École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Type	Public
Established	1853[1]
Budget	896 million CHF[2]
President	Patrick Aebischer
Undergraduates	5,205 (2015)[3]
Postgraduates	4,919 (2015)
Location	Écublens (near Lausanne), Vaud, Switzerland 46°31′13″N 6°33′56″E / 46.52028°N 6.56556°ECoordinates: 46°31′13″N 6°33′56″E / 46.52028°N 6.56556°E
Campus	Urban
Nationalities	125+
Affiliations	AUF, EUA, Eurotech, CLUSTER, RESCIF and TIME
Website	www.epfl.ch

EPFL

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL; English: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) is a research institute/university in Lausanne, Switzerland, that specialises in physical sciences and engineering.^[4] The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology complex has three main world-rank missions: education, research and technology transfer at the highest international level.

EPFL is widely regarded as one of the world leading universities. The QS World University Rankings ranks EPFL 14th in the world across all fields in their 2015/2016 ranking, while Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranks EPFL as the worlds 12th best school for Engineering.^[5][6]

EPFL is located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland; the sister institution in the German-speaking part of Switzerland is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). Associated with several specialised research institutes, the two universities form the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain (ETH Domain), which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.^[7] In connection with research and teaching activities, EPFL operates a nuclear reactor CROCUS,^[8] a Tokamak Fusion reactor,^[9] a Blue Gene/Q Supercomputer^[10] and P3 bio-hazard facilities.

History

The roots of modern-day EPFL can be traced back to the foundation of a private school under the name École spéciale de Lausanne in 1853 at the initiative of Lois Rivier, a graduate of the École Centrale Paris and John Gay, the then professor and rector of the Académie de Lausanne. At its inception it had only eleven students and the offices was located at Rue du Valentin in Lausanne. In 1869, it became the technical department of the public Académie de Lausanne. When the Académie was reorganised and acquired the status of a university in 1890, the technical faculty changed its name to École d'ingénieurs de l'Université de Lausanne. In 1946, it was renamed the École polytechnique de l'Université de Lausanne (EPUL). In 1969, the EPUL was separated from the rest of the University of Lausanne and became a federal institute under its current name. EPFL, like ETH Zurich, is thus directly controlled by the Swiss federal government. In contrast, all other universities in Switzerland are controlled by their respective cantonal governments. Following the nomination of Patrick Aebischer as president in 2000, EPFL has started to develop into the field of life sciences. It absorbed the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in 2008.^[11]

In 1946, there were 360 students. In 1969, EPFL had 1,400 students and 55 professors. In the past two decades the university has grown rapidly and as of 2012 roughly 14,000 people study or work on campus, about 9,300 of these beings Bachelor, Master or PhD students. As EPFL first became a federal institute under its current name in 1969, with a student body of then less than 1500, the university is included in the Times Higher Education list of top 100 universities under 50 years old. The environment at modern day EPFL is highly international with the school now attracting top students and researchers from all over the world. More than 125 countries are represented on the campus and the university has two official languages, French and English.

Admission and education

Like every public university in Switzerland, EPFL is obliged to grant admission to every Swiss resident who took the maturité high-school certificate recognized by the Swiss Federation. As such, for Swiss students, EPFL is not selective in its undergraduate admission procedures.

The real selection process happens during the first year of study. This period is called the propaedeutic cycle and the students must pass a block examination of all the courses taken during the first year at the end of the cycle. If the weighted average is insufficient, a student is required to retake the entire first year of coursework if they wish to continue their studies at the school. Roughly 50% of students fail the first year of study, and many of them choose to drop out rather than repeat the first year.^[12] The failure rate for the propaedeutic cycle differs between fields of study, it is highest for Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering majors where only 30-40% of students pass the first year.

For foreign students, the selection procedure towards the undergraduate program is rather strict, and since most undergraduate courses are taught in French, foreign students must provide documentation of having acquired a level B2 proficiency as measured on the CEF scale, though C1 proficiency is recommended.

As at all universities in Switzerland, the academic year is divided into two semesters. Regular time to reach graduation is six semesters for the Bachelor of Science degree and four additional semesters for the Master of Science degree. Though only 58% of the student's who manage to graduate are able to graduate within this time-period.^[12] The possibility to study abroad for one or two semesters is offered during the 3rd year of study under certain conditions as EPFL maintains several long-standing student exchange programs, such as the junior year engineering and science program with Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, as well as a graduate Aeronautics and Aerospace program with the ISAE in France. The final semester is dedicated to writing a thesis.

