Xile HuXile Hu was born in 1978 in Putian, southeastern China. He entered the Peking University in Beijing in 1996. Besides learning too little chemistry, his biggest regret in the college was not able to correct his southern accent in Mandarin. After graduated from PKU, he went to the United States and began his doctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego. In December 2004, he finished with a Ph.D. in chemistry and some fond memories of the beautiful city of San Diego. He then moved to the Los Angeles area and become a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology. There he enjoyed numerous stimulating scientific (and other) discussions with friends and colleagues. He also made plenty of friends outside the campus and was a frequent in many local Chinese restaurants. In 2007, after two pleasant visits to Switzerland, he decided to move across the continent one more time and join the faculty of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He now directs the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis and is interested in developing chemistry for synthesis, energy and sustainability.
Gabor LaurenczyTeaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students Christian Ohlin, Céline Fellay, Weijia Gan, Katerina Stefania Sordakis, Mickael Montandon-Clerc, Cornel Fink, Lu Chen Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Séverine Joëlle Moret, Felix Daniel Bobbink
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
Jean-Marie Drezet1992-1996: PhD work at Laboratoire de Métallurgie Physique under the supervision of Prof. Michel Rappaz (cf : http://library.epfl.ch/theses/?display=detail&nr=1509) 1997-2000: EMPACT project (European Modelling Programme for Aluminium Casting Technologies) 2001-2004: VIRCAST project (European Virtual Casting) 2005-2006: Study of the sawing process of rolling sheet al. ingots (Alcan Fonds) 2005-2006: WelAIR project (Welding of Airframes, EADS) 2005-2008: study of the electron beam welding of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys (CEA, France) 2006-2008: study of the laser beam welding of Al-Li alloys (EADS, France) 2008-2011: co-supervision with Prof. A. Nussbaumer of the PhD work of C. Acevedo on the influence of residual stresses on the fatigue design of tubular welded joints, http://library.epfl.ch/theses/?nr=5056 2007-2010: co-supervision with Prof. J.-F. Molinari of the PhD work of K. Shahim on the Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (S. Momjian, HU-Genève et R. Sinkus, ESPCI-Paris), http://library.epfl.ch/theses/?nr=5191 2008-2012: co-supervision with Prof. M. Rappaz of the PhD work of M. Sistaninia on the simulation of solidification cracking using granular models (CCMX-MERU project) 2010-2014: supervision with Prof. M. Rappaz of the PhD work of N. Chobaut on the modelling of stresses during quenching of thick heat treatable aluminium parts (CCMX-MERU project) 2011-2015: supervision with Prof. H. Van Swygenhoven-Moens of the PhD work of P. Schloth on precipitation during quenching of thick heat treatable aluminium parts (CCMX-MERU project) 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).
Emad OveisiDr Emad Oveisi is a senior scientist at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Electron Microscopy (CIME), EPFL.
Emad received a BSc in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (2005) and an MSc in Materials Science (2008) both from the University of Tehran (Iran). He graduated with a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at EPFL in 2014 for a thesis on the "Three-Dimensional STEM Imaging of Dislocations" under the direction of Prof. Cécile Hébert. The PhD thesis at the Electron Spectrometry and Microscopy Laboratory (LSME), served as an introduction to many of the advanced microscopy techniques that have proven to be a platform for his research career. A post-doctoral research at the centre for electron microscopy gave him the opportunity to peruse a cutting-edge research on one of the most modern aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopes.Since the inauguration of the Energypolis campus of EPFL in Sion, he has been the manager and reference scientist of the electron microscopy platform of EPFL-Valais, working with 9 research groups and more than 200 researchers. In addition to this core responsibility, he provides advanced microscopy consulting and service to EPFL scientists and assist their research to the highest level possible.
Emad Oveisi’s research focuses on the application and development of novel electron microscopy techniques, with emphasis on 3D imaging of crystal defects, as well as the precision measurement of materials properties using aberration-corrected S/TEM. In 2018, he received the prestigious Microscopy Innovation Award for inventing “Single-shot three-dimensional electron imaging”, a novel technique that enables 3D imaging of in situ dynamics.
In 2016 Emad was elected as an interim representative for the scientific staff ("corps intermédiaire") to the Council of the Institute of Chemistry (ISIC). Since 2019, he is a member of EPFL Teachers’ Council (CCE) and has been elected as one of its four bureau members. This role allows him to be exposed to new ideas and pedagogical challenges, as well being involved in discussions with the Vice Presidency of Education (VPE) and other teaching organisations for defining teaching strategies at the EPFL.
