“EPFL opens the door to meaningful change”
Maya Fruehauf, a staunch ambassador for all 13 of EPFL’s bachelor’s-level programs. 2025 EPFL/Alain Herzog - CC-BY-SA 4.0
Maya Fruehauf, a staunch ambassador for all 13 of EPFL’s bachelor’s-level programs, speaks candidly to high-school students. The work is demanding, she tells them, but it will equip them to make a real difference in fields ranging from health and mobility to the environment and digital technology.
As a hands-on, people-focused professional, Maya Fruehauf has little use for an office. An EPFL graduate herself who trained as a chemical engineer, she now serves as deputy head of the School’s Education Outreach Department (SPE). On the second day of the academic year, she greets us with a smile at Ada Lovelace Square at the north end of the campus. She’s come ready to talk a little about herself – but mostly about her main mission: promoting EPFL’s programs to Swiss high-school students.
Have the 2,100 young men and women who’ve just started their studies at EPFL made an informed choice? Are they fully prepared to hit the ground running? That’s exactly what the SPE aims to ensure – because its mission isn’t to attract as many students as possible with empty promises, but to make sure no talented students are overlooked.
Igniting the spark
“My approach is simple: it’s all about the students,” says Fruehauf. “I love talking about our programs and seeing their eyes light up when they realize that studying here is about much more than just learning what others have discovered. They’ll also get to create, innovate and develop solutions themselves in fields as varied as materials, sustainability, health and IT. It’s a chance to make a genuine difference and be a part of something bigger. I’m immensely proud of EPFL. But bringing in students who don’t have the skills or drive for such demanding studies would cast the School in a bad light.”
Fruehauf takes a special interest in students whose parents didn’t attend university, and who therefore have limited exposure to academia. “Outreach plays an important role in breaking down family-related barriers, challenging preconceived ideas and igniting interest in science and technology,” she says.
Driven by purpose
Fruehauf is a purpose-driven individual with a strong sense of social justice and deep concern for the future of the planet. A nature enthusiast, she’s a member of a climate action group in her hometown of Ecublens, and she represents the socialist party on the town council. As she explains, she’s especially eager to reach out to young women: “They’re a group we can’t afford to ignore, not least because it would be a shame for society to miss out on their talent.”
Outreach plays an important role in breaking down family-related barriers, challenging preconceived ideas and igniting interest in science and technology
Women now account for 35% of the EPFL student community, and this figure has risen steadily in recent years. While this is a welcome development, the School is determined to build on this momentum – and to break down silos between programs. “This is a cause very close to our hearts,” says Fruehauf. “Many young women choose to study life sciences engineering or architecture, to the extent that they now outnumber men in these programs. But some subjects like computer science and mechanical engineering, which offer incredible opportunities, remain male strongholds. Ideally, we’d like women to make up more than 30% of students in every program.”
Head and hands
Fruehauf wasn’t necessarily destined for a career in engineering. She was born in 1965 and grew up in Vevey. Like most of her childhood friends, she was raised in a household where neither parent had attended university: her father was a mechanic and her mother trained as an administrative assistant before becoming a homemaker. So what drew Fruehauf to chemistry? “I’d taken Latin and English, a very literary track, but I wanted to do something more hands-on. I considered becoming a forestry engineer, but that would have meant studying in Zurich. The idea of mixing substances and creating new molecules appealed to me. My parents believed in me. We weren’t wealthy, but they were proud to be able to send me to university. They agreed to four years – and no more! – because they also had to support my younger brother.”
From perfume to contaminated soil
For Fruehauf, studying chemistry was anything but a walk in the park: “The first year was awful. I had practically no foundational knowledge in math and physics. Luckily, we had two days a week in the lab. I stuck with it and, before long, I started to enjoy it.” After graduating in 1988, she spent eight years in industry, working first on perfumes for Givaudan and then for Battelle Memorial Institute, which carries out contract research with a particular focus on environmental science. “It was a huge shock,” says Fruehauf. “I went from the world of luxury goods to the harsh reality of contaminated soil. But I knew I was doing something meaningful. I got to tell farmers in northern Italy that their land was no longer polluted and that they could start growing rice again. That kind of impact really motivated me.”
In 1996, at the age of 31, she left industry behind and returned to EPFL as a career advisor. The reasons for the pivot were twofold: she wanted to do something different, and she was eager to start a family with her partner, who at the time was a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at the School. They never tried to push their two children – now fully grown – into a particular field: their daughter studied medicine, while their son has just finished business school.
With five years to go until retirement, Fruehauf looks back on her career with a sense of pride and calm satisfaction: “I’m more of a back-seat driver these days. I’m there to support the new members of the team and give them room to grow.”