Entrepreneurship is actively encouraged to foster a start-up culture among the student body as evident by the EPFL-Innovationpark being an integral part of campus. Since 1997, 12 start-ups have been created per year on average by EPFL students and faculty. In the year 2013, a total of 105 million CHF was raised by EPFL start-ups.^[13]

Rankings

University Rankings 2015
Engineering & Technology
Global
Times	12
QS	17
ARWU	14
Europe
Times	5
QS	5
ARWU	3

The three most widely observed international university rankings, QS World University Rankings, Academic Ranking of World Universities and Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranks EPFL No. 2, No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the field of Engineering and Technology on continental Europe in their 2015–2016 rankings. In the rankings EPFL competes with Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London and its sister institution, ETH Zurich, for the European top five spots in Engineering and Technology.

QS World University Ranking 2015 ranks EPFL world No. 14, with world No. 17 in Engineering and world No. 13 in the Natural Sciences subcategories.^{[14] [15]} Academic Ranking of World Universities 2014 ranks EPFL world No. 14 and Europe No. 3 in the Engineering, Technology and Computer Sciences category.^[16] THE World University Rankings 2014–2015 ranks EPFL world No. 31 and world No. 12 in the Engineering and Technology subcategory.^[17]

EPFL typically scores high on faculty to student ratio, international outlook and scientific impact. The specialised CWTS Leiden Ranking^[18] that "aims to provide highly accurate measurements of the scientific impact of universities" ranks EPFL world No. 13 and No. 1 in Europe in the 2013 rankings for all the sciences. Similarly, in the Times 2014-2015, EPFL ranks 15th in the world and 2nd in Europe on the citation index score.

Although EPFL generally ranks among the worlds best universities on academic measures such as citation index and scientific impact, due to the young age and small size of the school, it tends to rank comparatively low in name-brand surveys. A recent example of this being the Times 2015 reputation ranking where EPFL was ranked No. 48 in the world.^[19] In recent years, multiple EPFL faculty members have been selected as Young Global Leader or as Young Scientist by the World Economic Forum, increasing the visibility of EPFL outside tech-circles.^[20]

The Times 100 Under 50 Rankings is a ranking of the top 100 universities in the world under 50 years old. Since EPFL in its current form was formed in 1969, EPFL is included in this ranking. EPFL was ranked 1st in the world for two years in a row in 2015^[21] and 2016.^[22][23] Times Higher Education also ranked EPFL as the most international university in the world two years in a row 2014^[24] and 2015.^[25]

Campus

The EPFL Learning Center.

The MX buildings.

The SwissTech Convention Center.

Aerial view of the EPFL, which forms a large campus with the University of Lausanne (UNIL) at the shores of Lake Geneva.

The École d'ingénieurs de l'Université de Lausanne, from which EPFL in its modern-day form originates, was located in the center of Lausanne. In 1974, 5 years after EPFL was separated from University of Lausanne and became a federal institute under its current name, the construction of a new campus at Dorigny in Écublens, a suburb south-west of Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva, began. The inauguration of the first EPFL buildings of the new campus took place in 1978.

The EPFL campus has been evolving ever since. The first stage of the development plans, with a total budget of 462 million Swiss francs, was completed in 1984 and in 1990 the second stage was completed. The construction of the northern parts of campus began in 1995 with the construction of the Microtechnology building, completed in 1998, and the architecture building, completed in 2000. In 2002, the department of architecture also moved to the campus in Écublens, uniting all departments of EPFL on the same site. The latest addition to the EPFL campus is the Rolex Learning Center completed February 2010. The Rolex Learning Center includes areas for work, leisure and services and is located at the center of the campus. The EPFL campus is now being expanded with the construction of the SwissTech Convention Center to be completed in 2014.

Together with the University of Lausanne, also located in Écublens, the EPFL forms a vast campus, welcoming about 20,000 students, at the shores of Lake Geneva. The campus is served by the Lausanne Metro Line 1 (M1) and is equipped with an electric bicycle sharing system.^[26] Since 2012, only electricity from certified hydroelectric generation is being bought by EPFL to power it's campus. EPFL was the first campus to receive the International Sustainable Campus Excellence Award by the International Sustainable Campus Network.^[27]

Of the 14,000 people that work and study at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne campus, roughly 9.300 are students in either Bachelor, Master or Doctoral programs, the remaining 4,700 being administrative staff, scientists, technical staff, professors and the entrepreneurs located in the Science Park EPFL7. More than 125 nationalities are present on campus with 48% of the student population being foreign nationals.^[28]

Almost all of the structures of the EPFL are located on its main campus. However, it also has branches in Neuchâtel ("Microcity"), in Sion ("Pôle EPFL Valais"),^[29] in Geneva (Campus Biotech, including the Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuro-engineering) and in Fribourg ("Smart Living Lab").

