Nadine BalucTeaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students Emmanuelle Giacometti, Raluca Schibli, Gang Yu, Bin Long, Lyubomira Veleva
Quy Ong KhacExpertise
Nanoparticle characterizationSurface and interface scienceAnalytical ultracentrifugationCryogenic electron tomographyScanning tunneling microscopy
Current Work
Cryogenic Transmission Electron Tomography (Cryo-ET): Developed Cryo-ET methods as quantitative thermodynamic tools. Studied interaction potentials and other thermodynamic properties of nanoparticles and proteins. Key publications: Ong Q. et al. Materials Horizons, 2022Ekaterina P., Ong, Q. et al. ACS Nano, 2026Analytical Ultracentrifugatio
Jürgen BruggerI am a Professor of Microengineering and co-affiliated to Materials Science. Before joining EPFL I was at the MESA Research Institute of Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, and at the Hitachi Central Research Laboratory, in Tokyo, Japan. I received a Master in Physical-Electronics and a PhD degree from Neuchâtel University, Switzerland. Research in my laboratory focuses on various aspects of MEMS and Nanotechnology. My group contributes to the field at the fundamental level as well as in technological development, as demonstrated by the start-ups that spun off from the lab. In our research, key competences are in micro/nanofabrication, additive micro-manufacturing, new materials for MEMS, increasingly for wearable and biomedical applications. Together with my students and colleagues we published over 200 peer-refereed papers and I had the pleasure to supervise over 25 PhD students. Former students and postdocs have been successful in receiving awards and starting their own scientific careers. I am honoured for the appointment in 2016 as Fellow of the IEEE “For contributions to micro and nano manufacturing technology”. In 2017 my lab was awarded an ERC AdvG in the field of advanced micro-manufacturing.
Arnaud BertschTeaching & PhD PhD Students Tao Zhang, Pol Torres Vila, Nicolas Bruno Minazzo Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Joan Teixidor, Clémentine Sophie Sarah Lipp, Nicolas Grégoire Maïno, Jiande Zhou, Jongeon Park Courses Advanced microfabrication practicals MICRO-373 This TP allows for in-depth training on advanced micro and nanofabrication methods in a clean-room environment for selected applications, gain deeper knowledge in MEMS/NEMS processes, work in a small group together with PhD stude
Véronique MichaudBackground:
1994 Habilitation à diriger des recherches ( INPG, France)
1991 PhD in Materials Engineering ( MIT, USA)
1987 Ingénieur Civil des Mines ( Ecole des Mines de Paris, France)
Activities:
Since January 2018: Associate Dean of Engineering, in charge of Education
June 2012-Dec.2017: Head of the Materials Science and Engineering Section
Since April 2017: Associate Professor at EPFL
2009-2017 : Professeur Titulaire at EPFL
1997-2009: Researcher at EPFL
1994-1997 : Chef de Travaux au laboratoire MSS-MAT, Ecole Centrale Paris (France)
1991-1994 : Post-doctoral research associate, MIT (USA)
Author of about 300 publications of which 140 in peer-reviewed journals
Albert RenkenTeaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students Serge Maeder, Jacques Membrez, Stéphane Porchet, Philippe Menoud, Brigitta Frank, Harvey Randall, Wolfgang Zimmerer, Frédéric Van Vyve, Serge Golay, Jianzhong Yang, Stéphane Dubuis, Philippe Warnery, Anders Nattorp, Christian Spühler, Laurent Cavin, Miriam Lorenzi, Bastien Monnerat, André Rouge, Olivier Wolfrath, Peter Stahl, Ralf Maurer, Konrad Geissler, Volker Höller, Benoît Louis, Pierre Reuse, Fabio Rainone, Eric Joannet, Chrystèle Horny Past EPFL PhD Students as co
Cécile HébertCécile Hébert was born in France in 1970. She obtained her Ingeneer degree (physics) and her PhD degree (design of a new energy filter for transmission electron microscopy, under the direction of Prof. B. Jouffrey) at the Ecole Centrale in Paris.
As a post doc with Prof. P. Schattschneider, she was working on the calculation of the fine structure of ionisation edges in EELS. As a research assistant at the Vienna University of Technology, she was one of the main participant to the CHIRALTEM project dealing with the measurement of magnetic circular dichroism in the electron microscope.
Antonin FaesExpertise
Research in Energy Field a) Fuel Cell (SOFC) b) Organic Photovoltaic Cell TEM & SEM imaging and analysis
Mission
Team Leader on PV Modules and Reliability at EPFL PV-Lab
Dr. Antonin Faes is leading the PV Module and Reliability activity at EPFL PV-Lab and Solar Mobility Area Manager at CSEM Sustainable Energy Center. He graduated as materials science engineer at EPFL in Lausanne and got his PhD in 2010 on Solix Oxide Fuel cells. From 2012, he developed the advanced Smart-Wire Connection Technology
César PulgarinProf. C. Pulgarin is Chemist from Lausanne University, Master in environmental chemistry from Geneva University, Ph D in synthesis bio-inspired of natural substances from Neuchâtel University. During his education he carried out several industrial trainings.
Since March 1989, he has been working at the EPFL where he is leader of the Advanced Oxidation Processes Group (GPAO) active in the development chemical, photochemical, electrochemical, ultrasonic processes, their coupling between them and with biological systems to degrade chemical and microbiological pollutants in water and air. He has an H index of 40 and he is the world most cited author in 1) TiO2 photo-assisted bacterial inactivation in water and 2) Coupling of photochemical and biological processes for pollutant degradation. He has been involved in ten African, South American and European international research projects. He has been Swiss representative in COST program 540.
