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École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Coordinates: 46°31′13″N 6°33′56″E / 46.52028°N 6.56556°E / 46.52028; 6.56556
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École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
EPFL Logo
TypePublic
Established1853, Opened 1869
Budget753 millions CHF
PresidentPatrick Aebischer
Undergraduates~ 5,000
Postgraduates~ 1,800
Location
Ecublens (near Lausanne)
,
Vaud
,
Switzerland

46°31′13″N 6°33′56″E / 46.52028°N 6.56556°E / 46.52028; 6.56556
CampusUrban
Nationalities100+
Websitewww.epfl.ch
EPFL is located in Switzerland
EPFL
EPFL
class=notpageimage|
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government with the stated mission to:

  • Educate engineers and scientists
  • Be a national center of excellence in science and technology
  • Provide a hub for interaction between the scientific community and industry

The sister institution in the German-speaking part of Switzerland is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich or ETHZ). Associated with several specialised research institutes, the two sister institutes form the ETH Domain, which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Home Affairs. EPFL is ranked among the top universities in the world.

History

Founded in 1853 as a private school under the name École Spéciale de Lausanne, it became the technical department of the public Académie de Lausanne in 1869. When the latter was reorganized 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 ETHZ, is thus directly controlled by the Swiss federal government. In contrast, all other universities in Switzerland are controlled by their respective cantonal governments.

EPFL operates a nuclear reactor, CROCUS, a Tokamak fusion reactor, and P3 bio-hazard facilities. Following the nomination of Patrick Aebischer as president in 2000, EPFL has started to develop into the field of life sciences. It absorbed the ISREC (Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research) in 2008.

Campus

File:Epfl.jpg
Aerial view of the EPFL campus

Originally, EPFL was in the center of Lausanne. In 1978, EPFL moved to its new campus in Ecublens, a suburb south-west of Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva. In 2002, the department of architecture also moved to the campus in Ecublens. This united all departments of EPFL on the same site.

Buildings

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

  • Late 70s-80s: modularized building, used today by the Schools of Basic Sciences and Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
  • 90s: 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.

EPFL and the nearby University of Lausanne share an active sports center five minutes away from EPFL campus on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Facilities

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

  • Libraries:
  • Restaurant:
    • Le Copernic
  • Cafeterias:
    • La Coupole
    • Le Corbusier
    • Le Parmentier
    • Le Vinci
    • BMX (Bâtiment des Matériaux)
    • BC (Bâtiment des Communications)
    • L'Arcadie
  • Bar:
    • Satellite
  • Travel agencies
    • Swiss Federal Railroad
    • STA Travel
  • Banks:
  • Radio
    • Fréquence Banane Student radio

Organization

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

EPFL is constituted of the following Schools:

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

Students and traditions

Several music festivals are held yearly at EPFL. The most important one is the Balelec Festival, organized in May. It proposes about 30 concerts and welcomes 15,000 visitors.

Other smaller festivals include Sysmic organized in April by the students of the Department of Microengineering, hosting two stages for local and national bands, and Artiphys, organized by the students of the Physics Department.

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.

Statistics

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

In 1946, there were 360 students at EPFL. In 1969, EPFL numbered 1,400 students and 55 professors. The university continued to grow rapidly, and in 2002, there were 5,872 students enrolled.

In 2004 there were more than 9000 people at EPFL. About 6000 of these were students, with the remainder consisting of professors, assistants and even entrepreneurs located in the Parc Scientifique of EPFL. There were over 100 nationalities at EPFL, with over 50% of the teaching staff coming from outside Switzerland.

In the year 2009-2010, there were over 7000 students on the campus.

The EPFL advised on the Alinghi project, leading to success in the America's Cup in New Zealand in 2003 and in Valencia in 2007. EPFL is also developing a sun-powered plane, Solar Impulse, designed to be completely autonomous (capable of circumnavigation). Bertrand Piccard is one of the two pilots flying the plane. There is also a sensor network installed in the I&C building called SensorScope which reports live temperature and light measurements.

For teaching purposes the EPFL hosts the only nuclear reactor in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, CROCUS.

Rankings

EPFL is ranked Nr. 32 in the US News and World Report ranking of the World's Best Universities. It reaches the 101 - 150 rank range of the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University). According to a study conducted by Times Higher Education (THE) based on the publication and citation data provided by Thomson Reuters, EPFL is ranked Nr.1 in Europe in the field of Engineering (November, 2010).[1] Leiden Rankings also rank EPFL Nr.1 in Europe (2010-2011).[2]

EPFL is evaluated as continental Europe's #1 and world's #20 university in the field of Engineering, Technology and Computer Sciences in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2010 (Europe's #1 and world's #15 in 2009).[3] EPFL is in the heart of Europe and is one of Europe's leading institutions of science and technology and is a member of Top Industrial Managers for Europe network.

Notable alumni

Doctores honoris causa

EPFL has awarded a Dr. h.c. degree to several people:

Notable Professors

Herbert Shea, Professor, Microsystems for Space Technologies Laboratory (LMTS)


Photographs

  • A view of the Piccard Avenue.
    A view of the Piccard Avenue.
  • Inner corridors in the East Center
    Inner corridors in the East Center
  • SG Place
    SG Place
  • SG Place
    SG Place
  • the "Biowall"
    the "Biowall"
  • BC Building
    BC Building
  • BC Building Inside
    BC Building Inside
  • The Esplanade
    The Esplanade

Partner universities

EPFL has 179 partner universities around the globe.[8]

Europe

The Americas

Asia

See also

Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) Domain
Ordinary budget 2024 (CHF Mio.) [9]
ETH Domain2748
Federal institutes of technology
1366
742
Federal research institutes
328
117
64
63
Wikimedia Commons has media related to École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

References

  1. ^ "THE Top European universities in Engineering".
  2. ^ "Leiden Ranking 2010 Results" (PDF).
  3. ^ "2010 academic ranking of world universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University". Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  4. ^ epfl.ch - Manuel Castells
  5. ^ epfl.ch - News (April 15, 2008)
  6. ^ epfl.ch - News (October 20, 2009)
  7. ^ epfl.ch - News (October 11, 2010)
  8. ^ epfl.ch - partner institutions
  9. ^ "Budgetbericht des ETH-Rats für den ETH-Bereich 2024" [Budget Report 2024] (PDF). ETH Board (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-26.

External links

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