2025

The SARA project receives CHF 5,000 in funding from the Sustainability Fund of the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) at ETH Zurich. It is part of the student initiative Autonomous River Cleanup (ARC) from the Robotic Systems Lab, which aims to remove waste from rivers.

On 12 June 2025, the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) held its Master's ceremony in the historic main building of ETH Zurich. Over 400 graduates celebrated the successful completion of their Master's degree together with their families.

As part of this year’s Master's graduation ceremony on 12 June 2025, the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) honored the achievements of its graduates. Fourteen graduates were awarded the ETH Medal for their outstanding Master's theses, and five received the Willi Studer Prize for achieving the highest final grade.

André Bardow, Professor of Energy and Process Engineering at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT), has been elected by the Executive Board of ETH Zurich as a member of the newly established Sustainability Council.

National Geographic, Prof. Aldo Steinfeld, Spin-off Synhelion

Elena Totter, a Master's graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) at ETH Zurich, has received the SEW-EURODRIVE Foundation Student Award for her Master's thesis.

Forbes Magazine, former focus project Ascento

The focus projects MONKEE and ReefRanger will each receive CHF 10,000 from the Sustainability Fund of the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT). 

The Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering has awarded Nicolas Bartzsch the “Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award” for the fall semester of 2024, recognizing his dedication to the Bachelor's course “Control Systems I”.

Stefan Leutenegger has been appointed Associate Professor of Mobile Robotics in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. Starting on 1 April 2025, the 42-year-old will return to his alma mater, ETH Zurich, bringing with him extensive expertise in aerial robotics and AI.

Kent Warren has been appointed Professor of Solar Energy Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. The 32-year-old is an expert in exploiting solar energy with the aid of thermochemical processes and co-founder of OMC Thermochemistry, a startup company focused on producing green hydrogen from water and sustainable heat sources. He will take up his position on 1 April 2025.

Noémie Martin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory at ETH Zurich, wants to enhance the performance of industrial parts while reducing their environmental impact. She explores how to strategically combine different metal alloys in additive manufacturing processes. 

Antonio Gasós, a doctoral student at the Separation Processes Laboratory within the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich, has received the Inflection Award for his research on CO₂ storage in mineral materials.

Una Trivanovic, a former doctoral student at the Particle Technology Laboratory under Professor Sotiris Pratsinis, has been awarded the GAeF PhD Award by the Association for Aerosol Research (GAeF) for her outstanding doctoral thesis.

Reflecting on his 27 years at D-MAVT, Sotiris Pratsinis recalls his students' successes in nanoparticle research and looks back on his time as department head. As he nears retirement, his essentials for a productive day will remain strong Swiss coffee and a laptop.

Stefan Leutenegger and Kent Warren have been appointed professors in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, effective 1 April 2025.

Die Weltwoche, Prof. Aldo Steinfeld, Spin-offs Climeworks und Synhelion

On the occasion of the "International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2025", we were able to conduct an interview with D-MAVT alumna Noah Zegna Rothenberger. Noah is a robotics engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. In this interview, she talks about her career in robotics and why she is excited about using robots in extreme environments - whether it is in blood vessels or on Mars.

The recently published ETH Zurich Spin-off Report 2024 shows the innovative strength of the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. Of the 37 ETH spin-offs last year, 9 came from the D-MAVT. A total of 119 companies have emerged from the department - this corresponds to 20 percent of all ETH spin-offs.

Seven doctoral students from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering have been awarded the ETH Zurich Silver Medal for their outstanding doctoral theses. The awards were presented by Rector Günther Dissertori during the graduation ceremony on Friday, January 24, 2025, in the Paul Scherrer Lecture Hall at ETH Zurich.