Dominique PiolettiDominique Pioletti received his Master in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in 1992. He pursued his education in the same Institution and obtained his PhD in biomechanics in 1997. He developed original constitutive laws taking into account viscoelasticity in large deformations. Then he spent two years at UCSD as post-doc fellow acquiring know-how in cell and molecular biology. He was interested in particular to gene expression of bone cells in contact to orthopedic implant. In April 2006, Dominique Pioletti was appointed Assistant Professor tenure-track at the EPFL and is director of the Laboratory of Biomechanical Orthopedics. His research topics include biomechanics and tissue engineering of musculo-skeletal tissues; mechano-transduction in bone; development of orthopedic implant as drug delivery system. Since 2013, he has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.
Volker GassAfter completing his master’s degree in Microtechnology at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne in 1989 he worked as a Project Manager at Mecanex SA, a Swiss High-Tech company active in the field of Aerospace Mechanisms. While working at Mecanex he completed a PhD in Science in the field of applied Micro-Systems Technologies at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1994. In 1995, Volker Gass participated in the Management Buy Out of Mecanex SA. In 2000, Mecanex was acquired by the Swiss Defence and Technology group RUAG . He was appointed to lead Customer Relations and Business Development of the newly formed Systems & Space Division at RUAG Aerospace in 2004. In the same year he was appointed member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences for his contribution in the field of High-Technology Space applications. From November 2006 to June 2007, Volker Gass successfully graduated RUAG’s Top Leadership Course, and held the position of General Manager, Sales & Marketing in the Space Division of RUAG in Switzerland as well as Member of the Board of Directors (President) of Mecanex USA Inc., Berlin, CT, until December 2009.In 2008 he successfully led the acquisition of SAAB Space and its subsidiary Austrian Aerospace. From January to June 2009 Volker Gass led the business team in the successful acquisition of Oerlikon Space. From mid-2009 to September 2011 he was responsible for Special Projects in the Marketing & Sales Organization of RUAG Space Switzerland. Since October 2011, Dr. Volker Gass is nominated Director of the Swiss Space Center at the Ecole Politechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. In March 2012, he is awarded the title of Adjunct Professor at the School of Engineering (STI) of the EPFL. From January 2014 to December 2017, he was nominated member of ESA’s Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee (HESAC) and from spring 2015 to December 2018, observer at ESA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee (ESAC).As of January 1, 2021, The Swiss Space Center is renamed "Space Innovation"
Dario FloreanoProf. Dario Floreano is director of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). Since 2010, he is the founding director of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Robotics, a research program that brings together more than 20 labs across Switzerland. Prof. Floreano holds an M.A. in Vision, an M.S. in Neural Computation, and a PhD in Robotics. He has held research positions at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, at Caltech/JPL, and at Harvard University. His main research interests are Robotics and A.I. at the convergence of biology and engineering. Prof. Floreano made pioneering contributions to the fields of evolutionary robotics, aerial robotics, and soft robotics. He served in numerous advisory boards and committees, including the Future and Emerging Technologies division of the European Commission, the World Economic Forum Agenda Council, the International Society of Artificial Life, the International Neural Network Society, and in the editorial committee of several scientific journals. In addition, he helped spinning off two drone companies (senseFly.com and Flyability.com) and a non-for-profit portal on robotics and A.I. (RoboHub.org). Books
Manuale sulle Reti Neurali, il Mulino (in Italian), 1996 (first edition), 2006 (second edition)Evolutionary Robotics, MIT Press, 2000
Bio-Inspired Artificial Intelligence, MIT Press, 2008
Flying Insects and Robots, Springer Verlag, 2010
John BotsisJohn (Ioannis) Botsis obtained his diplôme in civil engineering at the University of Patras, Greece in 1979. He continued his education at Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland Ohio/USA, where he received his MS and Ph.D. in 1984. After two years at the research center for national defense in Athens he was nominated assistant professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, associate in 1991 and full professor in 1995. In 1996, he was nominated professor of solids and structural mechanics at the EPFL. At EPFL he teaches mechanics of structures and mechanics of continuous media´ at the bachelors level and Fracture mechanics at the masters and doctoral levels. His research covers the mechanics of solids and structures, fracture mechanics and micromechanics of polymers, metals and their composites as well as biomechanics. He is also actively involved in full-filed optical methods for surface strain measurements as well as internal strain measurements using fiber Bragg grating sensors, aimed at characterizing micromechanics of fracture, residual strains and strain distribution in composite laminates for structural monitoring. Funding for his research comes from the Swiss National Science Foundation, State Secretariat for Education and Research and Swiss industry. He retired on February 28, 2020.
