Meet Gil Rivet, a volunteer from France who is an administrator for the Crunchers Sans Frontieres team. Here's his story in his own words.
My name is Gil Rivet and I am 39 years old. I was born near Paris, and I still live there today.
I work for a road infrastructure and urban development company, managing the administration of IT systems. In my spare time, I like to read manga and comics, watch series and sports on TV (especially PSG matches), play video games, and go to good restaurants with friends. Also, I am passionate about boats and sailboats.
Before I knew about World Community Grid, I belonged to a team that no longer exists today, "La Brigade du Cosmos," which was actively involved in the SETI@home project. The founder of this team, Thomas H.V. Dupont, and his administrator Olivier Pierré, decided to dissolve the team and create a new infrastructure to contribute to scientific projects that address the challenges of our time. They then proposed that we join World Community Grid.
After learning about World Community Grid, I felt it was obvious that I should be involved. In my mind, participating in World Community Grid allows me to take concrete action on important topics. I am not a doctor, and I am aware that I do not have the intellectual knowledge to do advanced research on the topics that I can support as part of World Community Grid. However, like many people, I have a computer whose computing power is oversized in relation to the use that I can make of it in my daily life.
I am part of Crunchers Sans Frontieres, a team created by Thomas H.V. Dupont, who I have known since before we joined World Community Grid. Our small team is composed of reliable and serious people, who are very ambitious like the team’s founder. I joined the team as a volunteer at the beginning, and I became one of his admins. The team system is very interesting because it makes it possible to create competitions, like the THOR Challenge, which was created by Crunchers Sans Frontieres. These competitions add to the motivation of each volunteer.
In the Crunchers Sans Frontieres team, the choice to participate in the various projects supported by World Community Grid is discussed and decided between the different administrators of the team. Personally, I am most interested in projects that concern the most vulnerable people such as children, who are the future of humanity.
My participation in the World Community Grid project can be summarized as follows: Use my computer to process data, which cannot be done by my brain. As long as World Community Grid has humanitarian projects, I will continue to be motivated to participate.