Thomas La GrangeExpertise
Electron Microscopy, Aberration Correct Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Diffraction, Ultrafast Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, Materials Science, High-speed deformation, Dislocation Dynamics, Skyrmionics, Martensitic Phase Transformation Theory, Solidification
Expertise
Electron Microscopy, Aberration Correct Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electron Diffraction, Ultrafast Transmission Electron Micro
Philippe BuffatBorn in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1942. EPUL physics engineer diploma in 1967 and EPFL PhD in physics in 1976. From 1966 he studies at the Experimental Physics Laboratory (Prof. J.P. Borel) the physical properties peculiar to the very small size metal crystals and gets a PhD degree for his thesis "Abaissement de la température de fusion de petits cristaux d'or par effet de taille thermodynamique" (Lowering of the melting temperature of small gold crystals by thermodynamic size effect). In 1971, he starts to develop an electron microscopy facility available to all EPFL students and researchers (nowadays Centre Interdisciplinaire de Microscopie Electronique CIME) that he manages till 2007. In parallel he teaches the principles of electron microscopy and the Experimental methods of physics at the Physics/Basic Sciences School (SB). In addition, he trains a large part of the facility users. Honorary professor BS/EPFL he carries-out a free-lance research at CIME and in collaboration with the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICRAS, Moscow) and the International Centre of Electron Microscopy for Material Science (IC-EM AGH Krakow) This activity covers all the techniques related to transmission and scanning electron microscopy applied to materials science and solid-state physics. His interest is directed towards the structure of nanocrystals, their size effects and behavior under strong electron irradiation, the phase transitions in perovskites, the characterization of nanophases, multilayer and interface structures of crystalline materials and bioceramics. More recently a large research part has moved to understanding/pointing-out the adequacy between the limits of the instruments and their interpretation means in regard of their use in a multiusers facility with a large turnover and a wide range of materials/structures. He is past-president (2006-2007) of the Société Française des Microscopies (Sfµ), honorary member of the Sfµ and of the Swiss Society of Optics and Microscopy (SSOM).
Nicolas WeissExpertise
LabVIEW programming :- data acquisition.- experiment and system automation.- graphical user interface.- support and maintenance of older programs.- support for LabVIEW developpers.
Education Ing. physicien | 2000 – 2000 EPFL Dr. es science (physique) | 2004 – 2004 EPFL
Esther AmstadEsther Amstad studied material science at ETH in Zurich. She also carried out her PhD thesis at the same University under the supervision of Prof. Marcus Textor; for her thesis, she worked on the surface modification and steric stabilization of oxide nanoparticles. As a postdoctoral fellow, she joined the experimental condensed soft matter group of David A. Weitz at Harvard University where she used droplet based microfluidics to assemble different types of functional micro- and nanomaterials. In addition, she developped new microfluidic devices that enable the production of very small, airborne drops as well as devices that produce highly monodisperse emulsion drops at a very high throughput. In June 2014, Esther joined the material science department (IMX) of EPFL where she is leading the Soft Materials Laboratory (SMAL).
Olivier MartinOlivier J.F. Martin received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics in 1989 and 1994, respectively, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. In 1989, he joined IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, where he investigated thermal and optical properties of semiconductor laser diodes. Between 1994 and 1997 he was a research staff member at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ). In 1997 he received a Lecturer fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). During the period 1996-1999, he spent a year and a half in the U.S.A., as invited scientist at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD). In 2001 he received a Professorship grant from the SNSF and became Professor of Nano-Optics at the ETHZ. In 2003, he was appointed Professor of Nanophotonics and Optical Signal Processing at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), where he is currently head of the Nanophotonics and Metrology Laboratory and Director of the Microengineering Section.
Sandrine GerberSandrine Gerber studied chemistry at the "Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris" in France, where she obtained a diploma of chemical engineer in 1993. The same year she obtained a DEA (Master degree) of organic chemistry at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI, France). From 1993 to 1996 she did a PhD in organic chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Pierre Genêt at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris. In 1996, she moved to University of Lausanne for a post-doctoral stay under the supervision of Prof. Pierre Vogel. In 1998, she was appointed Maître-Assistante at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in the University of Lausanne. In 2003, she obtained the habilitation to direct research from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI, France). The same year, she was appointed scientific adjunct at the EPFL and senior scientist (Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche) in 2006. In December 2014, she was promoted to titular professor. Since September 2007, Sandrine Gerber is deputy to the director of the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC). She is also member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Chemical Society. Since 2007, Sandrine Gerber is part-time lecturer at the university of Fribourg. She was awarded the Prize Eugene Schueller in 1997, the Prize Dufour for prospective organic chemistry in 2005 and the Werner Prize 2010. She also received a special mention in recognition of exceptional quality of pedagogic competencies in the teaching of basic sciences, given by the Direction of the School of Biology and Medicine from the University of Lausanne, in 2013. In October 2018, she will receive the Prize for Excellence in Teaching from the section of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
Andreas ZüttelTeaching & PhD PhD Students Boyu Ouyang, Wai Kwan Liu, Guillaume Bérenger Rod, Aleksandar Mihaylov Mikov, Rui Li, Akhil Varma Penmathsa Past EPFL PhD Students Robin Tobias Andreas Mutschler, Kun Zhao, Loris Giovanni Lombardo, Mo Li, Jie Zhang, Youngdon Ko, Cedric David Koolen, Thi Ha My Pham, Zohreh Akbari, Yasemen Kuddusi Courses Thermodynamics of energy conversion and storage ChE-414 The course is an introduction to the energy conversion. It focusseson the thermodynamics of the engines a