Daniel FavratDaniel Favrat got his Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from EPFL in 1972 and his PhD also from EPFL. He then spent 12 years in industrial research laboratories in Canada (Esso Canada) and Switzerland (CERAC: Centre Européen de Recherche Atlas Copco). From 1988 to 2013, he was full professor and director of the Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory (LENI) at EPFL. During that period he was successively director of the Institute of Energy and director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering. From August 2013 he works at EPFL Energy Center first as director ad interim and now as director technologies.
His research fields include systemic analyses accounting for energy, environment and economics (so-called environomic optimisation) and advanced conversion systems for a more rational use of energy (heat pumps &ORC, engines, fuel cells, power plants, etc).
He is a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and of the National Academy of Technology in France. He has also an active participation in the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) as a member of the executive committee and vice-chair of the energy committee. He is associate editor of the journal "Energy" and of International Journal of thermodynamics. He is the author of several books on thermodynamics and energy systems analysis. He is also affiliate professor at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm.
Giulia TagliabueDr. Giulia Tagliabue is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM). She obtained her B.S. and M.S degrees cum laude in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Udine in Italy. Concurrently she also obtained the diploma from the Scuola Normale Superiore of Udine. In 2015 she obtained her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich with a thesis on nanophotonic design for light-to-heat and light-to-charge conversion devices. In 2015 Dr. Tagliabue was awarded the Early Mobility Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation and moved to Caltech as a PostDoctoral fellow. In 2017, thanks to the award of an Advanced Mobility Fellowship, she prolonged her stay at Caltech. Here, in collaboration with the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) she investigated coupled light, heat and charge transfer processes in nanophotonic structures and low-dimensional materials for photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic sustainable energy conversion.
Sangwoo KimSangwoo Kim is set to join EPFL as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor in September 2023. Prior to his appointment at EPFL, he served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned his graduate degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where his research delved into the relationships between statistics, geometry, and mechanical states in cellular matters. Currently, his research focus on fundamental understanding of biological and living systems, as well as the study of soft and active matter employing principles from mechanics and physics. His research interests encompass embryonic development, tissue morphogenesis, structure and mechanics of soft materials, inherent structure of amorphous materials, and non-equilibrium dynamics of active matter.
Jean-Marie FuerbringerJean-Marie Fürbringer graduated with a degree in Physics at EPFL in 1987. Developing his doctoral research on sensitivity analysis of simulation models, he was awarded the doctoral degree by EPFL in 1992.
From 1995 to 1997, Dr Fürbringer was visiting researcher at the NIST in Gaithersburg (Maryland).
In 1997, Dr Fürbringer was appointed visiting professor with the Faculty of Engineering Science at the Catholic University of Lima (PUCP). While at PUCP, he also established and managed the Learning Center of Graña y Montero, which provides training and competency management for the five companies of the group.
In 2001, Dr Fürbringer joined the laboratory of production and processes (LGPP) at EPFL where he led and managed several research projects on competency management and engineering education.
From 2007 to 2010, he was deputy director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering.
Dr Fürbringer was appointed to the position of deputy dean of the EPFL Doctoral School in 2010 where he has worked till fall 2013.
From November 2013 he has been attached to the Section of Physics as research associate.
