Andreas MortensenAndreas Mortensen is currently Professor and Director of the Institute of Materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where he heads the Laboratory for Mechanical Metallurgy. He joined the faculty of EPFL 1997 after ten years, from 1986 to 1996, as a member of the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he held the successive titles of ALCOA Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. His research is focussed on the processing, microstructural development and mechanical behavior of advanced metallic materials with particular focus on metal matrix composites and metal foams, on infiltration processing and capillarity, and on damage and fracture in metallic materials. He is author or co-author of two monographs, around one hundred and eighty scientific or technical publications and twelve patents. Born in San Francisco in 1957, of dual (Danish and US) nationality, Andreas Mortensen graduated in 1980 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris with a Diplôme dIngénieur Civil, and earned his Ph.D. in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT in 1986. Besides his academic employment, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Nippon Steel during part of 1986, and was invited professor at the Ecole des Mines in Paris during the academic year 1995 to 1996. He is a member of the editorial committee of International Materials Reviews and has co-edited four books. He is a Fellow of ASM, a recipient of the Howe Medal and the Grossman Award of the American Society of Metals, was awarded the Péchiney Prize by the French Academy of Sciences and the Res Metallica Chair from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, received three EPFL teaching awards, is one of ISIs Highly Cited authors for Materials Science since 2002 and was awarded an ERC advanced grant in 2012.
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
Christian Ludwig2005 - today: Adjunct Professor at EPFL in the field of Solid Waste Treatment and head of the Chemical Processes and Materials research group (CPM) at Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). Joint EPFL-PSI Professorship on Solid Waste Treatment. 2000 - today: Head, Group of Chemical Processes and Materials (CPM) at Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI). In 2009 the LEM unit was closed and the CPM group is now affiliated to the Bioenergy and Catalysis Laboratory (LBK) of the Energy and Environment Research Division (ENE). Since June 2002 permanent position ("tenure"). 1997 - 1999: Senior Scientist. Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), General Energy Research Department, Element Cycles Section. 1995 - 1997: Research Fellow. Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Department of Resource and Waste Management. 1993 - 1995: Post-doc Fellow. University of California Davis, Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources (LAWR). 1990 - 1993: PhD Student. University of Berne, Department of Inorganic, Analytical, and Physical Chemistry. 1989 - 1990: Master Student. University of Berne, Department of Inorganic, Analytical, and Physical Chemistry.
Vassily HatzimanikatisDr. Vassily Hatzimanikatis is currently Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Lausanne, Switzerland. Vassily received a PhD and an MS in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and his Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the University of Patras, in Greece. After the completion of his doctoral studies, he held a research group leader position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland. Prior to joining EPFL, Vassily worked for three years in DuPont, Cargill, and Cargill Dow, and he has been assistant professor at Northwestern University, at Illinois, USA.
Vassilys research interests are in the areas of computational systems biology, biotechnology, and complexity. He is associate editor of the journals Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Metabolic Engineering and Integrative Biology, and he serves on the editorial advisory board of the journals Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, and Industrial Biotechnology. He has written over 70 technical publications and he is co-inventor in three patents and patent applications.
Vassily is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2010), he was a DuPont Young Professor (2001-2004), and he has also received the Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award in Metabolic Engineering (2000), and the ACS Elmar Gaden Award (2011).
Frédéric MilaExpertise
Condensed matter theory, strongly correlated systems, frustrated and quantum magnetism, tensor networks
Mission
Perform research in condensed matter theory, whenever possible in collaboration with experimentalists at EPFL and throughout the world
Current Work
- Magnetism on the Shastry-Sutherland lattice- Tensor network approach to 2D strongly correlated systems- Thermal properties of 2D frustrated quantum magnets- Exotic phases of quantum one-dimensional models
Since 2003 Full Professor at EPFL (
Nicolas MacrisNicolas Macris received the PhD degree in theoretical physics from EPFL and then pursued his scientific activity at the mathematics department of Rutgers University (NJ, USA). He then joined the Faculty of Basic Science of EPFL, working in the field of quantum statistical mechanics and mathematical aspects of the quantum Hall effect. Since 2005 he is with the Communication Theories Laboratory and Information Processing group of the School of Communication and Computer Science and currently works at the interface of statistical mechanics, information theory and error correcting codes, inference and learning theory. He held long-term visiting appointments and collaborations with the University College and the Institute of Advanced studies in Dublin, the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the Centre de Physique Theorique Luminy Marseille, Paris XI Orsay, the ETH Zürich and more recently Los Alamos National Lab. CV and publication list.
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral2014 Associate Professor at the Institut des Matériaux, EPFL
2008 Assistant Professor Tenure Track at the Institut des Matériaux, EPFL
2009 Habilitation in Physics, Technische Universität München
2005-2010 Marie Curie Excellence Grant Team Leader at Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universität München, on leave from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France)
2004-2005 Visiting Scientist at the California Institute of Technology, on leave from CNRS; Senior Scientist and co-founder of Aonex Technologies (a startup company for large area layer transfer of InP and Ge on foreign substrates for the main application of multi-junction solar cells)
2003 Permanent Research Fellow at CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, France
2001-2002 Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology
Study of wafer bonding and hydrogen-induced exfoliation processes for integration of mismatched materials in views of photovoltaic applications
Sponsor: Professor Harry A. Atwater
1998-2001 PhD in Materials Science, Ecole Polytechnique
Study of polymorphous silicon: growth mechanisms, optical and structural properties. Application to Solar Cells and Thin Film Transistors
Advisor: Pere Roca i Cabarrocas
1997-1998 Diplôme dEtudes Approfondis (D.E.A.) in Materials Science at Université Paris XI, France .
