February 2024

Professor Eleni Chatzi has been honoured with the J.M. Ko Award, which recognizes excellence in structural engineering research, awarded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This recognition is the result of collaborative research efforts at the D-BAUG Chair of Structural Mechanics and Monitoring, along a vision for self-aware infrastructures, founded on valuable collaborations with academic and industrial partners, and continuous ideation and exchange with past and present team members.

Willy A. Schmid was Professor of Landscape and Environmental Planning at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development (IRL), now the Chair of Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS) at ETH Zurich, from 1978 to 2008. Here he left his mark and played a pivotal role in shaping generations of spatial and landscape planners in Switzerland and internationally.

In their recent publication in Nature Water, D-BAUG researchers Junyang Gou and Professor Benedikt Soja introduced a finely resolved model of terrestrial water storage using a novel deep learning approach. By integrating satellite observations with hydrological models, their method achieves remarkable accuracy even in smaller basins. This model promises significant benefits across various domains, including hydrology, climate science, sustainable water management, and hazard prediction.

Eleonora Secchi has been a Senior Scientist at D-BAUG since June 2023. She works at the Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU), where her research focuses on understanding how bacteria organize and interact to form resistant biofilms. Her findings may provide new ways of preventing or dissolving biofilms – for example on the surfaces of medical devices, where they are a major problem, especially in hospitals. Get to know her in this short interview.

Over the last months, laboratories at ETH had the opportunity to participate in the GreenLabs pilot and drive sustainability efforts in their lab practices. End of January 2024, the first certification ceremony of the pilot took place, awarding 19 labs for their progress. ETH GreenLabs will be further rolled out with the goal to review all labs at ETH.

The new rules of procedure to address scientific misconduct enter into effect on 1 June 2024 at ETH Zurich. What has changed and why a revision was necessary.

Using a novel microfluidic chip, ETH researchers led by Professor Roman Stocker and Estelle Clerc have shown that bacteria not only recognise small food molecules, but also swim towards large, complex polymers. A startup is now using these findings and applying the technology to find microbes in the environment that can break down pollutants.