Daniel Alexander Florez OrregoExpertise
• Exergy and Energy Integration of Chemical and Industrial Processes• Cogeneration and Polygeneration, Refrigeration and Heat Pumping Systems• Technical, Economic and Environmental Analyses• Refineries, Biorefineries, Fertilizers Complexes, Hydrogen and Synthetic Fuels (SNG, DME, MeOH, FT, H2, Power-to-X)• Second law of Thermodynamics and Irreversible Thermodynamics• Combustion, Heat Transfer, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Reaction design• Modeling and Optimization of Energy Conversion Systems• Ma
Kumar Varoon AgrawalExpertise
Prof. Kumar Varoon Agrawal leads research at EPFL on advanced membrane materials and processes for energy-efficient molecular separations. His work focuses on atomically thin porous graphene film, and two-dimensional zeolite & metal–organic framework membranes that enable selective transport of gases and ions, with applications in carbon capture, hydrogen purification, ammonia separation, and resource recovery. By combining materials chemistry, nanofluidics, transport phenomena, atomistic simulati
Athanasios NenesTeaching & PhD PhD Students Berkay Dönmez, Ernest Abboud Past EPFL PhD Students Paraskevi Georgakaki, Lucile Ricard Courses Atmospheric processes: from cloud to global scales ENV-407 The main objective is to present important atmospheric processes from the local to global scales. The course will start with cloud processes, continue to synoptic phenomena like extratropical cyclones and fronts, to finally cover numerical modeling at the regional and global scales. Introduction to environme
Raffaella BuonsantiTeaching & PhD PhD Students Riya Gupta, Jennifer Calderon Mora, Coline Boulanger, Moritz Tritschler, Marco Fabbiano, Seyedmohamadjavad Chabok, Hugh Andrew Warkentin Past EPFL PhD Students Chethana Janardhana Gadiyar, Seryio Saris, Valeria Mantella, Seyedehbehnaz Varandili, Pranit Srinivas Iyengar, Yannick Thomas Guntern, Jan Vávra, Laia Castilla Amorós, Valery Okatenko, Ona Segura Lecina, Ludovic Emile Frédy Zaza, Petru Pasquale Albertini Courses Introduction to chemical engineering Laboratory Works
Claudia Rebeca Binder SignerClaudia R. Binder, a Swiss, Canadian and Colombian citizen, was born in Montreal and spent most of her childhood in Switzerland and Colombia. She studied at ETH Zurich from 1985 to 1996, earning a degree in biochemistry and then a PhD in environmental sciences. After conducting her post-doctoral research at the University of Maryland in the US from 1996 to 1998, she returned to Switzerland and took a position as a senior research scientist at ETH Zurich, studying the interaction between human and environmental systems at the Institute for Natural and Social Science Interface. In 2006, Binder joined the University of Zurich as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, and in 2009 moved to the University of Graz in Austria where she served as a full professor of systems science. In 2011, she took a position at the University of Munich’s Department of Geography as a full professor of human-environment relations.
Binder joined EPFL in March 2016 and set up the Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) at ENAC; she also holds the La Mobilière Chair on Urban Ecology and Sustainable Living.
Her research involves analyzing, modelling and assessing the transition of urban systems towards sustainability. She looks in particular at how we can better understand the dynamics of urban metabolism, what characterizes a sustainable city, and what drives and hinders transformation processes. She does so by combining knowledge from social, natural and data science. Her research focuses on food, energy, and sustainable living and transport in urban systems.
In Switzerland, Binder was appointed to the Research Council, Programs Division of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2016 and serves on the Steering Committee of the SNSF’s National Research Program 71, “Managing Energy Consumption” and the Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCER). She is also a member of the Steering Board on Sustainability Research for the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the University Council of the University of Munich (LMU).
At EPFL, Binder is the academic director of Design Together, a cross-disciplinary teaching initiative. She was appointed to the management team of the Energy Center in 2018 and as head of the working group on EPFL’s energy and sustainability strategy in 2019.
