Eight Professors Appointed at EPFL

Cathrin Brisken has been appointed as Associate Professor of Life Sciences at the School of Life Sciences (SV)

Cathrin Brisken is an expert in endocrinology. Her laboratory is working on the mechanisms responsible for breast cancer. Her main contribution in this extremely important area is the demonstration of the role of steroid hormones released in the tumor region. She uses strains of transgenic mice to target the functioning of these hormones and their receptors in the various phases of the mammary cycle. She was able to highlight the role of these hormones in a disturbed context, as it appears during cancer induction. In parallel, Cathrin Brisken examines these mechanisms in humans, where her translational research work has very big potential in the fight against this form of cancer.

Rüdiger Fahlenbrach has been appointed as Associate Professor of Finance at the College of Management of Technology (CDM)

Rüdiger Fahlenbrach joined EPFL as Tenure Track Assistant Professor in 2009. On the basis of the quality of his research work, he obtained a junior research chair, granted by the Scientific Council of the Swiss Finance Institute. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach is an expert in the field of corporate governance and entrepreneurial financing. In particular, he has worked on the types of composition of company shareholdings and its implications for financial performance. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach has recently studied the effects of the remuneration of banking management on the credit crisis and the question of whether banks have learned from the previous financial crises. This research has enabled him to win several research prizes and has made him the focus of many newspapers specialized in the business world.

Volker Gass, Director of the Swiss Space Center at EPFL within the School of Engineering (STI), has been authorized to bear the title of Titulary Professor

A Swiss citizen from Neuchâtel, Volker Gass conducted his doctoral research work at the University of Neuchâtel in parallel with his professional career at Mecanex SA and obtained his PhD title in 1994. Volker Gass was involved in a management buy-out, and was quickly promoted to vice-president, until the integration of Mecanex within the RUAG group in 2004.
Volker Gass, who holds four patents, has continually published his research work. In fact, he has over twenty papers to his credit. Committed in professional circles, Volker Gass is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Space Mechanisms and Tribology symposium and a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. In addition, about ten years ago, Volker Gass played a visionary role in industry, as part of the setting-up of the project for a Space Center at EPFL.

Tamás Hausel has been appointed as Full Professor of Mathematics at the School of Basic Sciences (SB)

Tamás Hausel’s work covers a large part of the spectrum of basic mathematics, ranging from algebraic and differential geometry to the number theory and mathematical physics, and – in conformity with the reputation of the Hungarian school of Mathematics – combinatorics. His work on the geometry of Higgs’ bundle fields has had a growing influence in a major area of mathematics: the “geometric Langlands program” (itself linked to the number theory).
Algebraic geometry was a discipline seldom taught but for which there is now a strong demand from students in the section who are interested in basic mathematics. Tamás Hausel intends to put in place alternative and innovative teaching methods, and has already done some work in this area.

Jean-François Molinari has been appointed as Full Professor of Structural Mechanics at the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC)

Jean-François Molinari’s major contributions belong in the field of numeric modelization of complex materials systems (metallic systems, ceramics, composites) involved in structural mechanics. In particular, he has developed and improved models of propagation of fractures enabling a better understanding of the fragmentation phenomena and crack patterns on different scales, in particular the nanometric scale. He has also developed research in the area of contact mechanics on the nanometer scale – nanotribology – aiming to better understand the adhesive forces operating within structures.
Appointed as Associate Professor at EPFL in 2007, he created and managed the Computational Solid Mechanics Laboratory (LSMS). In 2009, he was awarded one of the prestigious “ERC-Starting Grants”.

Henrik Ronnow has been appointed as Associate Professor of Physics at the School of Basic Sciences (SB)

His research activities relate to quantum phenomena in magnetic materials as well as in materials with non-conventional electronic properties such as high temperature supraconductivity. His contribution to education ranges from the teaching of introductory courses in general physics to the creation of a new Masters course in solid-state physics. He is a member of the Commission of the Physics Doctoral School and the Commission of FNS research at EPFL.
Appointed Tenure Track Assistant Professor at EPFL in 2007, he created and managed the Laboratory for Quantum Magnetism.
Henrik Ronnow has been awarded the Allan Mackintosh and Levy-Bertaut prizes. He was elected as President of the Swiss Neutron Scattering Society and Swiss delegate at the European Neutron Scattering Association. In 2009, he was awarded a prestigious Starting Grant.

Carmen Sandi has been appointed as Full Professor of Life Sciences at the School of Life Sciences (SV)

Carmen Sandi is an expert in the cognitive neurosciences. The goal of her research is to understand the influence of stress on cerebral performance. Based on phenomena observed in human beings, Ms. Sandi is capable of translating these into highly sophisticated and quantifiable behavioral experiments performed on animals.
She was thus able to launch a basic research program associating psychology, behavioral studies and the analysis of molecular mechanisms. Thanks to this program, she can collect data and draw conclusions of a very general nature. Carmen Sandi’s laboratory is thus an important element of the school, with expertise that complements very well the other fields represented at the Brain Mind Institute (BMI).

Ralf Schneggenburger has been appointed as Full Professor of Life Sciences at the School of Life Sciences (SV)

In 2005, Ralf Schneggenburger accepted a post as Associate Professor at EPFL’s Brain Mind Institute at the School of the Life Sciences (SV). Since his appointment, he has made significant discoveries in the area of neuroplasticity in connection with memorization. This research has highlighted the role played by calcium as an intracellular signal in the presynaptic neuron at the moment of releasing neurotransmitters, and synaptic transmission. He uses approaches taken from electrophysiology, genetic engineering and imaging – an ideal combination on a campus as technological as EPFL. Having arrived at EPFL just two years after the Bachelor/Master of the SSV section was launched, Ralf Schneggenburger has been a key individual in the setting-up of the teaching of neurosciences.