The EPFL also has a project of research centre in Ras al-Khaimah (United Arab Emirates), EPFL Middle East.^[30]

Buildings

The campus consists of about 65 buildings on 136 acres (55 ha). Built according to the growth of the school, the campus includes different types of architectures:

• Late 1970s–1980s: modularised building, used today by the Schools of Basic Sciences and Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
• 1990s: buildings with institutes from the Schools of Engineering Sciences and Techniques, Computer and Communication Sciences, and the Scientific Park (PSE)
• Modern: new buildings (2002–2004) with Microengineering, Communications and Architecture institutes, the School of Life Sciences and the College of Management.
• The Learning Center, a new library (2010)
• 2014: The SwissTech Convention Center and the "Quartier Nord" (convention center, student accommodation, shops...)

The EPFL and the University of Lausanne also share an active sports centre five minutes away from EPFL, on the shores of Lake Geneva.^[31]

Facilities

Facilities are available on the campus for the students and staff:

• Libraries: the Learning Center
• Restaurants: Le Copernic and La Table de Vallotton
• Cafeterias: La Coupole, Le Corbusier, Le Parmentier, Le Vinci, BMX (Bâtiment des matériaux), BC (Bâtiment des communications), L'Arcadie, Le Hodler, Le Klee, L'Ornithorynque
• Bar: Satellite
• Travel agencies: Swiss Federal Railways and STA Travel
• Banks: Credit Suisse and PostFinance
• Radio: Fréquence Banane (student radio)
• Conference centre: the SwissTech Convention Center
• Museums: Musée Bolo and Archizoom
• Student housing: Quartier Nord (Atrium) and Les Estudiantines.

Satellite campuses

EPFL Lausanne

• Microcity (in Neuchâtel):^[32] "A temple dedicated to innovation" ( Patrick Aebischer)
• EPFL Fribourg:^[33] "The EPFL Fribourg outpost develops its activities in the fields of technology, construction and sustainable architecture. Besides the activities of advanced research, it designs, with the School of Engineering and Architecture HEIA-FR and the University of Fribourg, the Smart Living Lab, a new interuniversity pole of competence. Its location at the heart of the blueFACTORY innovation park will allow it to exploit the development potential of public-private partnerships offered by this opportunity and will contribute to the future National Innovation Park." (EPFL website)
• EPFL also has satellite facilities in Sion, Geneva, and Basel.^[34]

Language Centre

The Language Centre is a service provided by the Ecole Polythechnique Fédérale to help international students and staff to learn and improve their international language skills covering French, German, Italian and English (levels A1 to C2; see the CEFR language levels).^[35] The language-learning program it offers is reserved for EPFL students and personnel, for their spouse (paying French courses only) and for collaborators of the Confederation.

Tandems are also organized and set up within the framework of the Tandem Program of the Arts Faculty/EFLE. It includes two people of different mother tongues who meet regularly to teach each other their respective languages.^[36]

Students and traditions

Student body

The number of students attending studying at EPFL has been rising heavily since EPFL was formed in 1969 under its current name. In 1969 EPFL had roughly 1400 students, that number had grown to 2367 by 1982, 4302 by 1997 and now 9921 students in 2014. Within the student body, 112 different nationalities are represented. In the period from 1982 to 2014 the female proportion of the student body has increased from 12% to 27%. The proportion of female students is lowest at the School of Computer Science and Communication, 15%, and highest at the School of Life Sciences, 49%.^[1]

Associations

The Festival Balélec is a music festival organised annually at the EPFL campus.

The school encourages the formation of associations and sports activities on campus. As of 2012 more than 79 associations exist on campus for recreational and social purposes. In addition, the school has its own monthly newspaper, Flash. Included in the 79 associations are

• AGEPoly is the Student's Association of the EPFL. The purpose of AGEPoly is to represent the EPFL's students, defend the general interests of the students and inform and consult its members on decisions of the EPFL Direction that concern them.^[37]
• The Forum is an EPFL student association responsible for organisation of the Forum EPFL. The Forum was founded in 1982 as a platform for exchange and meeting between the academic and professional communities. Today, the Forum EPFL is one of the largest recrouting events in Europe.^[38]
• UNIPOLY is the EPFL Association for Sustainable Development, the Association works to create awareness of sustainable developmenent on campus and in western Switzerland. UNIPOLY is part of the World Student Community for Sustainable Development, an international network of student organisations for sustainable development consisting of EPFL, ETH Zurich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Tokyo, University of Fort Hare, University of Nairobi, Chalmers, and University of Yaounde.^[39]

Music festivals

Several music festivals are held yearly at EPFL. The most important one is the Balélec Festival, organised in May. The festival wellcomes 15,000 visitors to around 30 concerts. Other smaller festivals include Sysmic organised in November by the students of the Department of Microengineering, hosting two stages for local and national bands, and Artiphys, organised by the students of the Physics Department.

