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.
Gérard GremaudGérard Gremaud was born in Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1949. After classical studies at College St Michel in Fribourg, he received his diploma in physics engineering in 1974 and his PhD in 1981 at EPFL. From this date, he became responsible for research at EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne). He is then co-responsible for the Mechanical Spectroscopy Laboratory at the Institute of Physics of Complex Materials. In 2002, he became also chief of the service of physics teaching laboratories and physics classroom demonstrations of EPFL. In 2005, he obtained the title of Professor of EPFL. From 1976, he was teaching in the fields of acoustics, vibrations, metallurgical physics, thermodynamics, dislocation theory, metrology, physics laboratories, and of basic physics (mechanics, thermodynamics and introduction to quantum physics) and physics demonstrations. Since 2012, he is honorary professor of EPFL.
He was active in a variety of research fields : dislocation dynamics, structural phase transitions, mechanical and tribological properties at nanoscale, and mechanical properties of vibrated granular materials (mechanical-spectroscopy). In these fields, he has directed about ten PhD thesis. He is the author of numerous theoretical models which are largely cited. Specialized in acoustical spectroscopy techniques, he developped several original experimental techniques, such as the US-LF coupling technique (representative publications). His publications include about 130 research papers, 13 book chapters, 6 popular publications, 3 books as editor and 2 books as author.
In addition to about 40 invited lectures and conference talks in leading institutions worldwide, he has co-organized several international conferences and summer schools. Member of several scientific societies, he contributes also as referee for numerous scientific journals and several scientific research funding organisations. He was collaborating also during several years to two small companies in Switzerland, as administrator or president.
In 2011, Gérard Gremaud has been awarded the Zener prize and Zener Gold medal. This distinction recognizes important contributions in the field of Materials Science and Physics.
