Awards and Distinctions

2023

Research

Andras Kis is recognized as a leading scientist in his field by the prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Nicola Marzari receives Open Research Data prize recognition.

2022

Research

Roland Logé received the médaille Albert Portevin.

Andreas Mortensen received SNSF Advances Grant.

Dragan Damjanovic named the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society (UFFC-S) President-Elect..

2021

Research

Marianne Liebi received an award from the HZB association.

Dragan Damjanovic received the Humboldt Research award and the IEEE Distinguished Service award.

Academic

Dragan Damjanovic received the Best Teacher 2021 from the Materials Section award.

2020

Research

2019

Research

2018

Research

Nicola Marzari received the IBM Faculty Award for curated datasets.

Maartje Bastings received the “2018 Young Investigator Research Grant” by the “Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)” for a proposal titled “Detecting inequity in dendritic cells through bio-inspired synthetic T cells” (submitted jointly with Ralf Jungmann from Munich, Germany and Ian Parish from Melbourne, Australia).

Maartje Bastings received the SNSF Eccellenza Grant.

Philip Moll received the 2018 Nicholas Kurti Science Prize for Europe.

Philip Moll received a SNSF Professorship.

Fabien Sorin received the 2018 QIAN Baojun Fiber Award for young scholar.

Cyril Cayron received the 2018 Haenny Award.

Dragan Damjanovic was appointed Fellow of The American Ceramic Society.

Dragan Damjanovic received the 2018 IEEE Robert E. Newnham Ferroelectrics Award.

Li Tang received an ERC Starting Grant.

Harm-Anton Klok received an SNF Sinergia Grant.

Academic

Heidi Potts received the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Award 2018 for her pioneering contributions in the field of synthesis of nanoscale semiconductors. Her discoveries include the engineering of shape and crystal purity of InAs(Sb) nanowires through basic understanding of self-assembly processes. This work opens new perspectives in in the field of next generation quantum computing devices based on Majorana Fermions.

Andrea Cepellotti received the 2018 Nicholas Metropolis Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Work in Computational Physics from the American Physical Society.

Nicola Marzari received the Best Teacher Award 2017-2018 for the Materials Science and Engineering section.

Fabien Sorin received the Polysphère” award for the STI on Graduation Day 2018.

2017

Research

Marco Gibertini awarded an Ambizione grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Michele Ceriotti has been awarded the IUPAP C10 Young Scientist Award for 2018 for his work on the development of novel and original algorithms to extend the scope and accuracy of molecular dynamics simulations, and to rationalize and predict the structure-property relations in complex materials.

Francesco Stellacci elected member in the European Academy of Science.  

Fabien Sorin, head of the Laboratory of Photonic Materials and Fibre Devices at the materials institute (IMX-FIMAP), has been awarded the DuPont Awards Early Career Grant 2016. The 2016 Class of DuPont Young Professors supports outstanding research that advances basic science knowledge to address global challenges in food, energy and protection. Members of the DuPont Young Professor Class of 2016 are key scientists on the staff of eight leading universities on four continents around the world. They are engaged in promising research in key areas of interest to DuPont, including work in the fields of plant biology, biotechnology, materials science, photovoltaics and chemical engineering.

Philip Moll received an ERC Starting Grant.

Dirk Grundler received a SNF Sinergia Grant.

Academic

Andrea Cepellotti will receive the IBM Research 2017 Award for his Ph.D Thesis entitled “Thermal transport in low dimensions” carried out in 2016 at EPFL Laboratory of theory and simulation of materials. The award ceremony will take place on October 6th, 2017.

Holger Frauenrath received the Polysphère” award for the STI on Graduation Day 2017.

Fabien Sorin received the 2017 Crédit Suisse Award for Best Teaching.

2016

Research

Andreas Mortensen was awarded “la Grande Médaille” of the French Society for Metallurgy and Materials. This award was given to him on October 26, 2016 at their annual meeting in Albi. 2016 prize winners.

Jean-Luc Desbiolles receives the “2016 Haenny Award“.

Andras Kis received a SNSF Consolidator Grant“.

Francesco Stellacci receives the 2016 Leenaards Award. >> Watch the video

Paul Muralt received the IFCS 2016 C. B. Sawyer Award For his outstanding contribution to understand growing mechanism of piezoelectric thin films and materials, the development of innovative structures for acoustic-wave-based resonators and transducers and the promotion of their use for e!ective time-andfrequency applications.

Holger Frauenrath received a ERC Proof of Concept Grant“.

Michele Ceriotti received an ERC Starting Grant.

Fabien Sorin received an ERC Starting Grant.

Academic

Congratulations to Débora Bonvin who received the prize of the contest “Trois minutes pour la Science“. >> Watch the RTS TV program

Congratulations to Yannick Baumgartner who received the prize of the best Master average 2016in Materials science and engineering during the Graduation Ceremony of October 1, 2016.

Congratulations to Philippe Schwaller who received the Prize of the best Academic Master thesis 2016 in Materials science and engineering during the Graduation Ceremony of October 1, 2016.