Archimedean Oath

The EPFL was the birthplace of the Archimedean Oath, proposed by students in 1990.^[40] The Archimedean Oath has since spread to a number of European engineering schools.

The Archimedean Oath is an ethical code of practice for engineers and technicians, similar to the Hippocratic Oath used in the medical world:

"I commit to keeping completely, to the full extent of my capacities and judgment, the following promises:

I shall use my knowledge for the benefit of mankind. I shall not put my skill to the service of people who do not respect Human Rights I shall not permit consideration regarding religion, nationality, race, sex, wealth and politics to harm people affected by my actions. I shall bear the entire responsibility for my actions and shall in no way discharge them on another. I shall practice in respect for the environment. I shall not use my knowledge for destructive purposes. I shall practice my profession in complete intellectual honesty, with conscience and dignity. I solemnly take this oath, freely and on my honour."

EPFL Alumni Network

The mission of EPFL Alumni is to provide graduates of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne an exclusive, international network and a strong and lasting relationship upon graduation. To do this, EPFL Alumni offers graduates a directory full of 29,000 contacts of EPFL graduates across the globe with access reserved to alumni. It furthermore provides them with opportunities for meeting, training and consulting. EPFL Alumni creates a platform for exchange and services on topics as diverse as career, expatriation, research, entrepreneurship and volunteerism. EPFL Alumni ensures that graduates can benefit from the support of older peers by fostering opportunities to meet in Switzerland or abroad. EPFL Alumni is aided in this task by local and international chapters, whose committed volunteers invigorate the local alumni network. EPFL Alumni has built a pretty strong international network of chapters in different parts of Switzerland and throughout the world. These antennas enrich the communities of nearby graduates. They are able to independently offer activities, conferences and outings, with financial and logistical support from EPFL Alumni. By joining EPFL Alumni, every EPFL alumnus would have the opportunity to have a unique alumni EPFL e-mail address, personalized logo, Alumnist magazine, EPFL's scientific magazine, career services, EPFL services (WiFi, library, gym, etc.), temporary office space at EPFL and internationally at Swissnex hubs and major formal events at EPFL.

Scientific partners

Alinghi SUI100 during a training session in Valencia.

• EPFL is the official scientific advisor of Alinghi, twice winners of the America's cup 2003 and 2007.
• Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range solar powered aircraft project developed at EPFL, the project is currently achieving the first circumnavigation of the world using only solar power.
• The Hydroptère, is an experimental sailing hydrofoil that in 2009 broke the world speed sailing record, sustaining a speed of 52.86 knots (97.90 km/h; 60.83 mph) for 500m in 30 knots of wind^[41]
• EPFL contributed to the construction of SwissCube-1.^[42] It is the first satellite entirely built in Switzerland. It was put into orbit on 23 September 2009 by the Indian launcher PSLV.
• To better understand the relationship between nutrition and the brain, EPFL and the Nestlé research center has signed a five-year agreement providing 5 million CHF each year for the creation of two new chairs at the EPFL Brain Mind Institute.
• Logitech and EPFL has announced the creation of the EPFL Logitech Incubator that will provide financial, educational and operational support in entrepreneurship to researchers and students.
• Breitling Orbiter became the first balloon to circumnavigate the earth non-stop in March 1999. The balloon was piloted by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones.
• The Human Brain Project is the successor of the EPFL Blue Brain Project. The project is directed by EPFL and involves 86 institutions across Europe. The total cost is estimated at 1.190 billion euros.^[43]

Organization

The Tokamak (TCV): inner view, with the graphite-clad torus. Courtesy of CRPP-EPFL, Association Suisse-Euratom

Outside view of the Tokamak at the EPFL.

Henry Markram,the coordinator of the Human Brain Project.

CROCUS, the only nuclear reactor of the French-speaking part of Switzerland

EPFL is organised into seven schools, themselves formed of institutes that group research units (laboratories or chairs) around common themes. The seven schools at EPFL:

