The Alumni 50th

On November 9th, 2019 took place the Alumni 50th, an opportunity for graduates to come back on campus for a whole day of discoveries and celebration of EPFL’s 50th anniversary. In the morning, the alumni were hosted by their section.

The former students in Civil Engineering had the opportunity to join presentations by Lyesse Laloui, Director of the section, and various companies and startups working in the field like Medusoil, Geobrain and SenSat.

In the evening of November 9th, 2019, on the occasion of the Alumni 50th and after a full day on campus, EPFL graduates joined a conference at the SwissTech Convention Center.

Martin Vetterli, President of the School, presented a panorama of EPFL from 1969 to 2019, also looking ahead with the next steps until the next anniversary in 2069.André Borschberg, cofounder and pilot of Solar Impulse and Wendy Queen, Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Materials, joined by Nobel Prize Jacques Dubochet through a video, then addressed how science can help solve climate change.

Several examples of how alumni are at the very heart of innovation were also presented with Marc Bürki and Paolo Buzzi, co-founders of Swissquote, Anne Mellano, COO and co-founder of Bestmile, and Nathalie Brandenberg, COO and co-founder of SUNbioscience.

The excellence of EPFL’s education also shone bright with Pierre Vandergheynst, Vice-President for Education, the EPFLoop project and the 50Fifty fundraising campaign presented by its ambassador Silvio Napoli, alumnus and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Schindler.

A wonderful cocktail dinner and an amazing party, animated by the EPFL Big Band the dancefloor, followed and made this Alumni 50th the most memorable event of all.