Solomzi MakohlisoTeaching & PhD Courses Development engineering ENV-470 This course teaches the fundamentals of technologies for development (Development Engineering) to design, pilot, and deploy appropriate, affordable and robust technologies to address sustainable development challenges and especially those related to extreme poverty in Low-income settings. Science, Technology & Vulnerability HUM-287 This course explores how science and technology can address extreme vulnerability caused by
Klaus Benedikt SchönenbergerVision: Scientific research and technology development can be mobilized to help the poorest and most vulnerable in this world. Klaus Schönenberger obtained an MSc in Microengineering (1993), followed by a PhD (1996) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). After a post-doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, he spent over 10 years in the medical devices industry in leading positions such as Vice-President of Worldwide R&D in a 100mcompanyandGlobalVice−ResidentofResearchandTechnologyina1bn company. In 2009, as he was working for a medical devices company, he received a shock: he realized that there is a huge imbalance in access to medical technology in industrialized versus low and middle-income countries. After a closer look, he discovered that he imbalance’s main cause is a mismatch between existing technologies and business models, with those needed in low and middle-income countries. He decided to leave industry and, in 2009, he co-founded the EssentialMed Foundation, an innovative non-profit venture. In 2011, realizing that both technology and business models needed a profound rethinking, he joined EPFL where he launched EssentialTech, an initiative inspired by the philosophy of EssentialMed but expanded to a much wider portfolio of "essential" technologies. The university-wide program aims to develop innovative technologies and business models, for the benefit of sustainable development in low and middle-income countries. In this role, he has already launched and overseen a dozen large projects. Major Humanitarian actors such as the ICRC, MSF and Terre des Hommes took notice of the innovative approach proposed, and decided to collaborate in 2015-2016. This has resulted notably in the joint creation between EPFL and ICRC, of the Humanitarian Tech Hub at EPFL. In May 2017, Klaus directed and launched a MOOC(Massive Open Online Course) entitled “Technology Innovation for Sustainable Development” which aims to spread the unique methodology and approach worldwide. As of today, more than 6000 people have enrolled. In 2018 a first spin-off company was created. Award winning Pristem SA will deploy an innovative new digital xray imaging system, specifically designed for low-income contexts. In December 2018, the creation of the EssentialTech centre was announced by EPFL's presidency, and Klaus is now the Centre's director. Another spin-off of the EssentialTech Centre is the company HMCare, launched in 2020, which is deploying a transparent surgical mask. Dragan DamjanovicDragan Damjanovic received BSc diploma in Physics from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Sarajevo, in 1980, and PhD in Ceramics Science from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in 1987. From 1988 to 1991 he was a research associate in the Materials Research Laboratory at the PSU. He joined the Ceramics Laboratory, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in 1991. He is currently a "professeur titulaire", heads the Group for Ferroelectrics and Functional Oxides at the Institute of Materials and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on structure and electrical properties of materials. The research activities include fundamental and applied investigations of piezoelectric, ferroelectric and dielectric properties of a broad class of materials.
Marie Estelle Solange ViolayExpertise
-Rock mechanics-Rock physics-Fault and earthquake mechanics-Hydro-mechanical couplings
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Cindy Mikaelian, Francesco Lazari, Franco Matías Robbiano Muñoz, Karin Andrea Hofer Apostolidis, Andrea Mazzeo Past EPFL PhD Students Felipe Orellana, Mateo Acosta, Chiara Cornelio, Corentin Noël, Federica Paglialunga, Antoine Guggisberg Courses Designing Testing Machines for Geomechanics ME-700 Develop your own machines to meet your scientific needs. Learn how to bu
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) Eleni StavropoulouCurrent work
CO2 storage (geological sequestration)Caprock characterisationExperimental study of interfaces of geomaterialsMicro-structural study of geomaterials with in-situ 3D imaging
Dr. Eleni Stavropoulou is leading the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) activities of the Laboratory of Soil Mechanics (LMS) in EPFL. She received her PhD in Geomechanics in 2017 from the University Grenoble Alpes (France).Her research has been focusing on the characterisation of natural geomaterials in the context of contemp
Janet Gordon HeringExpertise
Biogeochemical cycling of trace metals and metalloids Mineral weathering and reactions at mineral surfaces Water treatment processes for removal of inorganic contaminants
Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program, Cambridge, MA, Ph.D. in Oceanography, May1988. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, A.M. in Chemistry, January 1981. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, A.B. in Chemistry, June 1979.Professional Experience Swiss Federal Institute of A
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.
Farhad Rachidi-HaeriFarhad Rachidi (IEEE Fellow, EMP Fellow, Electromagnetics Academy Fellow) was born in Geneva in 1962. He received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, in 1986 and 1991 respectively.
He worked at the Power Systems Laboratory of the same institute until 1996 and had several short stays at the University of Florida and the NASA Kennedy Space Center. In 1997, he joined the Lightning Research Laboratory of the University of Toronto in Canada and from April 1998 until September 1999, he was with Montena EMC in Switzerland. He is currently a titular professor and the head of the EMC Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
His research interests concern electromagnetic compatibility, lightning electromagnetics and electromagnetic field interactions with transmission lines.
Dr. Rachidi is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY and the President of the Swiss National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science.
He has received numerous awards including the 2005 IEEE EMC Technical Achievement Award, the 2005 CIGRE Technical Committee Award, the 2006 Blondel Medal from the French Association of Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Information Technology and Communication (SEE), the 2016 Berger Award from the International Conference on Lightning Protection, the 2016 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on EMC, and the 2017 Motohisa Kanda Award for the most cited paper of the IEEE Transactions on EMC (2012-2016).
In 2014, he was conferred the title of Honorary Professor of the Xi’an Jiaotong University in China.
He served as the Vice-Chair of the European COST Action on the Physics of Lightning Flash and its Effects from 2005 to 2009, the Chairman of the 2008 European Electromagnetics International Symposium, the President of the International Conference on Lightning Protection from 2008 to 2014, the Editor-in-Chief of the Open Atmospheric Science Journal (2010-2012) and the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY from 2013 to 2015. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and of the SUMMA Foundation, and a member of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
He is the author or coauthor of over 200 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals and over 400 papers presented at international conferences.
Pierre-Etienne BourbanBackground 1990 Ingénieur en science des matériaux 1993 PhD in materials science Activities 1993-1994 Research at the Center for Composite Materials, University of Delaware, USA (ccm.udel.edu), SNSF grant Since 1994 Research and teaching at EPFL, Composites, (LTC, LPAC) 1995-1999 Coordination Swiss Priority Program on Materials research: 2.2: Composites Since 1998 Biocomposites 2004-2009 Direction of the EPFL Transdisciplinary programme in Sport and Rehabilitation 2005-2008 Member of the EPFL Vice-Presidency for Innovation and Valorisation and direction a.i.EPFL-LTC Since 2016 Direction Discovery Learning Labs Materials/Bioengineering and Engineering