• School of Basic Sciences (SB, Thomas Rizzo)
  • Mathematics Institute of Computational Science and Engineering (MATHICSE, Alfio Quarteroni)
  • Mathematics institute of Analysis and Applications (MATHAA, Anthony Davison)
  • Mathematics Institute of Geometry and Applications, (MATHGEOM, Eva Bayer-Fluckiger)
  • Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC, Paul Dyson)
  • Institute of Physics of Energy and Particles (IPEP, Minh Quang Tran)
  • Institute of Condensed Matter Physics (IPMC, Wolf-Dieter Schneider)
  • Institute of Physics of Biological Systems (IPSB, Giovanni Dietler)
  • Institute of Physical Sciences (SPH-GE, Jean-Philippe Ansermet)
  • Institute of Quantum Electronics and Photonics (IPEQ, Benoît Deveaud-Plédran)
  • Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP, Alfonso Baldereschi)
  • Institute of Computational Condensed Matter Physics (IRRMA, Alfonso Baldereschi)
  • Interdisciplinary Center for Electron Microscopy (CIME, Cécile Hébert)
  • Center for Research in Plasma Physics (CRPP, Minh Quang Tran)
  • PRN Quantum Photonics (PRN-QP, Benoît Deveaud-Plédran)
  • Bernoulli Center (CIB, Nicolas Monod)
• School of Engineering (STI, Demetri Psaltis)
  • Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEL, Giovanni De Micheli)
  • Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IGM, Daniel Favrat)
  • Institute of Materials (IMX, Andreas Mortensen)
  • Institute of Microengineering(IMT, Nico de Rooij)
  • Institute of Bioengineering (IBI, Jeffrey Hubbell)
• School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC, Marilyne Andersen)
  • Institute of Architecture (IA, Luca Ortelli)
  • Civil Engineering Institute (IIC, Eugen Brühwiler)
  • Institute of Urban and Regional Sciences (INTER, Philippe Thalmann)
  • Environmental Engineering Institute (IIE, Andrea Rinaldo)
• School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC, James Larus)
  • Algorithms & Theoretical Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
  • Computational Biology
  • Computer Architecture & Integrated Systems
  • Data Management & Information Retrieval
  • Graphics & Vision
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Information & Communication Theory
  • Networking
  • Programming Languages & Formal Methods
  • Security & Cryptography
  • Signal & Image Processing
  • Systems
• School of Life Sciences (SV, Gisou van der Goot)
  • Bachelor-Master Teaching Section in Life Sciences and Technologies (SSV)
  • Brain Mind Institute (BMI, Carmen Sandi)
  • Institute of Bioengineering (IBI, Melody Swartz)
  • Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC, Douglas Hanahan)
  • Global Health Institute (GHI, Stewart T. Cole)
  • Ten Technology Platforms & Core Facilities (PTECH)
  • Center for Phenogenomics (CPG)
  • NCCR Synaptic Bases of Mental Diseases (NCCR-SYNAPSY)
• College of Management of Technology (CDM, Philippe Gillet)
  • Swiss Finance Institute at EPFL (CDM-SFI, Damir Filipovic)
  • Program of Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship (CDM-PMTE, Christopher Tucci)
  • Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization (CDM-ENTC, Marc Gruber)
  • Institute of Logistics, Economy and Management of Technology (ILEMT, Dominique Foray)
  • Management of Technology EPFL – UNIL (CMT, Francis-Luc Perret)
• College of Humanities (CDH, Francesco Panese)
  • Human and social sciences teaching program (CDH-SHS, Eric Junod)

In addition to the seven schools there are seven closely related institutions

• Swiss Cancer Centre
• Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM)
• Centre for Advanced Modelling Science (CADMOS)
• École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL)
• Campus Biotech
• Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuro-engineering
• Swiss National Supercomputing Centre

Notable affiliates

Presidents

The school had directors from 1853 to 1969. In 1969, the school was separated from the rest of the University of Lausanne and became a federal institute. The presidents are:^[44]

• Maurice Cosandey (director 1963-1969 and president 1969-1978)
• Benard Vittoz (1978-1992)
• Jean-Claude Badoux (1992-2000)
• Patrick Aebischer (2000-2016)
• Martin Vetterli (since 2017)

Professors

• Adrian Mihai Ionescu (Professor, Micro/Nano-electronics, Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory)
• Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect, (Guest Professor, Architecture), Pritzker Prize 1992
• Amin Shokrollahi (Professor, Computer Science and Communication Systems and Mathematics. Best known for the invention of Raptor codes)
• Andrea Ablasser (Assistant Professor, immunology)
• Edouard Bugnion (Swiss software architect and businessman, VMware cofounder)
• Arjen Lenstra (Professor, cryptographic algorithms)
• Claude Nicollier (Professor, spatial technology and astronaut)
• Daniel Thalmann (Professor, Computer Science and Communication Systems, Pioneer in Virtual Humans)
• Dario Floreano (Professor, intelligent systems)
• David Chipperfield, British architect, (Guest Professor, Architecture)
• Denis Duboule (Professor, Life Sciences)
• Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese architect, (Guest Professor, Architecture), Pritzker Prize 2011
• Giovanni De Micheli (Professor, integrated systems)
• Henry Markram (Professor, neurology)
• Georges Meylan (Professor, astrophysics and cosmology)
• Jean-Daniel Nicoud (Professor, computer science, inventor of the modern ball mouse)
• János Pach (Professor, Mathematics, One of the few living Mathematicians with Erdos Number 1)
• Kuppuswamy Kalyanasundaram (Professor of Chemistry, founder of Project Madurai)
• Luigi Snozzi
• Lyesse Laloui (Professor and director of Laboratory of Soil Mechanics, et directeur du programme doctoral en Mécanique )
• Martin Odersky (Professor, programming methods, inventor of Scala)
• Martin Vetterli (Professor in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences EPFL and President of the National Research Council at Swiss National Science Foundation)
• Michael Grätzel (Professor, Photonics and Interfaces Sciences, Inventor of the dye-sensitized solar cells)
• Minh Quang Tran (Professor, physics of energy and particles)
• Reymond Clavel (Professor, robotics and micro engineering, inventor of the Delta robot)
• Serge Vaudenay (Professor, security and cryptography)

