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.
Oleg YazyevProf. Oleg Yazyev (Олег Язев) was born in Simferopol, Crimean peninsula. He obtained his degree in chemistry from Moscow State University in 2003. He then joined Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) completing his PhD thesis in chemistry and chemical engineering in 2007. Next two years he has spent as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP) and the Institute for Numerical Research in the Physics of Materials (IRRMA) of the same institution. In 2009-2011 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Physics of the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In September 2011 he started an independent research group supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation professorship grant. In 2012 he was awarded an ERC Starting grant. His current research focuses on theoretical and computational physics of the recently discovered Dirac fermion materials with strong emphasis on their prospective technological applications. ResearcherID profile of Oleg Yazyev
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.
Jacques-Edouard MoserProfesseur titulaire en chimie physique, Jacques Moser dirige actuellement le Groupe de dynamique photochimique (Groupe Moser) de l'EPFL. Jacques Moser est diplômé de l'École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), où il a reçu en 1982 un diplôme d'ingénieur chimiste et en 1986 un doctorat ès sciences pour sa thèse en chimie physique, menée sous la direction du Pr Michael Grätzel. En 1984 et 1985, il effectue deux séjours à l'Université Concordia de Montréal (Canada). A partir de 1986, il rejoint les laboratoires de recherche centraux de Eastman-Kodak Co. à Rochester (New York, USA) et est ensuite associé au Center for photoinduced charge transfer du NSF à l'Université de Rochester. De retour à l'EPFL, Jacques Moser dirige depuis 1991 un groupe de recherche dans le domaine de la photochimie. Il est chargé de cours à partir de 1992 et reçoit en 1998 l'habilitation ès sciences techniques et le titre de privat-docent. Il est nommé professeur titulaire en 2005. L'activité de recherche du Groupe Moser se focalise plus particulièrement sur létude de la dynamique des processus de transfert d'électron induits par la lumière aux interfaces et de séparation de charges dans des semiconducteurs nanostructurés. Le Pr Moser enseigne la chimie générale avancée (Équilibre et réactivité chimiques) en première année aux étudiants en chimie de l'EPFL. Il dispense les cours Photochemistry I et Photochemistry II aux étudiants de Master et des écoles doctorales en chimie, en énergie et en photonique. Lauréat du prix de la fondation Latsis internationale, Jacques Moser est auteur et co-auteur de près de 200 publications dans des revues scientifiques à comité de lecture (H-index = 75). Il a été président de la Société suisse de photochimie et photophysique, membre du comité international de l'European Photochemistry Association, membre de la direction centrale de la Société suisse de chimie (SSC) et membre du comité executif de la division Recherche scientifique de la SSC. Il a été le directeur de la Section de chimie et de génie chimique de l'EPFL et l'un des membres de la direction de la Faculté des sciences de base de 2007 à 2015.
Stefano RusponiEducation:
• 1999 Doctoral degree in Physics obtained at the Physics Department, University of Genova PhD thesis title: “STM study of nanostructures induced by ion sputtering on noble metals”.
• 1994 University degree in Physics achieved at the Physics Department, University of Genova. Final mark: 110/110 cum laude
Diploma thesis title: “A project for a new method of EELS spectroscopy”.
• 1988 High school at the Liceo Scientifico G. P. Vieusseux in Imperia. Final mark: 60/60.
Research career plan:
• 2016 – present MER: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the group of Prof. Harald Brune
• 2003 – 2016: 1er. Assistant: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the group of Prof. Harald Brune
• 2000-2003: Assistant: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) under the direction of Prof. Harald Brune
• 1999-2000: Research associate: Max-Planck-Institut of Stuttgart under the direction of Prof. Klaus Kern
Miscellaneous of professional activities:
a) Review panel
• Member of the Elettra proposal review panel
• Member of the committee of the EDPY doctoral school in Physics at the EPFL
b) Co-worker in the building of the X-Treme beamline:
c) Referee for scientific journals:
• Nat. Commun., Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev. B, J. Appl. Phys., Surf. Sci., J. Magn. Magn. Mater.
Funding record
a) Funding awarded
• Quantum Properties of Nanostructures at Surfaces, FNS 200020-157081/1;
(01/10/2014 – 31/09/2017); total amount attributed: 832'558 CHF; co-applicant
• Controlling magnetic anisotropy by interfacial coupling, FNS 200021_146715/1;
(01/01/2014 – 31/12/2016); total amount attributed: 367'800 CHF; co-applicant
• Self-assembled bi-metallic magnetic pillar superlattices with enhanced blocking temperature, SER C10.0135; (01/08/2011 – 01/08/2013); total amount attributed: 170'000 CHF; co-applicant
• Magnetic and Catalytic Properties of Surface Supported Metallic Nanostructures, FNS 200020-120493/1; (01/04/2008 – 31/03/2010); total amount attributed: 402'669 CHF; co-applicant
• Magnetic and Catalytic Properties of Surface Supported Metallic Nanostructures, FNS 200020-112322/1; (01/04/2006 – 31/03/2008); total amount attributed: 347'633 CHF; co-applicant
b) Approved proposals for the allocation of beamtime
Swiss Light Source (SLS):
main proposer: 9
co-proposer: 4
Elettra:
main proposer: 5
co-proposer: 1
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF):
main proposer: 2
co-proposer: 11
Student supervisor
• Co-director of PhD thesis: 4 PhD students
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Dimitris Mousadakos: Seeking the smallest room temperature magnets; (in progress)
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Romana Baltic: Controlling single atom magnetic anisotropy by interfacial coupling; (in progress)
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Alberto Cavallin: Growth and magnetism of nanostructures investigated by STM, MOKE, and XMCD; (Oct. 2013), Thèse N°5941
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Sergio Vlaic: Magnetism and atomic scale structure of bimetallic nanostructures at surfaces; (Dec. 2012), Thèse N° 5625
• Supervisor of PhD thesis (without co-direction): 4 PhD students
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Anne Lehnert: Magnetism of individual adatoms and of epitaxial monolayers; (Jun. 2009), Thèse N° 4411
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Geraud Moulas: Growth and magnetism of 2D bimetallic nanostructures; (Dec. 2008), Thèse N° 4231
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Philipp Buluschek: Submonolayer growth of cobalt on metallic and insulating surfaces studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations; (Nov. 2007), Thèse N° 3944
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Nicolas Weiss: Propriétés magnétiques de nanostructures de Co adsorbées; (Apr. 2004), Thèse N° 2980
• Supervisor of Master thesis: 6 students
• Supervisor of semester projects: 9 students
• PhD thesis referee: 2 students 