Davide FerriTeaching & PhD PhD Students Gabriela-Teodora Dutca, Daniel Camilo Cano Blanco, Marie-Gabrielle Ameres, Marianela Lopez Romero, Min Li Tan Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Adrian Marberger, Patrick Simon Steiger, Thibault Xavier Florian Fovanna, Rob Jeremiah G. Nuguid, Maneka Claire Roger, Filippo Buttignol, Federico Cambiè
Jean-François MolinariProfessor J.F. Molinari is the director of the Computational Solid Mechanics Laboratory (http://lsms.epfl.ch) at EPFL, Switzerland. He holds an appointment in the Civil Engineering institute, which he directed from 2013 to 2017, and a joint appointment in the Materials Science institute. He started his tenure at EPFL in 2007, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2012. He is currently an elected member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation in Division 2 (Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences), and co editor in chief of the journal Mechanics of Materials. J.F. Molinari graduated from Caltech, USA, in 2001, with a M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics. He held professorships in several countries besides Switzerland, including the United States with a position in Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University (2000-2006), and France at Ecole Normale Supérieure Cachan in Mechanics (2005-2007), as well as a Teaching Associate position at the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris (2006-2009). The work conducted by Prof. Molinari and his collaborators takes place at the frontier between traditional disciplines and covers several length scales from atomistic to macroscopic scales. Over the years, Professor Molinari and his group have been developing novel multiscale approaches for a seamless coupling across scales. The activities of the laboratory span the domains of damage mechanics of materials and structures, nano- and microstructural mechanical properties, and tribology. Kevin SivulaSee webpage for more info limno.epfl.ch
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Odile Louise Andres, Arthur Eliot Bouchez, Benjamin Goldman, Nicolas Johannes Diercks, Aurélie Fanny Marie Célérien, Jiajun Li, Louise Marie Foltzer-De Cian, Melanie Victoria Johanning, Nils William Laurent Golay Past EPFL PhD Students Andrea Gasperini, Pauline Bornoz, Xavier Adrian Jeanbourquin, Xiaoyun Yu, Mathieu Steven Prévot, Muhammad Aiman Bin Rahmanudin Hamdan, Nhât-Tân Vuong, Yongpeng Liu, Arvindh Sekar, Barbara Alexandra Primera
Mohammad Khaja NazeeruddinDr. Md. K. Nazeeruddin received M.Sc. and Ph. D. in inorganic chemistry from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He joined as a Lecturer in Deccan College of Engineering and Technology, Osmania University in 1986, and subsequently, moved to Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, as a Research Associate. He was awarded the Government of Indias fellowship in 1987 for study abroad. In 2014, EPFL awarded him the title of Professor. His current research at EPFL focuses on Dye Sensitized Solar Cells, Perovskite Solar Cells, CO2 reduction, Hydrogen production, and Light-emitting diodes. He has published more than 509 peer-reviewed papers, ten book chapters, and he is inventor/co-inventor of over 50 patents. The high impact of his work has been recognized by invitations to speak at over 130 international conferences, and has been nominated to the OLLA International Scientific Advisory Board. He appeared in the ISI listing of most cited chemists, and has more than 49'000 citations with an h-index of 105. He is teaching "Functional Materials" course at EPFL, and Korea University; directing, and managing several industrial, national, and European Union projects. He was awarded EPFL Excellence prize in 1998 and 2006, Brazilian FAPESP Fellowship in 1999, Japanese Government Science & Technology Agency Fellowship, in 1998, Government of India National Fellowship in 1987-1988. Recently he has been appointed as World Class University (WCU) professor by the Korea University, Jochiwon, Korea (http://dses.korea.ac.kr/eng/sub01_06_2.htm), Adjunct Professor by the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Eminent Professor in Brunei. Berend SmitBerend Smit received an MSc in Chemical Engineering in 1987 and an MSc in Physics both from the Technical University in Delft (the Netherlands). He received in 1990 cum laude PhD in Chemistry from Utrecht University (the Netherlands). He was a (senior) Research Physicists at Shell Research from 1988-1997, Professor of Computational Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) 1997-2007.
In 2004 Berend Smit was elected Director of the European Center of Atomic and Molecular Computations (CECAM) Lyon France. Since 2007 he is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley and Faculty Chemist at Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Since 2014 he has been director of the Energy Center at EPFL.
Pascal Alexander SchouwinkTeaching & PhD Courses Advanced Solid State and Surface Characterization CH-633 State-of-the-art surface/thin film characterization methods of polycrystalline/nano/amorphous materials. Selected topics from X-ray scattering (SAXS/GISAXS, PDF, GIWAXS, HRXRD), electronic and optical spectroscopy (XPS, AES, SERS, TERS), scanning probe and electron microscopy (STM, AFM, HRTEM, SEM). Principles and Applications of X-ray Diffraction CH-632 Basic theoretical aspects of Crystallograph
Arnaud MagrezEducation
PhD., Materials Science, summa cum laude, Université de Nantes, 2002
M.S., Chemistry, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 1999
Academic positions
Head of the Crystal Growth Facility, EPFL, 2012-present
Research Associate, Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Complexe, EPFL, 2003-2012
Research Fellow, Peter Grunberg Institute, FZ-Juelich, 2002-2003
Administrative positions at EPFL
Scientific staff member, EPFL Assembly, 2015-present
Scientific staff member, School Council SB, 2014-present
Member of the IPHYS office 2016-present
Member of the ICMP office 2012-2015
Member of the safety committee of ICMP 2010-2015
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
Zohreh AkbariExpertise
Energy Materials, Hydrogen, Catalysis, Chemical Engineering, Material Characterization
Education Catalytic Hydrogen Combustion: Insights into Reaction Mechanisms and Material Design | Materials Science and Engineering 2021 – 2025 EPFL
