Christos ComninellisChristos Comninellis, of Greek origin, born in 1945, received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry (distinction with honor) in 1970 from the University of Alexandria.
From 1971 to 1975, he worked as a chemist at the Institute of chemical engineering at the EPFL, where he achieved his PhD in technical sciences in 1979 for his research on the electrochemical fluorination of organic compounds in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.
Appointed professor in 1996, he teaches at the Faculty of Basic Sciences (FSB) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL)
Applied Chemistry.
Transport Phenomena.
Chemical and Electrochemical Technologies Related to the Environment.
Electrochemical Engineering.
He also holds a teaching position at the Haute Ecole Valaisanne Sion (HEVs).
His research work is focused on environmental electrochemistry, electrocatalysis, fuel cell and electrochemical promotion in catalysis. An applied research for the utilization of electrochemical techniques in industry for the protection of the environment is a constant concern within his activities. As a result, the collaboration with the industry enabled the development of oxidation processes with regeneration of the oxidant using a new type of bipolar electrochemical reactor.
Christos Comninellis has published over 170 scientific papers, directed 17 doctoral theses and holds 14 patents. He has participated in over 130 international symposia, giving five plenary lectures during the last five years. He has been president of the Evaluation Committee of the FSB since the beginning of 2004 and is member of the jury of the EPFL prize for outstanding PhD-thesis.
Christof HolligerOriginaire d'Adliswil, Christof Holliger est né en 1959. Diplômé de l'ETHZ en biologie en 1984, il mène des travaux de recherche dans le domaine de la microbiologie environnementale à l'Université d'Agriculture de Wageningen (Pays-Bas) où il obtient son doctorat en Science de l'environnement en 1992. En 1992, il retourne en Suisse engagé comme collaborateur scientifique et chef de groupe à l'Institut Fédéral pour l'Aménagement, l'Epuration et la Protection des Eaux (EAWAG) à Kastanienbaum. Il y continue ses recherches sur la déchloruration réductrice, commencées aux Pays-Bas, et dirige des travaux sur la réduction des composés nitroaromatiques, la réduction du fer et la méthanogenèse psychrophile dans les sédiments des lacs. En octobre 1998, il est nommé professeur assistant en biotechnologie environnementale au Département de génie rural de l'EPFL. Ses recherches visent l'application des micro-organismes anaérobies pour le traitement des eaux résiduaires. En novembre 2004, il est nommé professeur associé et devient responsable du laboratoire de biotechnologie environnementale à la Faculté de l'Environnement naturel, architectural et construit. L'utilisation des techniques de la biologie moléculaire pour la caractérisation des communautés microbiennes impliquées dans le biotraitement de l'air, des eaux et des sols pollués est un outil clé dans les différents projets de recherche visants le développement des nouveaux procédés de traitement.
Kay SeverinKay Severin was born in Germany in 1967. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1995 with a thesis in the group of Prof. W. Beck, University of Munich. Subsequently, he joined the group of Prof. M. R. Ghadiri as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1997, he started independent research projects ("Habilitation") at the Department of Chemistry, University of Munich. In 2001, he became assistant professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). Since 2009, he is full professor at the same institute.
Awards: Bayerischer Habilitations Förderpreis (1997), ADUC award of the year (2001), Heinz Maier-Leibnitz award of the DFG (2001), award of the Karl-Ziegler foundation (2001), Arnold Sommerfeld award of the Bavarian Academy of Science (2001), Werner Prize of The Swiss Chemical Society (2003), Otto Roelen Medal of the DECHEMA (2005), award for chemistry of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen (2007), Dalton Transactions European Lectureship (2008).
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.
