The Federal Council
Bern, March 27, 2024 – On March 27, 2024, the Federal Council elected Anna Fontcuberta i Morral as the new President of the EPFL. The 49-year-old is currently a professor of materials science and physics at EPFL in Lausanne. She will succeed Martin Vetterli on January 1, 2025.
The person elected for a regular term of four years is a renowned researcher. She established her semiconducting materials laboratory as a global leader in sustainable nanotechnologies and was also a successful co-founder of the startup Aonex Technologies. As deputy vice president for centers and platforms at ETH Lausanne, she is also involved in academic administration at EPFL. She is also an active member of various scientific advisory boards, committees and specialist panels.
In addition to research, she is also involved in teaching and promoting young scientists. In teaching, she was presented with an award from the students of the Faculty of Engineering for the best teaching. For her research she received various awards such as the Marie Curie Excellence Grant in 2005 and the ERC Starting Grant in 2009 as well as the SNF Back-up schemes Consolidator Grant in 2015 and the “Emmy Noether Distinction” from the European Physical Society.
As President of EPFL, she is the first woman to hold this position. The Swiss and Spanish national will take over from Martin Vetterli in January 2025. He has managed to sustainably strengthen EPFL’s reputation since taking office as president in January 2017 and to establish EPFL as one of the most innovative universities.
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral was born in 1975 and grew up near Barcelona, where she studied physics at the University of Barcelona. She then received her doctorate at the Ecole Polytechnique Palaiseau, France. In 2001-2002 and 2004-2005 she conducted research as a visiting scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA. During this time she was co-founder of the successful start-up company Aonex Technologies. She completed 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 Institute for Materials at EPFL.
In 2014 she was promoted to associate professor and in September 2019 to full professor of materials science and engineering at EPFL. She is a native Catalan speaker and also speaks fluent French, German, English and Spanish.
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The Federal Council
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