ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal
Since 2013, the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering (ICB) annually awards the "ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal" to an outstanding individual for his or her exceptional contributions in the broad field of Chemical Engineering.
Winners of the ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal
2024, Prof. Dr. Johan Rockstroem
In recognition of his cutting-edge research on absolute sustainability and the planetary boundaries framework, Prof. Dr. Johan Rockstroem, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Professor Earth System Science, University of Potsdam and Chief Scientist Conservation International, will be awarded the 2024 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal by the Rector of ETH Zurich, Prof. Dr. Günther Dissertori.
The award ceremony will take place on
Friday, 17 January, 2025, 4 pm, at ETH Hönggerberg, HCI G 3
After the award ceremony, Professor Rockstroem will give a talk on
"Advancing the Planetary Boundary Framework for World Stewardship of Earth"
The Planetary boundaries framework sets out to quantify the safe operating space for humanity on Earth, for all the biogeochemical and physical processes and systems that regulate the state, resilience and life-support on Earth. The science is translated - through many methods and approaches, to science based targets, that can be operationalised for nations, businesses, cities, sectors. This talk provides a scientific update of Earth system risks, planetary boundaries science, explores future directions of science, and highlights key transformations towards a safe landing on Earth.
Download Event Flyer (PDF, 1.4 MB)
With the 2024 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal, the ICB recognizes Prof. Dr. Johan Rockstroem's cutting-edge research on absolute sustainability and the planetary boundaries framework. These approaches are now being applied to the environmental assessment of chemical processes and have the potential to revolutionize how emerging technologies for sustainable chemicals production, investigated intensively by the chemistry and chemical engineering communities, are evaluated and optimized. The chemical sector faces the challenge of defossilizing its operations by replacing fossil carbon (oil, coal, and natural gas) with renewable carbon (captured CO2, biomass and plastic waste). In this context, bridging scales from the molecular level to the planet level building on the awardee's planetary boundaries framework enables more accurate assessments to identify the most promising technologies, ultimately guiding research efforts and policy-making more sensibly.
2023, Prof. Dr. Alán Aspuru-Guzik
In recognition of his outstanding achievements in Digital Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Department of Chemistry and Computer Science, University of Toronto was awarded the 2023 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal by ETH Zurich Vice President for Research, Prof. Dr. Christian Wolfrum.
The award ceremony took place on Wednesday, October 18th, 2023, at ETH Hönggerberg
After the award ceremony, Professor Aspuru-Guzik gave a talk on Download "The Future of Chemistry is self-driving" (PDF, 232 KB).
Video of the 2023 ETH Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony and talk
2020, Prof. Dr. Avelino Corma
In recognition of his outstanding achievements in catalysisl engineering, Prof. Dr. Avelino Corma, Instituto de Tecnología Química, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, was awarded the 2020 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal. Due to the pandemic, the award ceremony had to be postponed and took place in May 2023.
After the award ceremony, Professor Corma gave a talk on Download "Catalysis design for more sustainable chemical process" (PDF, 2.9 MB)
Video of the 2020 ETH Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony and talk
2019, Prof. Dr. Paula T. Hammond
In recognition of her outstanding achievements in chemical and biomedical engineering, Prof. Dr. Paula T. Hammond, Koch Professor of Engineering, Department Head of Chemical Engineering, Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was awarded the 2019 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal by the rector of ETH Zurich, Prof. Dr. Sarah Springman.
After the ceremony, Professor Hammond gave a talk on Download "assembling materials charge-by-charge for targeted tissue delivery" (PDF, 1.6 MB)
Video of the 2019 ETH Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony and talk
2018, Prof. Dr. Jens K. Nørskov
In recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field of Heterogeneous Catalysis, Prof. Dr Jens K. Nørskov was awarded the 2018 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal.
On behalf of ETH and ICB, the rector of ETH, Prof. Dr. Sarah Springman presented the medal to Prof. Jens K. Nørskov in June 2018.
Prior to the ceremony, the awardee gave a talk on Download "A molecular view of heterogeneous catalysis" (PDF, 1.2 MB).
Video of the 2018 ETH Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony
2017, Prof. Dr. Ignacio E. Grossmann
In recognition of his outstanding achievements in Process Systems Engineering, Prof. Dr. Ignacio E. Grossmann will be awarded the 2017 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal.
On behalf of ETH and ICB, ETH Rector Prof. Dr. Sarah M. Springman presented the medal to Prof. Grossmann in June 2017.
The ceremony was followed by a talk on "The role of process systems eingineering in chemical engineering" by the awardee.
Video of the 2017 ETH Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony and lecture
2016, Dr. Suzanne Thoma
In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the energy sector, Dr. Suzanne Thoma, CEO of the BKW Group, was awarded the 2016 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal.
On behalf of ETH and ICB, ETH Rector Prof. Dr. Sarah M. Springman presented the medal to Dr. Thoma in June 2016.
Video of the of the 2016 ETH Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony and lecture
2015, Prof. Dr. John Rogers
In recognition of his outstanding contributions in biomaterials and bioengineering, Prof. John Rogers, Swanlund Chair, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor of Chemistry, Director, F. Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Department for Material Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, is awarded the 2015 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal.
On behalf of ETH and ICB, ETH President Prof. Dr. Lino Guzzella presented the medal to Prof. Dr. John A. Rogers in June 2015.
Video of the 2015 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony and lecture
2014, Prof. Dr. Robert Langer
2014 winner of the ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal is Prof. Dr. Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
On the occation of his lecture at ETH Zurich, August 19th 2014, Prof. Langer has been awarded the ETH Zurich Chemical Engeneering Medal by the ETH President.
Video of the 2014 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal award ceremony
Video of the 2014 ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal award lecture
2013, Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth
In recognition of his exceptional contributions to materials chemistry, heterogenous catalysis, and energy related research, Prof. Ferdi Schüth, Director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Müllheim an der Ruhr, Germany, was awarded the ETH Zurich Chemical Engineering Medal. On behalf of ICB, Prof. Javier Pérez-Ramírez awards Prof. Ferdi Schüth in June 2013.
Download Video highlights from the first ETH Chemical Engineering Medal lecture.