Du WenEducation PhD | Doctor of Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering 2020 – 2023 The University of Tokyo MEng | Master of Engineering, Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics 2016 – 2019 Xi’an Jiaotong University Bsc | Bachelor of Engineering 2012 – 2016 Xi’an Jiaotong University
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
Julia SchmaleExpertise
atmospheric science, aerosol-cloud interactions, climate change in polar regions
Mission
Extreme environments are particularly sensitive to climate change and are transforming at accelerated rates. This can have important global repercussions. EERL aims to create integrated process understanding by investigating interactions between the atmosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, ocean, land and anthroposphere. The goal is to characterize climate-change relevant and vertically-resolved processes that are d
Camille Aude RollandResearchCurrent Research Fields Microbes in radioactive waste disposalIn Switzerland, radioactive waste will be stored in a deep geological repository hosted within the Opalinus Clay rock formation. During long-term storage, hydrogen gas is expected to be generated through the anoxic corrosion of the steel containers that hold the waste. To prevent the accumulation of hydrogen, we propose creating conditions within the repository that allow microorganisms to grow and consume this gas. My PhD focuses on thre
Simon Elias BibriExpertise
• Sustainable cities• Smarter eco-cities• Sustainable smart cities• Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) • Generative Artificial Intelligence of Things (GAIoT)• Foundation Models (FMs) • Quantum Generative Artificial Intelligence (QGAI)• Urban Digital Twins (UDTs)• Urban Brain (UB) • Smart Circular Metabolism• Urban planning and design• Environmental sustainability and climate resilience• Sustainable smart energy• Sustainable smart transportation• Sustainable smart waste and water management•
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
Mirko MusaExpertise
Hydraulic engineering, experimental research, sediment transport, morphodynamics, river mechanics, hydropower, hydrokinetic energy, renewable energy
Mirko Musa is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Hydraulic Engineering within the Institute of Civil Engineering at EPFL. He directs the STREEM Lab (Sustainable River Engineering, Energy, and Morphodynamics). STREEM Lab integrates laboratory experiments, data analysis, and analytical modeling to advance water power technologies, including hydropowe
Giancarlo Ferrari TrecateExpertise
Automatic control, Dependable control, Neural-network Control, Machine learning, Microgrids, Hybrid systems
Mission
See the webpage of the DECODE (Dependable Control and Decision) group.
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Laura Meroi, Julien Pallage, Nicolas Léo Pierre Kirsch, Simone Baratto, Daniele Martinelli, Riccardo Cescon, Jakob Nylöf, Sabri El Amrani Past EPFL PhD Students Pulkit Nahata, Mustafa Sahin Turan, Baiwei Guo, Jean-Sébastien Brouillon, Clara Galimberti, Andrea Martin, Muhammad Zakwan,
Jérémy DumoulinExpertise
energy system modelling, electric mobility, solar energy, photovoltaic performance modelling
Qiucheng XuExpertise
- Operando Water and Ion Transport: I pioneered operando high-energy X-ray scattering and fluorescence (WAXS/SAXS/XRF) to directly visualize water and ion transport in membrane–electrode assemblies. These studies revealed how water movement, flooding, and salt formation govern degradation in CO/CO2 electrolysis, establishing the dynamic transport mechanisms in confined electrochemical environments. (Nat. Nanotechnol. 2025; Joule 2024; Nat. Catal. 2023)2. Design of Membrane-Electrode Interface: I
Jakob HeierTeaching & PhD PhD Students Vahid Charkhesht Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Nicolas Alexandre Serge Leclaire, Donatas Gesevicius, Surendra Babu Anantharaman, Sina Abdolhosseinzadeh, Shungui Deng Courses Modern photovoltaic technologies PHYS-609 A link between the fundamental physics, device operation and technological development of various solar cell technologies. Learning about all modern photovoltaic technlogies incl. industrially relevant wafer based silicon, thin film chalcogeni
