Selected short-term visitors for Spring 2025
Four researchers have been selected for the short-term visitor programme this spring.
The COPL is delighted to announce the selection of four researchers for the short-term visitor programme during the spring semester. They will join ETH Zürich to collaborate with COPL members, share their expertise, and foster academic interactions.
The selected visitors and their research areas are:
Prof. Klára Hlouchová – Charles University, Prague (external page website)
Prof. Hlouchová is a biochemist/synthetic biologist. The research of her group is centred around the origin of modern proteins from peptides and their role in the prebiotic events that led to the origin of life. A special focus of her research lies, e.g., on early protein-cofactor interactions as well as on the evolution of protein foldability (especially in the context of early, reduced amino acid alphabets).
Visit Dates: 1–4 April 2025
Host: Prof. Sven Panke, D-BSSE
Lucie Rosset – Laboratoire Atmosphères, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), France (external page website)
After earning a double degree between an aeronautical engineering school and a master in space engineering, Lucie is currently a first-year PhD student at LATMOS, in Paris, France. Her thesis is funded by the ERC OxyPlanets project, "Habitability of Exo-Earths in various atmospheric oxidative conditions". She investigates cloud and habitability conditions on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, through a planetary climate model, with the prospect of extrapolating the results to the study of exoplanets.
Visit dates: 5–16 May 2025
Host: Prof. Ruth Signorell, D-CHAB
Prof. Dongyang Huang – Peking University, China (external page website)
Prof. Huang is an aspiring expert in mineral physics with strong computational experience in ab initio molecular dynamics simulations as well as outstanding expertise in experiments that probe the behaviour of planetary materials under high pressure and temperature (laser-heated diamond anvil cell). His focus are chemical and physical properties of planet interiors and their implications for planet formation and evolution history. He has performed experiments at ScopeM at ETH Hönggerberg during his PostDoc, during which he was employed at the D-EAPS.
Visit dates: 5–16 May 2025
Host: Prof. Caroline Dorn, D-PHYS
Dr. Benjamin Tutolo – University of Calgary (external page website)
Dr. Tutolo’s explores the chemical and physical processes that compel and constrain life in the universe. He employs the tools of geochemistry, mineralogy, hydrology, and numerical modeling to draw connections between fluid-rock interaction and the creation and maintenance of habitable environments on planetary surfaces. He is a member of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover team. His current research focuses on two aspects of planetary habitability and origins-of-life reactions which would benefit from collaborative engagement with COPL members: 1) hydrogen production on Earth, Mars, and elsewhere in the universe and 2) reverse weathering and the maintenance of planetary habitability.
Visit dates: 30 June – 4 July 2025
Host: Prof. Jordon Hemingway, D-EAPS