Welcome to François and Marc!

François Rivat has completed a double degree in chemical engineering, earning a diplôme d'ingénieur from the European School for Chemistry, Polymers, and Materials Science (ECPM) in Strasbourg, and a Master of Science at Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden). Specializing in polymer science, he has gained extensive research experience through projects at SABIC in the Netherlands, where he explored polymer blends, and at the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Dresden, where he focused on polyelectrolytes.
François will be working on developing electroactive elastomers, with applications in areas such as soft robotics.

Marc Grädel received his Master’s degree in Materials Science from ETH Zürich in 2022 with the focus on Soft Matter and Rheology. Tuning the building blocks of soft matter such as foams, suspensions, gels and plastics for improved flow and mechanics fascinates him the most. The cross-disciplinary scope allowed him to gain insights in various sectors such as drilling fluids in collaboration with an oil extraction company to optics for soft lenses at an ETH Spin-off or food sustainability & affordability at Nestlé.
Marc will mainly focus on tuning the chemistry of thermoset elastomers and study their mechanical properties. In collaboration with François, he will introduce new functionalities to these elastomers such as conductivity and fast actuation.