Alumni

Astronaut Claude Nicollier, mission specialist representing the European Space Agency.

• Guy Berruyer (chief executive of Sage Group)
• Aart de Geus (chairman, founder and CEO of Synopsys)
• George de Mestral (electrical engineer, inventor of Velcro)
• Eric Favre (inventor of Nespresso, the first single-serve coffee container)^[45]
• André Gorz (Austrian-French philosopher and economist)
• Martin Vetterli (scientist in the field of Digital Signal Processing, president of the Swiss National Science Foundation)
• Daniel Borel (co-founder of Logitech)
• Franck Riboud (CEO of Danone)
• André Kudelski (CEO of Kudelski)
• Jean-Daniel Nicoud (Swiss computer scientist)
• Othman Benjelloun (Moroccan businessman)
• Daniel Brélaz (Swiss Mathematician, Politician and Environmentalist)
• Stefan Kudelski (Industrialist, inventor of the Nagra)
• Luc Recordon (Swiss politician)
• André Borschberg (businessman and pilot, founder of the Solar Impulse project)

Doctorates honoris causa

The EPFL has awarded a doctorate honoris causa to several people:

• 2013 : Fabiola Gianotti, John A. Rogers, Christos Papadimitriou
• 2012 : David Donoho, Emily Carter
• 2011 : Hanna Damasio, Antonio R. Damasio, Roberto Car, Subra Suresh
• 2010 : Jerry Yang, Pierre-Louis Lions, Shirley Jackson (physicist)
• 2009 : Pascale Cossart, Joseph Sifakis, Ahmed Zewail
• 2008 : Al Gore, Deborah Estrin, Christian Menn
• 2007 : Paul Allen, Catherine Bréchignac, David Forney
• 2006 : Manuel Castells, Paul Gray, Claude Nobs
• 2005 : Odile Jacob, Klaus Töpfer, Alexandre Chorin
• 2004 : Merton C. Flemings, Nicolas Gisin, Leslie Lamport
• 2003 : Claudie Haigneré, John L. Hennessy, Sumio Iijima, Jörg Schlaich
• 2001 : Ingrid Daubechies, Michel Serres, Charles Weissmann, Kurt Wüthrich
• 1999 : René Berger, Hans Beutler, Klaus Schwab
• 1998 : Beat Richner, Jeanne Hersch, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz
• 1997 : Konrad Basler, Hiroyasu Funakubo, Bernard Huet
• 1996 : Jean-Pierre Changeux, Bernhard Hirt, Nico Weserhof
• 1995 : Marie-Claude Gaudel, Edward J.Kramer, Elliott Lieb
• 1994 : Arun Netravali, Erich Spitz, Branco Weiss
• 1993 : René Badan, Claude Nicollier, Jean-Claude Piguet, Alvaro Siza, Hugo Thiemann
• 1992 : John M. Ball, Daniel Borel, Rudolf Grüetter
• 1991 : Gérard Bauer, Jean-René Bory, Olivier Reverdin, Henri Rieben
• 1990 : Heinz Lienhard, Martin Peter
• 1986 : Stefan Kudelski

Gallery

Buildings and campus

• 

  Swiss Tech Convention Center.

• 

  A view of the Avenue Piccard.

• 

  The BM building.

• 

  The BM building.

• 

  Between the BM and BP buildings.

• 

  The SG square.

• 

  The BC building.

• 

  Inside the BC Building.

• 

  The EPFL Learning Centre.

• 

  The Esplanade.

• 

  The CO building.

• 

  The Odyssea building.

• 

  The esplanade in winter.

Projects and partnerships

• 

  The CROCUS research reactor.

• 

  Breitling Orbiter 3 achieved the first non-stop balloon circumnavigation

• 

  The Hydroptère.

• 

  Boats of Alinghi.

• 

  The Biowall.

• 

  The Musée Bolo.

