New leadership for department Engineering Sciences
Matthias Sulzer new Head of Department at Empa
The Empa Directorate has appointed Peter Richner's successor in his role as Head of Department. Energy and building technology expert Matthias Sulzer will take over as Head of Department Engineering Sciences as of January 1, 2025.
Matthias Sulzer is currently a senior scientist at Empa's Urban Energy System Lab and lectures at ETH Zurich. He also holds a visiting faculty appointment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US. Sulzer studied building technology at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, which he completed with a Master's degree at the Universities of New South Wales and Sydney, specializing in energy management. On his return to Switzerland, he and two partners founded a group of companies in the energy and building technology sector, which he successfully floated on the stock market.
Innovation and technology transfer were constant companions in his career, which was characterized by a productive dialog between research and industry. For around 20 years, he worked part-time at the Lucerne School of Engineering and Architecture, where he was involved in various research projects on decentralized energy supply, thermal networks and energy-efficient buildings, earning the title of professor in the process.
Today, Matthias Sulzer initiates and leads national and international research projects on the transformation of energy systems and decarbonization. These include the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Future Energy Efficient Buildings and Districts (SCCER FEEB&D), of which he was Deputy Head and later Head from 2013 to 2020. His expertise includes system design and integration, system modeling and complex decision-making processes. Several projects he led won solar awards as well as Watt D'Or prizes from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). In addition to his research activities, he currently supports various start-ups and passes on his knowledge to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
From January 1, 2025, Matthias Sulzer will take over as Head of the Department Engineering Sciences from Peter Richner, who will retire at the end of March 2025. Sulzer will also take over the co-lead of Empa's Research Focus Area Built Environment and the scientific management of NEST on January 1, 2025. Peter Richner will step down from the Empa Directorate at the end of March 2025, but will remain active part-time after his retirement; he will be involved in the development of the joint interdisciplinary research initiative of Empa and Eawag, Climate Solutions, and will take over the co-leadership of the initiative in its start-up phase.