Congratulations to Muriel Blum who received the SVMT Prize 2016 of the best Master thesis in industry in Materials science and engineering during the Graduation Ceremony of October 2, 2016.

Chiara Ercolani (EL), Loïc Oberson (MX) and Antoine Tardy (MT) won the first prize of the EPFL robot competition.

2015

Research

Prof. Wilfried Kurz, Professor Emeritus (IMX), received the John Hunt Medal from IOM3 – the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in London (20,000 members). The award was made by current president of the Institute (left), Dr. Mike Hicks – formlerly Global Head of Materials Engineering at Rolls Royce (aircraft).

Prof. Anna Fontcuberta i Morral of the Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials has been awarded the European Physical Society’s Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics. The Emmy Noether Distinction is awarded twice a year to recognize achievements in areas such as research, education, outreach and industry. Prof. Fontcuberta was rewarded for her “pioneer work on high quality III-V nanowires grown in a self-catalytic method by Molecular Beam Epitaxy allowing to produce novel nano-heterostructures in particular for photovoltaic and quantum optoelectronic applications. She is a model for attracting young women into a career in physics.”

Prof. Anna Fontcuberta i Morral of the Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials has been awarded the European Physical Society’s Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics. The Emmy Noether Distinction is awarded twice a year to recognize achievements in areas such as research, education, outreach and industry. Prof. Fontcuberta was rewarded for her “pioneer work on high quality III-V nanowires grown in a self-catalytic method by Molecular Beam Epitaxy allowing to produce novel nano-heterostructures in particular for photovoltaic and quantum optoelectronic applications. She is a model for attracting young women into a career in physics.”

Anna Fontcuberta received a SNSF Consolidator Grant“.

Jean-Marie Drezet received officially the 2015 TMS Light Metals Subject Award – Warren Peterson Cast Shop for Aluminum Production.

Jean-Marie Drezet received officially the 2015 TMS Light Metals Award on March 19, 2015.

Michel Rappaz received officially the 2015 TMS Brimacombe Prize on March 18, 2015.

Helena Van Swygenhoven elected in the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

Prof. Nicola Marzari has been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society for his outstanding contributions to physics. The American Physical Society (APS), founded in 1899, counts more than 50,000 members, and it publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the prestigious Review of Modern Physics and Physical Review Letters. Election to Fellowship in this society is limited to no more than 0.5% of the membership. APS has made Nicola Marzari a Fellow in recognition of “the development of creative and original methods for ab initio calculation of material properties, in particular Wannier-based electronic structure methods and first principles simulations of transport properties of solids and nanostructures.” At EPFL Nicola Marzari heads the laboratory for Theory and Simulation of Materials (THEOS). He also directs the NCCR MARVEL for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials, one of the 8 new National Centers of Competence in Research that have been created by the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2014.

Karen Scrivener elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering [Click to read on]

Berend Smit received an “ERC Advanced Grant“.

Academic

Congratulations to Leonid Kahle who won the prize of the best Master average 2015 in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the Graduation Ceremony of October 3rd, 2015.

Congratulations to Inès Richard who won the Prize of the best Academic Master thesis 2015 in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the Graduation Ceremony of October 3rd, 2015.

Congratulations to Tony Laenzlinger who won the SVMT Prize 2015 of the best Master thesis in industry in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 3rd, 2015.

Jean-Luc Desbiolles received the Polysphère” award for the STI on Graduation Day 2015. (Click to read on)

Michel Rappaz received the Best Teacher Award for the Materials Science and Engineering section. This award was given to him at his “leçon d’honneur” on September 25, 2015.

Muriel Blum attends the “camp des surdouésClick to read on

2014

Research

Michel Rappaz was named a TMS Fellow in Warrendale, PA (USA).

Nicola Marzari received a SNSF NCCR grant.

Academic

Congratulations to Mohammad Ramezani who won the Prize of the best Master thesis 2014 in Materials science and engineering at EPFL. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 4h, 2014.

Congratulations to Katja Fröhlich who won the Prize of the best Master thesis 2014 off EPFL in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 4th, 2014.

Congratulations to Brigitte Greenwood who won the prize of the best Master average 2014 in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 4th, 2014.

2013

Research

Paul Bowen was elected as a Fellow of the European Ceramic Society for his contributions to fundamental aspects of ceramic science, at the 13th ECerS meeting held in Limoges (France), in June 2013. He is the first Swiss scientist to receive this honour.

Michel Rappaz officially received the FEMS European Materials Medal at the Euromat Conference that took place in Seville, Spain on September 2013.

During the 2013 meeting of the German Physical Society in Regensburg, Michele Ceriotti who will join the IMX on November 1 as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor won the Volker Heine Young Investigator Award, in recognition for his work on efficient methods to include nuclear quantum effects in first-principles atomistic simulations.

Jonathan Dantzig officially received the Brimacombe Prize at the TMS Annual Meeting that took place in San Antonio from March 3 to 7, 2013.