• 

  Swiss Cube 1, the first Swiss satellite.

• 

  Solar Impulse, a long-range solar-powered aircraft.

• Human Brain Project: a large 10-year scientific research project, established in 2013, coordinated by Prof. Henry Markram (EPFL) and largely funded by the European Union.^[46] It aims to provide a collaborative informatics infrastructure and first draft rodent and human whole brain models within its 10-year funding period. It includes 112 research partners in 24 countries in Europe as well as outside Europe.^[47]

Partner universities

Europe

• Vienna University of Technology, Austria
• University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Austria
• University of Vienna, Austria
• Karlsruhe institute of technology, Germany
• University of Freiburg, Germany
• University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
• Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
• University of Magdeburg, Germany
• University of Marburg, Germany
• Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Germany
• Technical University of Berlin, Germany
• Braunschweig University of Technology, Germany
• Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany
• Dresden University of Technology, Germany
• Technical University of Munich, Germany
• University of Ulm, Germany
• University of Bonn, Germany
• University of Karlsruhe, Germany
• University of Stuttgart, Germany
• Faculté polytechnique de Mons, Belgium
• Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
• University of Liège, Belgium
• Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
• Ghent University, Belgium
• Sofia University, Bulgaria
• Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
• Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
• Aalborg University, Denmark
• Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
• Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark
• Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland
• University of Helsinki, Finland
• École Centrale Paris, France
• École d'Architecture de la Ville et des Territoires, Marne-la-Vallée, France
• École des Mines d'Alès, France
• École des Mines d'Albi-Carmaux, France
• École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, France
• École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Lyon, Lyon, France
• École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Marseille-Luminy Marseille, France
• École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville, France
• École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Strasbourg, France
• École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM), Paris, France
• École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, France
• École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France
• Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris, France
• École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France
• École polytechnique (" X ", Palaiseau), France
• École Supérieure d'Electricité (Supélec), Gif sur Yvette, France
• École supérieure d'ingénieurs en électronique et électrotechnique, ESIEE, Noisy, France
• École supérieure de chimie physique électronique de Lyon, France
• Fondation EPF, Sceaux, France
• Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Lyon, France
• Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Rouen, France
• Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Strasbourg, France
• Grenoble Institute of Technology, France
• Institut National polytechnique de Toulouse, France
• Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE), Toulouse, France
• École polytechnique universitaire de Montpellier (Polytech'Montpellier), Montpellier, France
• Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France
• Upper Alsace University, France
• Université de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille II, France
• Université de Poitiers, France
• Université Louis Pasteur Strasbourg 1, France
• Université Paris 13 (Paris-Nord), France
• Université Paris Dauphine, France
• National Technical University of Athens, Greece
• University of Patras, Greece
• Technological Educational Institute of Piraeus, Greece
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• Technical University of Crete, Greece
• Technical University of Budapest, Hungary
• University College Dublin, Ireland
• Dublin City University, Ireland
• Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy
• University Iuav of Venice (Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia), Italy
• Politecnico di Bari, Italy
• Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Politecnico di Torino, Italy
• Università di Bologna, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Brescia, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Cassino, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy
• Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Siena, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Udine, Italy
• Università degli Studi di Verona, Italy
• Kauno Technologijos Universitetas, Lithuania
• Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands
• Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands
• Universiteit Twente, Netherlands
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
• Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland
• AGH University of Science and Technology (University of Mining and Metallurgy) Kraków, Poland
• Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
• Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
• Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa, Portugal
• Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
• Universidade do Porto, Portugal
• Polytechnic University of Timisoara, Romania
• Technical University of Cluj, Romania
• Universitatea Politehnica Din Bucuresti, Romania
• University of Iasi, Romania
• Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Russia
• Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
• Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia
• Mondragon University, Spain
• Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
• Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
• Universidad de Burgos, Spain
• Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
• Universidad de Granada, Spain
• Universidad de Malaga, Spain
• Universidad de Oviedo, Spain
• Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
• Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
• Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
• Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena, Spain
• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
• Technical University of Madrid, Spain
• Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain
• Universidad Pontifica Comillas, Madrid, Spain
• University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
• Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
• Universitat de Girona, Spain
• Universidad de Alicante, Spain
• Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
• Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
• KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
• Linköping University, Sweden
• Stockholm University, Sweden
• University of Uppsala, Sweden
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland
• University of Basel, Switzerland
• University of Geneva, Switzerland
• Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
• Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
• Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
• Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
• Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey
• Koç University Istanbul, Turkey
• Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• Imperial College London, United Kingdom
• Newcastle University, United Kingdom
• University of Bristol, United Kingdom
• University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
• University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
• University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), United Kingdom
• University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
• University of Oxford, United Kingdom
• University of Southampton, United Kingdom
• University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Americas

