spring design using an evolutionary algorithm. Yao et al. (eds) : Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN VIII) 803-811, Springer, 2004.
Journal papers
F. Ratle, C, Gagné, A.L. Terrettaz-Zufferey, M. Kanevski, P. Esseiva, O. Ribaux. Advanced clustering methods for mining chemical databases in forensic science. Journal of Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems 90(2): 123-131, 2008.
D. Tuia, F. Ratle, R. Lasaponara, L. Telesca, M. Kanevski. Scan statistics analysis of forest fire clusters, Journal of Communications in Nonlinear Sciences and Numerical Simulations 13(8): 1689-1694, 2007.
A.L. Terrettaz-Zufferey, F. Ratle, M. Kanevski, P. Esseiva, O. Ribaux. Pattern detection in forensic case data using graph theory: Application to heroin cutting agents, Forensic Science International, Volume 167, Issues 2-3, Pages 242-246, 2007.
Book chapter
F. Ratle, A. Pozdnoukhov, V. Demyanov, V. Timonin, E. Savelieva. Spatial data analysis and mapping using machine learning algorithms. In Kanevski (ed.): Advanced Mapping of Environmental Data - Geostatistics, Machine Learning and Bayesian Maximum Entropy, ISTE, 2008.
Talks and posters
F. Ratle. Spectral clustering and one-class classification: new tools for forensic drug intelligence. NATO Advanced Study Institute on Mining Massive Datasets for Security, Gazzada (Italy), 2007.
F. Ratle. Space-time cluster detection in crime data with scan statistics. Spatial Econometrics Association Conference, Cambridge (UK), 2007.
Unpublished stuff
Ratle, F. Optimisation de la conception et de la fabrication des matériaux composites par des algorithmes d'évolution et d'apprentissage. Master's thesis, Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, 2005.
Things
Probably not-so-useful spectral clustering and laplacian eigenmaps matlab code here.
(Note: some bits have been borrowed here and there; original authors are credited where appropriate.)
Friends, colleagues and recent co-authors
Gustavo Camps-Valls University of Valencia, Spain
Christian Gagné Université Laval, Québec , Canada
Jason Weston NEC Research, Princeton NJ, USA
Devis Tuia Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
Other stuff
I like photography in general. Here is my photo web page.
Here is a picture of me playing trumpet with my brother.
My 24 desert island albums.
Nice electronic music web radio: deepmix.eu