Federal Council
Bern, 03.27.2024 – On March 27, 2024, the Federal Council appointed Anna Fontcuberta i Morral as President of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). This 49-year-old professor of materials science and engineering, who currently teaches at the institution, will take over from Martin Vetterli on January 1, 2025.
Appointed for a regular four-year term, Anna Fontcuberta i Morral is a renowned researcher who has made her semiconductor laboratory the world leader in sustainable nanotechnologies. This holder of Swiss and Spanish nationality is also the co-founder of the start-up Aonex Technologies. In her capacity as associate vice-president of EPFL in charge of centers and platforms, she also participates in the academic management of the institution. She also works actively on several scientific boards, committees and organizations.
Alongside research, Anna Fontcuberta i Morral is committed to teaching and promoting the next generation of scientists. She received a student prize from the Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Techniques for the quality of her teaching. Several distinctions have been awarded to him for his research: the Marie Curie Excellence Grant in 2005, the Starting Grant from the European Research Council in 2009 and, in 2015, the Back-up schemes Consolidator Grant from the Swiss National Fund and the Emmy Noether prize of the European Physical Society.
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral is the first woman to chair EPFL. She will succeed Martin Vetterli from January 2025. He has honored the reputation of the EPFL since taking office in January 2017 and has consolidated the position of the institution, raising it among the higher education institutions the most innovative.
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral was born in 1975 and grew up near Barcelona, where she studied physics. After obtaining her doctorate at the École Polytechnique de Palaiseau, in France, she carried out research, in 2001-2002, then in 2004-2005, as a visiting researcher at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in the United States. . It was during this period that she joined forces to found the successful start-up Aonex Technologies. She obtained her habilitation in experimental physics at the Technical University of Munich in 2009. From 2008, she worked as a tenure track assistant professor at the EPFL Materials Institute.
Promoted to associate professor in 2014, Anna Fontcuberta i Morral has been a full professor in materials science and engineering at EPFL since September 2019. A native Catalan speaker, she speaks French, German, English and Spanish fluently.
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Auteur
Federal Council
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research