Berend SmitBerend Smit received an MSc in Chemical Engineering in 1987 and an MSc in Physics both from the Technical University in Delft (the Netherlands). He received in 1990 cum laude PhD in Chemistry from Utrecht University (the Netherlands). He was a (senior) Research Physicists at Shell Research from 1988-1997, Professor of Computational Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) 1997-2007.
In 2004 Berend Smit was elected Director of the European Center of Atomic and Molecular Computations (CECAM) Lyon France. Since 2007 he is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley and Faculty Chemist at Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Since 2014 he has been director of the Energy Center at EPFL.
Harald BruneOriginaire de Münich en Allemagne, né en 1961, Harald Brune obtient son diplôme en physique de l'Université Ludwig Maximilians en 1989. Après une thèse en chimie physique à l'Institut Fritz-Haber de la Société Max-Planck à Berlin il obtient son titre de docteur ès sciences en 1992. Dès cela, il rejoint le groupe du Prof. K. Kern à l'Institut de physique expérimentale à l'EPFL. En 1995 il est chercheur invité à Copenhague travaillant en modélisation chez le Prof. J. Nørskov. De retour à l'EPFL, il se voit décerné le prix Latsis EPFL 1996 pour ses études par microscopie à effet tunnel de processus atomiques déterminants la croissance cristalline de couches minces. En 1998 il obtient son habilitation (venia legendi) en Physique et est nommé Maître d'enseignement et de recherche (MER) en nanophysique à l'EPFL. La même année il recoit une offre de Professeur Ordinaire (C4) de l'Université Philipps de Marburg. Début 1999 il réfuse cette offre et accepte un poste de Professeur Extraordinaire à l'EPFL et s'installe au sein de l'Institut de la Physique des Nanostructures. Il est nommé Professeur Ordinaire en 2005. Sa recherche porte sur les propriétés physiques (en particulier le magnétisme et la structure électronique) de nouvelles formes de la matière condensée comme des nanostructures et des couches ultra-minces. Il s'intéresse également à la catalyse hétérogène sur des systèmes inspirés dans leur composition et taille par celle des sites actives dans les enzymes en biologie. Il enseigne la Physique Générale pour ingénieurs, la Physique des matériaux solides pour physiciens, les méthodes expérimentales pour physiciens, ainsi que la Physique des surfaces, interfaces et nanostrcutures à l'école doctorale.
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
David Andrew BarryResearch InterestsSubsurface hydrology, constructed wetlands, ecological engineering, in particular contaminant transport and remediation of soil and groundwater; more generally, models of hydrological and vadose zone processes; application of mathematical methods to hydrological processes; coastal zone sediment transport, aquifer-coastal ocean interactions; hydrodynamics and modelling of lakes.
Rainer BeckProfessor titulaire EPFL, 2006
Privat Docent EPFL, 1997
Habilitation and venia legendi, Universität Karlsruhe, 1996
Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, Oregon State University, 1990
Degree in Physics, Universität Stuttgart, 1985
Klaus KernKlaus Kern is Professor of Physics at EPFL and Director and Scientific Member at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany. He also is Honorary Professor at the University of Konstanz, Germany. His present research interests are in nanoscale science, quantum technology and in microscopy at the atomic limits of space and time. He holds a chemistry degree and PhD from the University of Bonn and a honorary doctors degree from the University of Aalborg. After his doctoral studies he was staff scientist at the Research Center Jülich and visiting scientist at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill before joining the Faculty of EPFL in 1991 and the Max-Planck-Society in 1998. Professor Kern has authored and coauthored close to 700 scientific publications, which have received nearly 60‘000 citations. He has served frequently on advisory committees to universities, professional societies and institutions and has received numerous scientific awards and honors, including the 2008 Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz Prize and the 2016 Van‘t Hoff Prize. Prof. Kern has also educated a large number of leading scientists in nanoscale physics and chemistry. During the past twenty-five years he has supervised one hundred PhD students and sixty postdoctoral fellows. Today, more than fifty of his former students and postdocs hold prominent faculty positions at Universities around the world.
