Jürgen BruggerI am a Professor of Microengineering and co-affiliated to Materials Science. Before joining EPFL I was at the MESA Research Institute of Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, and at the Hitachi Central Research Laboratory, in Tokyo, Japan. I received a Master in Physical-Electronics and a PhD degree from Neuchâtel University, Switzerland. Research in my laboratory focuses on various aspects of MEMS and Nanotechnology. My group contributes to the field at the fundamental level as well as in technological development, as demonstrated by the start-ups that spun off from the lab. In our research, key competences are in micro/nanofabrication, additive micro-manufacturing, new materials for MEMS, increasingly for wearable and biomedical applications. Together with my students and colleagues we published over 200 peer-refereed papers and I had the pleasure to supervise over 25 PhD students. Former students and postdocs have been successful in receiving awards and starting their own scientific careers. I am honoured for the appointment in 2016 as Fellow of the IEEE “For contributions to micro and nano manufacturing technology”. In 2017 my lab was awarded an ERC AdvG in the field of advanced micro-manufacturing.
Ambrogio FasoliAmbrogio FASOLI was born on November 10, 1964, in Milano, Italy. After a classical high school diploma (Maturità Classica) and graduation from the University of Milano, with the degree of Dottore in Fisica, he obtained his Phd at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale (EPFL) with a thesis on chaos in wave-particle interactions in plasmas, which was awarded the Best EPFL Thesis prize, in 1993. He then moved to the JET Joint Undertaking, the largest worlds fusion device, near Oxford, UK, to investigate Alfvén waves and burning plasma physics. In 1995-1996 he took a sabbatical leave, visiting several Universities and Research Institutes in Europe and in the USA, including three months at General Atomics in San Diego. In 1996-1997, during a second period at JET, he participated in the fusion power worlds record experiments in Deuterium-Tritium plasmas at JET. In 1997 he was nominated Assistant Professor in MIT Physics Department, where he led a basic plasma physics group and the international collaboration between MIT and JET. In 2001 Ambrogio FASOLI was nominated Assistant Professor of Physics at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Professeur Boursier of the Swiss National Science Foundation. He became member of CRPP Directorate and took the leadership of CRPP basic plasma physics group and of the TCV tokamak, one of the major fusion experiments worldwide. At European level he was scientific coordinator for JET experiments, spokesperson for multi-machine experiments in the frame of International Tokamak Physics Activities, and Project Leader for a JET Enhancement project. In 2005 he became Associate Professor of Physics with tenure at EPFL, then member of EFDA Science and Technology Advisory Committee, and of the Steering Committee of the Association EURATOM-Swiss Confederation. From 2006 he was also Deputy Director, then from 2007 Executive Director of CRPP and from 2008 Full Professor of Physics at EPFL. For a number of years he was the Chair of the EPFL Physics Strategic Committee and a member of the Directorate of the EPFL School of Sciences. Since the summer of 2014 Professor FASOLI was the sole Director of CRPP. He now represents Switzerland in the EUROfusion General Assembly and Bureau, and in the Governing Board for Fusion for Energy. He is member of the EUROfusion DEMO project Board, of the Scientific Board of the Helmotz Virtual Institute on Advanced Microwave Diagnostics, of the European Delegation for the Cooperation between Euratom and the Government of India in Fusion Energy Research, of the European Consortium for the development of the ITER gyratron (EGYC), and participates to numerous international review panels. He chairs the FuseNet Academic Council, the International Advisory Panel for the Laboratory of Excellence Plas@Par in the Sorbonne Universities, the European Consortium for the construction of the ITER microwave Upper Launcher (ECHUL), and the Promotion Committee of the EPFL Faculty of Basic Sciences. He is one the three European representatives in the International Tokamak Physics Activities Coordinating Committee, advising ITER, and the Editor-in-Chief of the IAEA journal Nuclear Fusion. Since January 2019, Ambrogio Fasoli is the Chair of the General Assembly, i.e. the president of EUROfusion, the European Consortium for Development of Fusion Energy. Professor FASOLI is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and since 2001 a Visiting Professor at MIT Physics Department. He is the Director of the Swiss Plasma Center.
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.
César PulgarinExpertise
Mechanistic study of Advanced Oxidation Processes AOPs (i.e. electrochemical, TiO2 photo-assisted, ultrasound, photo-Fenton) and their combinations for chemical and biological pollutants treatment in industrial and domestic wastewaterAction mode of solar light during inactivation of bacteria and virus in water and surfaces. Coupling of biological and AOP systems for industrial waste-waters treatmentDesign, preparation, chemical characterization, activity evaluation and mechanistic description of (
Marcel DrabbelsD'origine néerlandaise, Marcel Drabbels est né à Venray en 1966. Il a fait ses études en physique expérimentale à l'Université de Nijmegen et a obtenu son titre de docteur en 1993 dans cette même université. Il a ensuite poursuivi des études postdoctorales à l'Université de Californie à Santa Barbara où il a effectué des recherches dans le domaine de la dynamique des molécules dans des états vibrationnels hautement excités et a développé une nouvelle technique de détection pour l'étude de la photodissociation des molécules. En 1996, il est retourné aux Pays-Bas pour joindre le FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics à Amsterdam où il a mis au point un nouveau type de " streak cameras " pour linfrarouge. En 1997, M. Drabbels a été nommé membre de lAcadémie Royale Hollandaise des Sciences et a poursuivi sa carrière à lUniversité Libre dAmsterdam. Il y a étudié la dynamique des collisions de molécules et a initié des expériences de photodissociation en utilisant des lasers ultrarapides. Il a été nommé Maître d'Enseignement et Recherche (MER) à partir du 1er octobre 1998 au Département de chimie de l'EPFL. Il se consacre à l'étude de la dynamique nanoscopique. En mars 2021, il est promu professeur titulaire.
