The VPO has two new department heads

© 2021 EPFL

© 2021 EPFL

On 1 January, Eric Du Pasquier and Franco Vigliotti joined the management team for the Vice Presidency for Operations.

Eric Du Pasquier, Director of Safety, Security & Operations

Eric Du Pasquier is the head of the new Safety, Security & Operations Department. His objectives are to ensure our campuses are safe, secure and well-maintained, and operate smoothly; to streamline processes, databases and information systems; to foster ongoing collaboration among multi-disciplinary teams; and to enhance the level of interaction among the schools’ respective facilities managers on our various campuses.

Eric Du Pasquier graduated from UNIL’s Institute of Forensic Sciences and Criminology; he went on to complete a PhD there as well, studying the thermodynamic conditions associated with automobile fires, with a particular focus on theoretical and experimental aspects of ignition. He has also completed advanced continuing-education programs in management, as well as courses in occupational health and safety.

Eric du Pasquier joined EPFL in 2009 as the head of Security, Hygiene and Environment before being named the School’s Safety, Prevention and Health Delegate. Before coming to EPFL, Eric Du Pasquier worked as a manager in the safety and claims department of Établissement Cantonal des Assurances, Vaud Canton’s insurance agency. Between 2000 and 2003, Eric Du Pasquier embarked on an academic career, creating a research group in forensic science at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia). Alongside his PhD studies in 2000, he also worked as a scientist with Jura Canton’s Judicial Police.

Franco Vigliotti, Director of Development & Construction

Franco Vigliotti was appointed to run EPFL’s new Development & Construction Department. His objectives are to support our School’s expansion by identifying and pursuing growth opportunities on the various campuses – in Ecublens, Fribourg, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Valais and the Middle East; to encourage dialogue among the users of our facilities, including laboratories, and project teams to better take users’ needs into account; and to ensure that facilities are expanded, and their renovations planned, in a coherent manner. He will take up his new position in phases, starting on 1 January 2021, as he will initially remain in charge of our Ras Al Khaimah campus.

Franco Vigliotti received a degree in physics and a PhD in experimental physics – for which he studied photoinduced structural dynamics of van der Waals solids – from UNIL. He continued his research through a post-doc from 2001 to 2004 at Caltech. In 2008, Franco Vigliotti completed the Mastering Technology Enterprises executive education program at IMD, in Lausanne.

Franco Vigliotti joined EPFL in 2004 as an advisor within the presidency and then served as a delegate to the Vice Presidency for Institutional Affairs; he was involved in the transfer of physics, chemistry and mathematics studies from UNIL to EPFL’s basic sciences program. He then took part in the negotiations that led to the transfer of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) to EPFL’s life sciences program, and in the negotiations resulting in the transfer of the Institute of Microengineering from the University of Neuchâtel to EPFL’s School of Engineering. In 2009, Franco Vigliotti went to Ras Al Khaimah to set up and run the EPFL Middle East campus. As part of his most recent work in the area of sustainable development and energy management, around 150 internship projects and Master’s theses on reducing CO2 emissions have been carried out. Also in Ras Al Khaimah, Franco Vigliotti coordinated the research that led to the first university campus meeting Minergie standards for tropical climates, which were developed jointly by EPFL’s Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory, Minergie Suisse, and the Swiss International School in Dubai.

The VPO’s management team is now complete. The other members are Claudia Noth, the head of human resources; Rafael Corvalán, the head of information systems; Elvis Fontaine, the head of procurement; and Antoinette Musard, the deputy to the Vice President.

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