Michael GraetzelProfessor of Physical Chemistry at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Michael Graetzel, PhD, directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use to generate electricity and fuels from sunlight. He invented mesoscopic injection solar cells, one key embodiment of which is the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). DSCs are meanwhile commercially produced at the multi-MW-scale and created a number of new applications in particular as lightweight power supplies for portable electronic devices and in building integrated photovoltaics. They engendered perovskite solar cells (PSCs) which turned into the most exciting break-through in the history of photovoltaics. He received a number of prestigious awards, of which the most recent ones include the RusNANO Prize, the Zewail Prize in Molecular Science, the Global Energy Prize, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, the Marcel Benoist Prize, the King Faisal International Science Prize, the Einstein World Award of Science and the Balzan Prize. He is a Fellow of several learned societies and holds eleven honorary doctor’s degrees from European and Asian Universities. His over 1500 publications have received some 220’000 citations with an h-factor of 218 (SI-Web of Science) demonstrating the strong impact of his scientific work.
Francesco StellacciFrancesco Stellacci graduated in Materials Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano in 1998 with a thesis on photochromic polymers with Prof. Giuseppe Zerbi and Mariacarla Gallazzi. In 1999 he moved to the Chemistry Department of the University of Arizona for as a post-doc in the group of Joe Perry in close collaboration with the group of Seth Marder. In 2002 he moved to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He was then promoted to associate without (2006) and with tenure (2009). In 2010 he moved to the Institute of Materials at EPFL as a full Professor. He holds the Alcan EP Chair. Francesco was one of the recipients of the Technology Review TR35 "35 Innovator under 35" award in 2005, and the Popular Science Magazine "Brilliant 10" award in 2007. He has been a Packard Fellow starting 2005.
Paul BowenDr. P. Bowen after gaining his BSc in Physics at Imperial College (UK), he obtained his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in the field of catalysis from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1982, He then worked at the BP Research Centre, Sunbury, UK, for 4 years in applied surface sciences before moving to Switzerland and EPFL in 1987. He has been at the Powder Technology Laboratory, in the Materials Institute since its conception in 1988. He has over 190 publications and has written an undergraduate book on ceramic synthesis and processing. Education: 1976-1979 Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. B.Sc. Honours in Physics. 1979-1982 Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Cambridge. Certificate of Postgraduate Studies in Chemistry. Thesis: A Mössbauer Study of Some Clay Minerals and their Surfaces. Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. Thesis: An Iron-57 and Tin-119 Mössbauer Spectroscopic Study of Some Graphite Intercalation Compounds and Carbon Supported Iron Catalysts. Professional Experience: 1983-1986 Research Scientist (Physical Chemist), New Technology Division, British Petroleum Company plc, BP Research Centre, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, England. 1987-1988 Engineer, Ceramics Laboratory, Département des Matériaux, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH - 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. 1988-2008 Research Associate/lecturer, Powder Technology Laboratory (Present) Institute des Matériaux, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH - 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. 1988- 2015 Maitre DEnsiegnement et Recherche (Lecturer & Researcher), Powder Technology Laboratory, Institute des Matériaux, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,CH - 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland 2015 – present Adjunct Professor (Professeur Titulaire), Powder Technology Laboratory (LTP), Materials Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH - 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Alfredo PasquarelloAlfredo Pasquarello effectue ses études en physique à l'Ecole normale supérieure de Pise et à l'Université de Pise et obtient leurs diplômes respectifs en 1986. Il obtient le titre de Docteur ès sciences à l'EPFL en 1991 avec une thèse portant sur les transitions à plusieurs photons dans les solides. Ensuite, il effectue des recherches post-doctorales aux Laboratoires Bell (Murray Hill, New Jersey) sur les propriétés magnétiques des fullerènes de carbone. En 1993, il rejoint l'Institut romand de recherche numérique en physique des matériaux (IRRMA), où sa recherche porte sur des méthodes de simulation ab initio. En 1998, le Prix Latsis de l'EPFL lui est decerné pour son travail de recherche portant sur les matériaux à base de silice désordonnée. Bénéficiant de plusieurs subsides du Fonds National, il constitue ensuite sa propre équipe de recherche à l'IRRMA. En juillet 2003, il est nommé Professeur en Physique théorique de la matière condensée à l'EPFL. Actuellement, il dirige la Chaire de simulation à l'échelle atomique.
