Alumni News

The tour of the nuclear power plant in Gösgen provided an in-depth insight into the technology and safety culture of the plant. In the current energy crisis, nuclear power plants are once again a highly topical issue.

The Chemical Engineering Medal 2020 lecture on 31 May 2023 allowed deep insights into the world of industrial catalysis.

On 16 September, VECS Alumni and some Bio Alumni visited the NAGRA rock laboratory. The visit could not have been of more current interest, as the decision on the site of the Swiss deep geological repository in the Nördlich Lägern region had been announced a few days earlier.

16 participants gathered in Schweizerhalle (Pratteln) for the 89th VECS General Assembly including a subsequent social programme. After a hearty lunch at the popular "Gasthof zur Saline", we went to the neighbouring Rheinsaline whose staff put together a very interesting guided tour for us.

On 20 November 2021, several alumnae and alumni of the VECS affiliate organisation met to participate in an exciting guided tour on “urban mining”.

ETH alumnus Markus Blocher studied and received his doctorate in chemistry from ETH Zurich. He has been the CEO of Dottikon ES, a spin-off of EMS-Chemie, since 2003. In 2005, he became the company’s majority shareholder and has been Chairman of the Board since 2012. In this interview, he talks to us about his career and the challenges he currently faces as CEO of a medium-sized enterprise.

The General Assembly of VECS Chemistry Alumni was held on 11 June 2021. For the first time in its 88-year history, it was organised digitally due to the current pandemic.

Hans Wanner studied and received his doctorate in chemistry from ETH Zurich. He entered the nuclear sector and took up a position at what was then the Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research. In 2010, he became Director of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate and in 2011, Chair of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association. Looking back over an eventful career, he is convinced that cultural differences are important and add to your ability to tackle problems.

On July 6, 2019, the Environment Alumni, Bio Alumni, VECS Chemistry and VEPS Pharmacy Alumni celebrated the 150th anniversary of the ETH Alumni Association. The day kicked off with a tour of the waste incineration plant Zürcher Oberland and finished with a social dinner at the lake of Pfäffikon.

Am 17. Mai trafen sich die VECS Alumni an der ETH, um an der „Richard R. Ernst Lecture 2017“ teilzunehmen. Die Veranstaltung mit ihren hochaktuellen Themen aus Wissenschaft und Forschung ist für viele ein Highlight im akademischen Jahr des D-CHAB. Prof. Dr. Felicitas Pauss dozierte zum Thema „Science without Borders: The Mystery of Matter, Space and Time“ im vollbesetzten Audimax im Hauptgebäude der ETH Zürich.

Die VECS Alumni kann auf event-reiche Wochen zurückblicken: Start machte im September 2016 der traditionelle Herbstausflug, gefolgt vom jährlichen „VECS on the Grill“. Ende Oktober nahmen die VECS-Alumni beim Stamm der Process Alumni teil und knüpften so über die Fachvereine hinweg Kontakte. Krönender Abschluss war die Masterfeier D-CHAB vom 3. Dezember 2016, an der die beiden Alumni-Präsidenten von VECS und VEPS die neuen Alumni-Mitglieder herzlich in ihren Fachvereinen begrüssten.