Effective January 1 2013, Paul Muralt became an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to piezoelectric microelectro mechanical systems.

Marco Cantoni receives the “2013 Haenny Award“.

Sylvie Roke receives a “SNSF Consolidator Grant” in 2013.

Nava Setter receives a “Proof of Concept Grant” in 2013 with a project in Mobile Two Dimensional Gas.

Helena van Swygenhoven receives an “ERC Advanced Grant“.

Holger Frauenrath received a “ERC Proof of Concept Grant”.

Academic

Congratulations to Christoph Radermacher who won the prize of the best Master thesis 2013 in Materials science and engineering at EPFL. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 5th, 2013.

Congratulations to Christina Olk who won the prize of the best Master thesis 2013 off EPFL in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 5th, 2013.

Congratulations to Carolina Grize who won the prize of the best Master average 2013 in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 5th, 2013.

We would like to congratulate Joséphine Pratiwi, student at Morges’ high school and future student in Materials Science at EPFL. She just won a gold medal at the Swiss Chemistry Olympiad, a fantastic performance considering the high level of this competition. She will travel to Moscow this summer for the international final… Good luck Joséphine !

2012

Research

Dr Jean-Marie Drezet awarded the “Grand Prix Constellium” of the “Académie des Sciences de l’Institut de France” for all his work done on aluminium. He will officially receive the prize in a ceremony under the dome of the “Institut de France” on October 16, 2012.

EU-40 Award to Stellacci. [Click to read on]

Helena Van Swygenhoven selected as a 2012 MRS Fellow [Click to read on]

Anna Fontcuberta receives the “2012 Haenny Award“.

Andreas Mortensen receives an “ERC Advanced Grant“.

Academic

Congratulations to Arthur Aebersold who won the prize of the best Master average 2012 in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 6th, 2012.

Congratulations to Hamed Kazemi who won the prize of the best Master thesis 2012 in Materials science and engineering. This prize was given during the graduation Ceremony of October 6th, 2012. The prize rewards a student who has made a marked favorable impression by this actions or personality.

2011

Research

2010

Research

Nava Setter received one of the 2010 European Research Council grants for her project called “Mobile Walls”.

Francesco Stellacci received the “Premio Gentile da Fabriano” award.

Andreas Mortensen was named Fellow of the School of Engineering by the University of Tokyo in February 2010.

Le Fondation Rodolphe et Renée Haenny prize goes to Véronique Michaud, “for her original contributions to the putting into practise of material composites and intelligent materials for high technology applications”.

The DuPont prize for materials was awarded to Aude Hauert for “a new model of stochaistic rupture, which predicts the properties and the potential of new inorganic composites”.

Dr. Denis Favez of the Computational Materials Laboratory received the “Professor René Wasserman Award 2009” for his thesis “Soudage laser or-acier: métallurgie et procédé”, directed by Prof. Michel Rappaz.

Congratulations to Eugène Mikheev who won the “best poster award” at the 19th International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics (Edinburgh, August 2010) for his presentation on “Polariszation screening in multiferroic (Ga,Mn)As/P(VDF-TfFE) transistors”. The project was carried out at the Ceramics Laboratory.

Prof. Dragan Damjanovic of the Ceramics Laboratory was nominated The Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Utrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society” for the period July 2010 – December 2011. The title of his lecture is “Piezoelectric materials – microscopic mechanisms, novel compositions and advanced applications”.

Prof. Karen Scrivener is the first woman ever to be granted a doctorate honoris causa by CTU in Prague.

Academic

Prof. Libero Zuppiroli received the “Gold Polysphere 2010” awarded by the students of EPFL.

Mathieu Antoni received the “Best postgraduate presentation” award from the University of Birmingham.

2009

Recherche

2008

Recherche

Dr. Holger Frauenrath has been awarded the Reimund Stadler Award at the September 2008 Meeting of the Division of Macromolecular Chemistry of the GDCh in Aachen, Germany. The prize is awarded biannually to young professor aspirants of German polymer working groups for outstanding scientific achievements.

Dr Ludger Weber from Laboratory of Mechanical Metallurgy (LMM) has won two prizes : the “FEMS Materials Science and Technology Prize“, awarded to young European materials scientists or engineers in recognition of a significant contribution to a field of Materials Science and Engineering, and the “DGM Georg-Sachs award“.

Prof. Dragan Damjanovic from the Ceramics Laboratory was elected as IEEE Fellow for “contributions to piezoelectric ceramics and single crystals“.

Prof. Andreas Mortensen has been awarded the AGEPoly’s Polysphère d’OR on October 4, 2008. This prize is for the best professor of the whole EPFL, as voted on by students.

Prof. Wilfried Kurz has been awarded this year the prestigious Albert Sauveur award given by ASM International, which “recognizes pioneering materials science and engineering achievments that have stimulated organized work along similar lines to such an extent that a marked basic advance has been made in the knowledge of materials science and engineering”.