• École Polytechnique de Montréal, Québec
• Université de Montréal, Canada
• Université Laval, Canada
• McGill University, Canada
• University of Waterloo, Canada
• California Institute of Technology, United States
• Columbia University, United States
• Cornell University, United States
• Johns Hopkins University, United States
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
• Michigan Technological University, United States
• Iowa State University, United States
• University of California, Berkeley, United States
• University of California, Irvine, United States
• University of California, Los Angeles, United States
• Carnegie Mellon University, United States
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States
• Stanford University, United States
• Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico
• Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile

Asia

• Fudan University, China
• Peking University, China
• Tongji University, China
• Tsinghua University, China
• Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India
• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
• Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India
• Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India
• Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India
• Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
• Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India
• Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, India
• Sharif University of Technology, Iran
• Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
• Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
• Osaka University, Japan
• The University of Tokyo, Japan
• Tohoku University, Japan
• Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan
• KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), South Korea
• Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• National University of Singapore, Singapore

See also

• Science and technology in Switzerland
• Swiss Electromagnetics Research and Engineering Centre
• Top Industrial Managers for Europe
• SwissTech Convention Center
• Green building on college campuses
• Technologist, magazine published by Eurotech Universities

Notes and references

1. "EPFL at a glance - EPFL". 28 May 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
2. "EPFL Annual Report 2014". EPFL.
3. "EPFL en ciffres". EPFL. Retrieved May 2015.
4. "Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)". http://www.studyinginswitzerland.ch. External link in |journal= (help)
5. Times Higher Education https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2015/subject-ranking/engineering-and-IT#!/page/0/length/25. Retrieved 2 October 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. "QS World University Rankings 2016". Top Universities. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
7. "École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne EPFL". http://academicpositions.eu. External link in |journal= (help)
8. "Crocus – Forschungsreaktor der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule Lausanne (EPFL)". http://www.energienucleaire.ch. External link in |journal= (help)
9. "Shaping the Future of Fusion". https://www.efda.org. 27 May 2013. External link in |journal= (help)
10. "IBM BlueGene supercomputer". http://www.neuronano.net. External link in |journal= (help)
11. "About École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne". http://www.flammaedu.com. External link in |journal= (help)
12. "Failure statistics - SAE". 26 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
13. http://information.epfl.ch/files/content/sites/accueil/files/chiffres/2012/EPFL%20in%20figures13-en.pdf
14. "QS University World University Rankings 2015". Retrieved 15 September 2015.
15. "University Rankings in 2013". Retrieved 14 October 2014.
16. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2015". Retrieved 15 August 2015.
17. "Times Higher Education Ranking". Retrieved 3 October 2014.
18. "Leiden ranking". Retrieved 4 October 2013.
19. "World Reputation Rankings 2015". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
20. "Young Global Leaders: the class of 2015". Retrieved 19 July 2015.
21. "100 Under 50 Rankings". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 2016-02-29.
22. "EPFL keeps the lead of "THE Young Universities Ranking"". actu.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
23. "150 Under 50 Rankings". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 2016-04-07.
24. "The 100 most international universities in the world 2014". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 2016-03-01.
25. "The 100 most international universities in the world 2015". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 2016-02-29.
26. Campus roule, www.publibike.ch (page visited on 15 May 2013).
27. "Quarante ans de campus durable". http://actualites.epfl.ch. External link in |work= (help)
28. "présentation epfl". www.epfl.ch.
29. EPFL Valais (page visited on 23 August 2013).
30. About EPFL Middle East , www.epfl.ae (page visited on 9 May 2013).
31. Service des sports UNIL-EPFL, sport.unil.ch (page visited on 10 May 2013).
32. "Microcity". 30 June 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
33. "Fribourg - EPFL". 8 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
34. "Maps & directions - EPFL". 29 April 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
35. "Cdl | EPFL". langues.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
36. "Programme Tandem". www.unil.ch (in French). Retrieved 2016-03-03.
37. "AGEPoly at EPFL".
38. "Forum at EPFL".
39. "UNIPoly at EPFL".
40. Serment d'Archimèdes
41. "EPFL-Hydroptère".
42. "SwissCube Website".
43. "Human brain project". Retrieved 5 October 2013.
44. President since 1853, official website of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (page visited on 24 february 2016).
45. http://monodor.com/pages/societe_familiale_profile.asp?id=3
46. "The Human Brain Project - Human Brain Project". www.humanbrainproject.eu. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
47. "Home - Partners - Human Brain Project". www.humanbrainproject.eu. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

External links

• Official website
• Official portrait
• EPFL news's channel on YouTube, EPFL students's channel on YouTube
• Associations at EPFL
• EPFL virtual tour
• EPFL innovation park
• Balélec Festival