Thierry MeyerThierry Meyer received in 1986 a diploma degree (MSc) in chemical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL). He was awarded in 1989 a PhD at EPFL for his thesis on micromixing in highly viscous polymeric media. He joined the Institute of Chemical Engineering from 1989 till 1993 as senior scientist in the field of polymerization reactions. In 1994 he joined Ciba-Geigy SA in the pigment division as successively development chemist, head of development a.i. and finally production manager for high performance pigments. Returning to the Institute of Chemical Engineering at EPFL in Lausanne by the end of 1998, he was nominated maître denseignement et de recherche (MER) for leading a new research group in the field of polymers and supercritical fluids, and teaching to chemists, chemical engineers and material sciences, disciplines as process development, introduction to chemical engineering, polymer and organic chemistry at master and bachelor program. In 2005 he owned the responsibility of the Occupational Health and Safety of the school of basic sciences on top of his research activities dealing with risk management and supercritical fluids. He is presently teaching introduction to chemical engineering at bachelor level, risk management at master level and specific courses on safety and engineering risk management in continuing education. He acts also as consultant and expert in risk assessment and chemical engineering matters by the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) of the World Business Organization, by several consultancy companies and by major and SMEs chemical industries. Thierry Meyer is currently member of several international associations of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering, American institution of chemical engineering, American chemical society and senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was elected chairman of the European Working Party on Polymer Reaction Engineering from 2001 till 2006. He his currently the Swiss academic member of the European Working Party on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion as well as of the European Working Party on Education. He is member of several editorial boards: Chemical Engineering Research and Design, Macromolecular Reaction Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, Journal of Chemical Health and Safety.
Ursula RöthlisbergerU. Röthlisberger was born in Solothurn (Switzerland). In 1988 she made her diploma in Physical Chemistry in the group of Prof. Ernst Schumacher at the University of Berne (Switzerland). Her Ph.D. thesis was done in collaboration with Dr. Wanda Andreoni at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon. After finishing her Ph.D in 1991 she spent some time as a postdoctoral research assistant at the IBM Research Lab. From 1992-1995 she was a postdoctoral research assistant in the group of Prof. Michael L. Klein at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (USA). In 1994 she was awarded an advanced researcher fellowship (Profil 2) from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Before starting her Profile 2-fellowship she spent another year as postdoctoral research assistant in the group of Prof. Michele Parrinello at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1996 she moved as Profile 2-fellow to the ETH in Zurich, hosted by the group of Prof. Wilfred F. van Gunsteren. In 1997 she became Assistant Professor of Computer-Aided Inorganic Chemistry at the ETH Zurich.
