Ali H. Sayed

Dean of the School of Engineering

It is my pleasure to share with you the 2022 annual report for the School of Engineering (STI) at EPFL.

We are dedicated to academic excellence and to leadership in engineering education, research, and innovation. Through targeted hirings and the strengthening of our research and educational offerings, the rankings of our institutes have been improving steadily.

For example, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM) has moved from #36 in 2017 to #16 today in the QS World University Rankings. The Institute of Electrical and Micro Engineering (IEM) has moved from #14 in 2017 to #6. And the Institute of Materials Science (IMX) has moved from #11 in 2017 to #8. Both IEM and IMX are today the highest ranked institutes at EPFL, and among the highest ranked worldwide. The ranking in Energy Science has also moved from #5 in 2017 to #4 in the Shanghai Rankings.

The number of BS/MS students in engineering has been growing steadily and more so in the sections of microengineering (SMT) and mechanical engineering (SGM). Specifically, the total number of students at the BS/MS level has increased by 31% since 2017, moving from 2338 in 2017 to 3062 in 2022. These student numbers reflect the appeal of our engineering disciplines to incoming students considering the high-quality training they receive in domains such as electronics, materials, manufacturing, microengineering, circuit design, data science, bioengineering, robotics, and AI. These areas are crucial to the manufacturing and pharmaceutical base that exists in Switzerland and to the network of start-ups and PMEs.

The school is active in engaging industry and society at large. We are a strong partner of the Swiss industry and contribute actively to entrepreneurship and translational activities within EPFL. Close to 40% of the school’s budget originates from external sources, including from funding agencies and Swiss companies. Almost half of all start-ups launched by EPFL, and half of the patents filed by EPFL, originate from the School of Engineering. The school further runs an EPFL Excellence in Engineering Program (E3), which provides research opportunities for undergraduate and early MS students from around the World. The program attracts close to 2000 applicants each year.

We are also dedicated to diversity and gender balance in the school. Since 2017, the percentage of female faculty members in engineering has increased by 50%. In addition, female faculty members now constitute 57% of all faculty at the junior rank.

This year again, we have appointed several outstanding new faculty members, who are experts in their domains. We also continue to provide our students with opportunities to participate in exciting projects of great social value at the national and international levels, such as the Network for Water and Life (NEWAL) program, sponsored by the swissuniversities SUDAC program, where our students create sustainable development projects.

We were also a big part of EPFL’s booth at the BEA fair in Bern, one of Switzerland’s largest, where we showcased how the animal world inspires science. The public had the opportunity to discover several bio-inspired robots and drones and learned more about the way certain technologies, such as intelligent hives, can help protect certain species, among many other amazing demonstrations, workshops, and discoveries.

I welcome you to learn more about our research and our ongoing efforts by browsing through these pages.

Ali H. Sayed, Dean of the School of Engineering