A3SFIT Celebrated
Excellence in Engineering and Education at the EPFL and the ETHZ with
an Alumni meeting entitled “Bridging Space – Bridging Time”
On September 19,
2004, the American Alumni Association of the Swiss Federal
Institutes of Technology (A3SFIT) held its third all-day Alumni meeting at the
Swiss House for Advanced Research and Education (SHARE) in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA. About forty Alumni and guests attended the
meeting, with participants coming from Canada,
Georgia, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New
Jersey, New York
and Texas. In addition, representatives from the ETHZ,
the EPFL, the ETH-Alumni and the A3-EPFL were among the participants and
speakers at this meeting.
The morning session started at around 10:00AM with opening and welcoming remarks by Dr.
Christoph von Arb, Consul of Switzerland in Cambridge
and Director of SHARE who was the host and co-sponsor of this ETHZ/EPFL Alumni
meeting. Maurice de Picciotto, President
of A3SFIT, followed with a short historical overview of the Association. Maurice presented to the audience the current
A3SFIT Board of Trustees which includes: Vice President Clarissa Ferraris (EPFL
alumna and researcher at NIST in Washington),
Secretary Fred Dettwiler (ETHZ alumnus and Consultant with Technip of Houston,
Texas) and Treasurer Raymond Schaeffer (EPFL alumnus and COO and Executive Vice
President of Fay, Spofford & Thorndike of New York
City and Boston). Also, Maurice noted that a vacant position
exists on the Board and that it will be shortly filled by an ETHZ alumnus
residing in California. The Meeting Planning Committee was also
introduced. It included Jeffrey Huang
(ETHZ alumnus and Prof. at Harvard University),
Sotiris Kitsopoulos (ETHZ alumnus and Principal at Euclid Consulting of New
York City), Raymond Schaeffer and Maurice.
The Committee received the valuable advice and counsel of Christoph von
Arb, Ms. Marianne Gerber, Swiss Consul in Cambridge,
and the entire Team at SHARE.
Next, Maurice introduced the first of two Keynote Speakers
of the day, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt, Vice President of Planning and Logistics
at the ETHZ. Prof. Schmitt gave a very
interesting and dynamic presentation on the latest developments at the ETHZ
from an organizational standpoint, as well as its future plans for collaboration
with other higher education institutions, within and outside of Switzerland. Prof. Schmitt also addressed recruiting and
expansion strategies of the ETHZ.
After a coffee break that enhanced discussions and friendly
conversations among the participants, Maurice introduced Prof. Dr. Francis-Luc
Perret, Vice President of Planning and Logistics at the EPFL, who was the
second Keynote Speaker of the morning session.
Prof. Perret offered an insight on the EPFL recent reorganization of departments
and faculties. In addition, the EPFL
goals and strategies in the areas of student body, diploma granting, and
potential expansions gave to the audience an in depth overview of today’s EPFL.
Each one of the two Keynote presentations generated
extensive questions, answers and comments between and among the speakers and
the audience.
The morning session concluded with a catered buffet lunch,
offering a variety of very well prepared dishes with accompanying wines and
soft drinks followed by delicious desserts that was arranged and coordinated by
Ms. Gerber.
After lunch, Prof. Sabine Susstrunk of the School
of Computer and Communication
Sciences at the EPFL gave a short overview of the current Internship Program at
the EPFL. This Program offers to first
year master students (4th year) and to graduating master students (5th
year) opportunities to work either in a university or in industry for typically
a six-month period. Ms. Susstrunk’s presentation
was of interest particularly as the audience included several professors at
US-based universities, and some senior executives of US technology-driven
companies.
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to a Panel Discussion,
moderated by Maurice de Picciotto, and having the broad topic of how the two
Alma Maters and their respective Alumni Assoc