1993-1997 BA in Physics at Universitat de Barcelona
Ayush AgarwalCurrent work
Developing size resolved elemental analysis methods for characterizing nano-objects in process effluents and environmental samples
Education PhD | Energy - Chemistry and Chemical Engineering 2020 – 2020 EPFL – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne / Paul Scherrer Institute M.Sc. | Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment 2017 – 2019 KTH Royal Institute of Technology B.E. (Hons.) | Chemical Engineering 2011 – 2015 Birla I
Mohamed FarhatM. Farhat was born in Casablanca in 1962 (Moroccan citizen). He graduated at Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Hydraulique et de Mécanique de Grenoble (France. He joined The LMH laboratory in 1986 as research assistant. He completed in 1994 a Ph.D. thesis on Cavitation. He joined the R&D department of Hydro-Quebec in Montréal (Canada) in 1995 where he was in charge of several research projects in the areas of production and transportation of hydropower and mainly the monitoring of large hydro turbines. Since 2001, he is senior scientist at the LMH laboratory, head of the cavitation group. He is also lecturer in Master and Doctoral programs. He is member of the Doctoral Committee in Mechanics.
Andrea CapozziExpertise
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP)Hyperpolarization TechniquesCryogenics
Open PhD positions
Open PhD position on the Physics of Xenon hyperpolarizationA PhD student position is available on the Physics of Xenon hyperpolarization: Spin Exchange Optical Pumping (SEOP) and Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP)The project builds on a well-established and long-standing collaboration between the Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging at
Thanh Phong Kevin LêTeaching & PhD Courses MRI Practicals on CIBM preclinical imaging systems PHYS-473 The goal of this course is to teach students how to perform basic MRI and MRS experiments in-vivo and ex-vivo directly on preclinical horizontal ultra-high field MRI systems. Courses MRI Practicals on CIBM preclinical imaging systems The goal of this course is to teach students how to perform basic MRI and MRS experiments in-vivo and ex-vivo directly on preclinical horizontal ultra-high field MRI systems.
Nadine BalucTeaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students Emmanuelle Giacometti, Raluca Schibli, Gang Yu, Bin Long, Lyubomira Veleva
Christian Michael WolffTeaching & PhD PhD Students Chiara Ongaro, Kliner Vojtech, Jonas Lasse Diekmann, Hilal Aybike Can, Yu-Hsuan Lai Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Quentin Jean-Marie Armand Guesnay, Kerem Artuk, Deniz Türkay, Mostafa Othman
Awards ZKS/EPFL PRIZE, Award in Environmental Engineering and Sustainability Zeno Karl Schindler Foundation 2025
Christophe BallifChristophe Ballif is director of the Phototovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratoryb) (PV-Lab at the institute of microengineering (IMT) in Neuchâtel (part of the EPFL since 2009). The lab focus is on the science and technology of high efficiency heterojunction crystalline cells,so-called passivating contacts for solar cells, multi-junction solar cells include novel generation Perovskite on innovative optical high speed detector and on various macroelectronics application. It also deals with energy management with a focus on integration of solar electricity into the energy system. The PV-Lab has strongly contributed to technology transfer and industrialization of novel devices and full technology with numerous companies. Christophe Ballif graduated as a physicist from the EPFL in 1994, where he also obtained in 1998 his Phd degree working on novel PV materials. He accomplished his postdoctoral research at NREL (Golden, US) on compound semiconductor solar cells (CIGS and CdTe). He worked then at the Fraunhofer ISE (Ge) on crystalline silicon photovoltaics (monocrystalline and multi-crystalline) until 2003 and then at the EMPA in Thun (CH) before becoming full professor at the University of Neuchâtel IMT in 2004, taking over the chair of Prof. A. Shah. Since 2013, C.Ballif is also the director of the new CSEM PV-Center, also located in Neuchâtel. The CSEM PV-Center is focussing more on industrialisation and technology transfer in the field of solar energy, including solar electricity management and storage. At the core of the CSEM PV-center activities lies several "pilot lines" for various kinds of solar cells manufacturing, with a focus coating technologies, wet chemistry processes for crystalline silicon, metalisation techniques for solar cells, and a platform for developing "ideal packaging solutions and polymers" for PV modules. In addition, joined facitilites between CSEM and EPFL of over 800 m2 are available for modules manufacturing, measuring and accelerated aging. CSEM PV-center has also full team dedicated to storage and energy systems and operates a joined center with BFH in Biel for research on electrochemical storage. He (co-) authored over 500 journal and technical papers, as well as several patents. He is an elected member of the SATW, member of the scientific council of the Swiss AEE, and member of the board of the EPFL Energy center. In 2016, he recieved the Becquerel prize for his contributions to the field of high efficiency photovoltaics.
Manuel Guizar SicairosTeaching & PhD PhD Students Aknur Karabay, Pengju Sheng, Wenxuan Fang Courses Physical Optics and Advanced Imaging PHYS-715 This course gives an introduction to principles of Fourier and physical optics, numerical propagation, and sampling. On the second half the course covers topics of advanced imaging, including 3 external lecturers who are experts in application or development of advanced imaging techniques.
