Anna Fontcuberta

Anna Fontcuberta is a well-known researcher in materials science and engineering, especially in the field of developing materials to improve the energy efficiency of solar panels and other electronic and photonic devices. Her laboratory specialises in semiconductor nanowires, or semiconductor crystals in the form of extremely fine filaments which, owing to their nanometric structure, have very particular physical and chemical properties with great potential for application in nanoelectrical and nanophotonic systems and biochemical sensors. After studying at the University of Barcelona, the Polytechnic Institute of Paris in Palaiseau, and the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Fontcuberta became a research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research at the École Polytechnique (CNRS), after which she furthered her studies at the Technical University of Munich. In 2008, she joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, a leader in innovation, where she became head of the Semiconductor Materials Laboratory. In 2024, she was named president of the EPFL, the first woman to hold position, with a four-year term starting in January 2025. She has been a member of the board of directors of the Swiss National Science Foundation, and has received many awards for her work, notable among them the European Physical Society’s Emmy Noether Distinction for outstanding women physicists.