Materials scientist Tanja Zimmermann appointed the first female CEO of Empa
On 1 June 2022, Tanja Zimmermann became the first woman to head Empa, the research institute for materials science and technology. Like her predecessor, Gian-Luca Bona, the materials scientist also holds a dual professorship at ETH and EPFL.
From September 2009, Gian-Luca Bona (*1957) helped shape Empa’s development as its CEO. At his external pagefarewell event in Dübendorf at the end of May, he described his time at the helm of the institute as a “long journey”. As CEO of Empa, Bona was deeply committed to fundamental research and knowledge transfer in the industry. So much so that under his leadership, the well-known experimental NEST building was constructed, which is also actively used by researchers from ETH.
As a member of the ETH Board, the management and supervisory body of the ETH Domain (ETH, EPFL, PSI, WSL, Empa, Eawag), he represented the research institutes from 2019 onwards (as successor to the current ETH President Joël Mesot). From 2009, he also held a dual professorship at EPFL and ETH Zurich. As Professor of Photonics, Bona was affiliated with the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (D-ITET).
Bona had already completed his degree in physics at ETH Zurich in 1983. He earned his doctorate in 1987 for his research on surface magnetism with pulsed laser-induced photoemission. His career began at IBM, where his role as a research manager took him from the research lab in Rüschlikon to San José and Tucson (Arizona), where he was responsible for a global team developing magnetic tape storage products, before he made the move to Empa. Bona is involved in organisations that promote innovation, such as Technopark Zurich and Innovationspark, and serves on the boards of tech companies.
Specialist for wood- and cellulose-based materials
Tanja Zimmermann (*1967) has been the new CEO of Empa since 1 June 2022. Her appointment marks the first time in Empa’s approximately 140-year history that a woman has taken over as head of the research institute for materials science and technology.
In 2017, the materials scientist became a member of Empa’s senior management, head of Empa’s Functional Materials Department and co-head of the “Sustainable Construction” research focus. Tanja Zimmermann’s research focuses on the development and production of functionalised wood- and cellulose-based materials with custom properties, such as for adhesives, packaging and 3D-printed biodegradable structures for sensor and energy applications.
She completed her doctorate on the fundamentals of technical applications of cellulose in 2007 at the University of Hamburg. Between 2001 and 2012, she set up the research field of cellulose nanocomposites at Empa and established it in Switzerland. From 2011 to 2017, she headed the Empa “Applied Wood Research” department. Over the last three years, she and her colleagues have also established data-driven materials research and – in collaboration with Imperial College London – the Center of Robotics at Empa.
In May 2022, the ETH Board appointed her Professor of Materials Science and Technology at EPFL’s School of Engineering and at ETH Zurich’s Department of Materials. The new CEO aims to keep positioning Empa as external pagethe industry’s first port of call for the development of sustainable materials and technologies in the fields of energy, sustainable construction and personalised health.
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