“Imagination is more important than knowledge”

Professor Burlando, you have been at ETH Zurich for nearly three decades. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of D-BAUG?

D-BAUG has been my academic home since 1997. Home is where one should feel comfortable, surrounded by a positive and warm atmosphere, supported and welcome: this is indeed what I have felt at D-BAUG and, more generally, at ETH. D-BAUG is also a very diverse community, where I have experienced a passion for research, a commitment to educating future engineers who can shape society through fascinating infrastructures, and who can value and respect our natural environment. If I were a student, I would find the diversity of science and engineering topics that characterise D-BAUG a fascinating and challenging environment, where one feels compelled to engage for the future of mankind.

Your tenure has been particularly eventful: you have steered the department through a global pandemic, the period academic evaluation, a strategic reorganisation, and some major building renovations – to name but a few of the challenges. What were the most difficult issues to deal with?

Indeed. The past three years have been full of events and challenges. The hardest issue was that of running day-to-day business and planning under the enormous uncertainty caused by the pandemic and by its immediate and long-term impact on operations and resources. However, as artists say, the show had to go on. As on a stage, we had to continue teaching and research activities despite the difficult circumstances, while maintaining the strategic momentum that the department had embraced in recent years and pushing it forward with concrete actions. It was certainly a challenge to conduct the academic evaluation online due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, but, looking at the outcome, we managed to persuade the evaluation committee of the high quality of D-BAUG’s research and teaching as well as of its strategy, which together form the basis for further shaping the department’s success and leadership. The major renovation of the laboratory building was certainly a challenging time on top of the rest, but I believe that the department and its staff demonstrated maturity, pragmatism and resilience.

What would you say is your most noteworthy achievement as Department Head (DH)?

I would prefer this answer to come from the colleagues and staff of the department. If I have to answer from my own point of view, I think that the department is now more consolidated in its personality and collectively more aware of its strengths than it was a few years ago. I would be happy, if I could objectively demonstrate that I have helped the department to gain more recognition and respect than it has had in the past, and to enhance its strategic momentum. I feel that this would be a noteworthy achievement. Furthermore, if this were to happen, and if the changes that led to it were to be achieved without disrupting the internal harmony of the department, but rather enhancing it, I would feel satisfied with my service to the department.

What have you enjoyed most?

Working for the benefit of the department, realising that something good has been achieved for it and receiving recognition (and support) for this has certainly generated positive feelings. The privilege of being in the leading position and having the freedom, although somewhat constrained by the governance structure, to suggest improvements and to propose initiatives that could be beneficial to the department is an essential fuel to activate and maintain the spirit of service. Furthermore, being a DH offers a privileged observatory and position to meet and exchange with faculty and departmental staff, in addition to the precious collaboration within the departmental executive board. Such human and professional contacts are of enormous value in supporting the duties of the DH. Finally, the opportunity to be in close contact with the ETH executive board and being able to support them in governing the school was also a rewarding moment in an otherwise demanding role. This close collaboration became particularly evident and important during the past three difficult years and will be key to ETH’s future, as the difficult times are not yet over.

What have you enjoyed least?

This is an easy answer: the administrative burden. This is unquestionably the least enjoyable aspect of being DH. I wish the administrative activities could be better streamlined, but sometimes regulations are rigid and do not allow this. I hope that some changes to the department’s governance structure, which I recently proposed as one of my last acts as DH, can help my successor to focus more on strategic activities and get support from the other members of the department’s executive board.

What would you like to see D-BAUG accomplish in the future?

I think D-BAUG is in good shape to meet the challenges posed by the evolution of the academic system and to play a key role in the development of contemporary and relevant research. However, there is a need to keep the strategic momentum high and to gain even more recognition within and outside ETH, in order to attract the resources that are needed to realise the vision that D-BAUG aims to promote. Seeing how D-BAUG can be a leader in engineering a sustainable world – as our vision states – is not a dream, but an objective, which I would really like to see achieved.

Do you have a general philosophy or motto you try to live by?

To be honest, I do not have a specific one. However, I can say that both my private and professional life have been driven by some important elements, among which intellectual honesty, perseverance and continuity have played a key role. Moreover, I have been fascinated by a statement that has been attributed to Albert Einstein, which has often been a driver of my research: “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. My interpretation of this is that a deep passion for understanding the unknown is an indispensable trigger and driver for research and education, which is deemed to produce meaningful impacts.

You are also photographer and recently you had your second major exhibition at a gallery. How has your passion for documentary photography influenced your scientific work and vice versa?

Both research and photography share a Zen-like approach, in which meditation and intuition play a role. Documenting life as it unfolds in front of my camera requires sharp observation, the ability to grasp, for example, the essence of a street scene where people and the environment interact, and finally to translate it into a composition that conveys your understanding of that fleeting moment. Research in the field of water science is somewhat similar: you need to observe and understand natural processes, their interaction with human activities, and abstract the complexity of the processes and physical laws into a mathematical model that interprets the actual processes and at the same time provides the most faithful rendition of reality and the scientist’s interpretation of it.

Before becoming DH, you served as Deputy and Delegate – a total of almost 10 years on the departmental executive committee. Are you ready for a break? What comes next?

Yes, I am. I will be able to enjoy a sabbatical leave right after the end of my mandate as DH. This will give me a break from the last three very intense, challenging years and give me the opportunity to dedicate again time to the ongoing research projects that still have to be completed, as well as to explore some open research ideas that would be nice to pursued in the few years remaining before my retirement.

Final thoughts?

The last three years have been so intense that I hardly noticed they are already over. In retrospective, they often looked like steering a ship in a storm at sea, which you have to navigate as much as possible following the planned route, sometimes improvising. I hope that I have managed to help guide the department through these challenging times, and I wish my successor and D-BAUG all the best for a brilliant future, rich of recognition and impact.

Thank you for the interview, Professor Burlando.