Lothar HelmLothar Helm was born in Gernsbach (Germany) in 1952. He studied physics at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) and obtained his diploma degree in 1977. He remained in Karlsruhe for his Ph.D. research with Prof. H. G. Hertz and received his degree in physical chemistry in 1980. In 1980 he joined the laboratories of Prof. André Merbach at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. From 1983 to 2001 he was maître denseignement et de recherche at the Faculty of Science of the University of Lausanne. In 2001 he moved, together with the whole chemistry department, from the University of Lausanne to the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Since 2006 he is adjunct professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at EPFL and director of the NMR services of the institute.
From 2007 to 2011 he was director of the "Conférence du corps Enseignant" at EPFL. Since 2011 he is member of the School Assembly of EPFL (AE).
MAIN RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Physico-chemical studies of contrast agents for medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Study of reactivity and reaction mechanisms in coordination chemistry by variable temperature and pressure nuclear magnetic resonance
Computer simulation of solvent dynamics on cations and metal complexes in solution
Professional course
Jean-Claude BünzliJean-Claude Bünzli was born in 1944. He earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1968 and a PhD in 1971 (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne) for his work on the kinetic behaviour of Nb and Ta pentachloride adducts. He spent two years at the University of British Columbia as a teaching postdoctoral fellow (photoelectron spectroscopy) and one year at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (physical organic chemistry).
Positions
He was appointed assistant-professor at the University of Lausanne in 1974 and started a research program on the spectrochemical properties of f-elements. He was promoted as a full professor of inorganic and analytical chemistry in 1980. He transferred to EPFL in 2001 where he directed the Laboratory of Lanthanide Supramolecular Chemistry until 2010.
From 2009 to 2013, he was World Class University Professor at Korea University (South Korea) helping developing a new research center for photovoltaics. In 20154-2015 he acted as visiting professor at FJIRSM (Fuzhou, Fujian), a laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He presently holds the Dr Kennedy Wong Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Hong Kong Baptist University (3 months/year) and a position as Distinguished Scholar at University of Technology, Sydney (NSW, Australia, 1 month/year).
Administrative and reviewer duties
He acted as the elected Dean of the Faculty of Sciences (1990-1991) and as one of the elected Vice-Rectors of the University (1991-1995), in charge of students' affairs and of research programs in the field of biomedical sciences. He held a position of invited professor at the Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg in 1996 and at the Science University of Tokyo in 1998. In 1989, he founded the European Rare Earths and Actinide Society which coordinate international conferences in the field (cf. http://ereswww.epfl.ch).
He served as a World Bank Project Specialist within the framework of the Chinese Provincial Universities Development Project (Northwest China, 1989) and as a member of a Panel in charge of evaluating chemical research at Norwegian universities (1997). In 2001, he was hired as "Peer leader" for the evaluation of the Swiss universities of applied sciences. In 2005, he acted as a member of the "Physical Inorganic Panel" of the Science Foundation of Ireland and in 2006 he was nominated to the "Chemistry Panel" of the same foundation.
He is a member of the Editorial Board of Spectroscopy Letters, associate editor-in-chief of the Journal of Rare Earths, and senior editor of the Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths (54 volumes published to date).
Teaching
Regarding teaching, he has directed the joint project of the universities of Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Fribourg "General chemistry for students enrolled in a life sciences curriculum", within the frame of the "Swiss virtual campus", a program sponsored by the Conference of Swiss universities and the Swiss federal office for science and education (2000-2004). Web site: http://chimge@epfl.ch
Research
His research is centered on lanthanide luminescent molecular and supramolecular edifices, with main applications in biology & medicine. He is the author or the co-author of 350 research papers, 260 contributed communications and has presented 285 invited conferences, seminars, and courses. He has collected >22800 citations (h-index 72). André MerbachOriginaire de Pully (Vaud), André E. Merbach est né en 1940. Il étudie à l'Ecole Polytechnique de l'Université de Lausanne (Prix Pelet et de l'A3E2PL) et obtient son diplôme d'ingénieur chimiste en 1962 avec un travail de recherche en chimie organique. En 1964, l'Université de Lausanne lui confère le doctorat ès sciences avec félicitations du jury pour ses travaux sur les systèmes quaternaires de solubilité avec formation de cristaux mixtes. Il effectue ensuite un stage postdoctoral au Lawrence Radiation Laboratory de l'Université de Californie à Berkeley, où il étudie la ionisation d'électrolytes forts par RMN.
En 1965, de retour à l'Institut de chimie minérale et analytique de l'UNIL, on lui demande de développer une recherche et de créer un enseignement en chimie de coordination. En 1971 il y est nommé professeur assistant.
En 1973, la Société Suisse de Chimie lui attribue le Prix et la Médaille Werner pour ses travaux sur la structure, la stabilité et la dynamique d'adduits d'halogénures métalliques par RMN. Cette même année, l'UNIL le nomme professeur de chimie minérale et analytique.
Il a été membre de la division mathématiques, des sciences naturelles et de l'ingénieur du Fonds national de la recherche scientifique (1985-1996). Il représente la Suisse au Comité Technique COST Chimie (Coopération Européenne dans le domaine scientifique et technique: 35 pays, 1000 groupes de recherche en chimie) et a présidé ce Comité de 1998 à 2000. Il a présidé le Comité de gestion européen pour l'Action COST D6 pour les "procédés et réactions chimiques dans des conditions extrêmes ou non classiques" (1992-1997).