Herbert SheaEnseignement et PhD Doctorant·es actuel·les Myoung Ju Kim, Xintong Tong, Huapeng Zhang, Rohit Kadungamparambil John, Yichi Luo, Lucas Aurélien Jourdan, Ayana Mizutani, Donghyun Kim A dirigé les thèses EPFL de Michael Bodendorfer, Renato Krpoun, Samuel Rosset, Muhamed Niklaus, Kaustav Ghose, Samin Akbari, Vinu Lalgudi Venkatraman, Luc Maffli, Simon Dandavino, Tobias Bandi, Subha Chakraborty, Pietro Romano, Alexandre Poulin, Marianna Fighera, Nadine Besse, Alexis Pierre Henri Marette, Reto Wiesendanger, Fr
Alexander KarpushovEnseignement et PhD A co-dirigé les thèses EPFL de Claudio Marini, Jesús Poley Sanjuán
Stephan BrunnerEnseignement et PhD Doctorant·es actuel·les Hugo Jean Elie Chkroun, Nicole Vadot, Oraz Anuaruly, Haomin Sun, Isabel Muzio, Fabien Nicolas Jeanquartier A dirigé les thèses EPFL de Ajay Chandrarajan Jayalekshmi, Arnas Volcokas A co-dirigé les thèses EPFL de Xavier Lapillonne, Thibaut Vernay, Julien Stanislas Pierre Dominski, Gabriele Merlo, Emmanuel Lanti, Noé Ohana, Moahan Murugappan Cours Plasma instabilities PHYS-736 To complete the theoretical knowledge acquired before the graduate studi
Hubert GiraultEducation: 1979 - Engineering diploma from Grenoble Institute of Technology. FRANCE. 1982 - PhD- Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton. Thesis entitled : Interfacial studies using drop image processing techniques. Positions : 1982 - 1984 SERC Research Fellow. University of Southampton. 1984 - 1985 CNRS Research Fellow. University of Southampton. 1985 - 1992 Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, University of Edinburgh. 1992 - Professor of Physical Chemistry, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. 2011 - 2014 Dean of Bachelor and Master studies Hubert Girault is the author of 2 textbooks, the co-author of about 600 scientific publications with more than 20'000 citations and the co-inventor of more than 15 patents. During his academic career, he has supervised 70 PhD students. 30 alumni of his laboratory are now Professors. Honours: Faraday medal 2006, Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry 2007, Reilley Award 2015. Fellow of the Electrochemical Society (USA), Shikata International medal, Polarography Society of Japan. Associate editor of Chemical Science
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
Nicolas GrandjeanNicolas Grandjean received a PhD degree in physics from the University ofNice Sophia Antipolis in 1994 and shortly thereafter joined the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) as a permanent staff member. In 2004, he was appointed tenure-track assistant professor at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where he created the Laboratory for advanced semiconductors for photonics and electronics. He was promoted to full professor in 2009. He was the director of the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics from 2012 to 2016 and then moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara where he spent 6 months as a visiting professor. Since 2018, he is the head of the School of Physics at the EPFL. He was awarded the Sandoz Family Foundation Grant for Academic Promotion, received the “Nakamura Lecturer” Award in 2010, the "Quantum Devices Award” at the 2017 Compound Semiconductor Week, and “2016 best teacher” award from the EPFL Physics School. His research interests are focused on the physics of nanostructures and III-V nitride semiconductor quantum photonics.
Arnaud BertschExpertise
MicrostereolithographiePhotopolymersMicrofabrication
Enseignement et PhD Doctorant·es actuel·les Tao Zhang, Pol Torres Vila, Nicolas Bruno Minazzo A co-dirigé les thèses EPFL de Joan Teixidor, Clémentine Sophie Sarah Lipp, Nicolas Grégoire Maïno, Jiande Zhou, Jongeon Park Cours Advanced microfabrication practicals MICRO-373 Ce TP permet une formation approfondie sur les méthodes avancées de micro et nanofabrication dans un environnement de salle blanche pour des applications séle
Thomas La GrangeEnseignement et PhD Doctorant·es actuel·les Paolo Cattaneo, Antoine Nicolas Andrieux Cours Electron Matter Interactions in Transmission Electron Microscopy PHYS-637 Physics of materials PHYS-307 Ce cours traite de la physique des matériaux associée aux propriétés mécaniques et structurelles des solides, en se concentrant principalement sur la physique de la dynamique des défauts de dislocation et en reliant la cinétique de diffusion à la physique fondamentale des transforma
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
Alessandro PauEnseignement et PhD Doctorant·es actuel·les Peizheng Zhang, Jean-Pierre Thomas Svantner, Cristina Venturini, Paul Véronique Guillaume Devianne Cours Control and Operation of Tokamaks PHYS-748
Duccio TestaExpertise
Physique des plasmas pour la fusion nucléaireDéveloppement de modèles mathématiques et numériques pour l'analyse statistique des fluctuations dans des systèmes physiques complexesDéveloppement d'instrumentation de mesure avec procédés de microtechniqueArchéologie de l'époque romaine et préromaine
Expertise
Physique des plasmas pour la fusion nucléaireDéveloppement de modèles mathématiques et numériques pour l'analyse statistique des fluctuations dans des systèmes physiques complexesDéveloppement d