Il a organisé à Lausanne, en 1992, la XXIXe Conférence Internationale de Chimie de Coordination (ICCC). L'Université Lajos Kossuth, de Debrecen (Hongrie), lui a conféré, en 1993, le doctorat honoris causa pour ses études par RMN sous haute pression des mécanismes réactionnels en chimie de coordination. Il a été appelé à la présidence de la Société Suisse de Chimie (2001-2004). L'Université de Genève lui a délivré un doctorat honoris causa en 2003.
Paul Joseph DysonPaul Dyson rejoignit l’EPFL en 2002 à la tête du Laboratoire de chimie organométallique et médicinale de l’Institut des sciences et ingénierie chimiques, dont il en assuma ensuite la direction entre 2008 et 2016.
Le prof. Dyson a été récompensé par de nombreux prix dont le Prix Werner de la Société Suisse de Chimie en 2004, le Prix pour les réalisations exceptionnelles en chimie bio organométallique en 2010, la Médaille du Centenaire de la naissance de Luigi Sacconi (2011) de la Société Italienne de Chimie, le Prix de Chimie bio-inorganique de la Royal Society of Chemistry en 2015, le Prix européen pour une chimie durable de la Société Européenne de Chimie en 2018 et le Prix pour la chimie verte de la Royal Society of Chemistry en 2020.
Le prof. Dyson est également mentionné dans la liste établie par Clarivate des chercheurs les plus cités (Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher), avec un H-index >110 (Web of Science et Google Scholar). Paul Dyson a été élu membre de la Royal Société de Chimie en 2010, membre de l’Académie Européenne des Sciences en 2019 et membre à vie de l’Association Américaine pour l’Avancement de la Science en 2020. Au cours des dernières années il s’est vu décerner le titre de Professeurs Hôte par l’Université de Bourgogne, l’Université de Pierre et Marie Curie, l’Université de Vienne, l’Université de Rome Tor Vergara, l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de chimie de Paris (Chimie ParisTech) et par l’Université de Shangai Jiao Tong.
De 2016 à 2021 il était membre du conseil de la recherche de la division de mathématique, sciences naturelles et de l’ingénieur du Fonds National Suisse. En 2021, il a été nommé doyen de la Faculté des Sciences de Base.
Anne-Sophie ChauvinWeb of Science Researcher ID F-4905-2011
Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=O_HhJUEAAAAJ&hl=fr&oi=ao
ORCID number is 0000-0001-9222-3866
Anne-Sophie Chauvin studied chemistry and biology at the university Paris V-René Descartes in France where she did a PhD in organic chemistry, working on mimetic complexes of the active site of Nitrile Hydratase, under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Claude Chottard. On 1999 she moved for 20 months to the University of Geneva, for a post-doctoral stay under the supervision of Prof. Alexandre Alexakis, where she focused on the determination of the absolute configuration of chiral alcohols using Organophosphorous Diamine Derivatizing Agents by 31P and 1H NMR Spectroscopy. On 2000 she joined the group of Prof Jean-Claude G. Bünzli and was appointed part-time lecturer in 2001, assuming teaching and research responsibilities. On 2006, she obtained the habilitation to direct research from the University René Descartes (HDR, Paris V, France) and since october 2007 she is Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche at the EPFL. In 2010, she joigned the Laboratory for Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), headed by Pr. Michaël Graëtzel. Since the end of 2014, with the arrival of Dr Marinella Mazzanti at EPFL, she is back to lanthanide chemistry, dealing with coordination polymers.
Her research interests concern supramolecular chemistry with the design of ligands which form water soluble complexes with luminescent lanthanides in view of biological applications. She is also interested in the synthesis of ligands and polymers for the extraction of lanthanide ions with high selectivity, and in the development of invisibke inks. She also developed organic dyes for dyes sensitized solar cells DSSC. She is now focusing on coordination polymers with luminescent properties and catalytic activity.
Anne-Sophie Chauvin is involved in the teaching of General and Analytical Chemistry for students enrolled on first year in Pharmacy and Biology (UNIL): ex-cathedra courses (Chimie Générale et analytique I et II, approfondissement en chimie analytique pour pharmaciens) and exercices.
She is in charge of practical sessions for students enroled in chemistry, forensic sciences, pharmacy and biology.
She is elected at the FSB Faculty Council and was member of the EPFL Assembly (AE) for 6 years, until 2018.
She was member of the Management committee of the Cost CM 1006 action entitled Eufen: European F-Element Network.
She is Member of the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). 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.
Xile HuXile Hu was born in 1978 in Putian, southeastern China. He entered the Peking University in Beijing in 1996. Besides learning too little chemistry, his biggest regret in the college was not able to correct his southern accent in Mandarin. After graduated from PKU, he went to the United States and began his doctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego. In December 2004, he finished with a Ph.D. in chemistry and some fond memories of the beautiful city of San Diego. He then moved to the Los Angeles area and become a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology. There he enjoyed numerous stimulating scientific (and other) discussions with friends and colleagues. He also made plenty of friends outside the campus and was a frequent in many local Chinese restaurants. In 2007, after two pleasant visits to Switzerland, he decided to move across the continent one more time and join the faculty of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He now directs the Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Catalysis and is interested in developing chemistry for synthesis, energy and sustainability.
