ETH Zurich appoints new head of research to replace Peter Chen

ETH Zurich has announced that Roland Siegwart, professor of robotics and autonomous systems, will take over as Vice President for Research and Economic Relations, following the resignation of Peter Chen over a case of alleged scientific fraud. Siegwart, born in 1959, is a Swiss citizen. He takes up his new post on 1 January 2010.

Since July 2006 Siegwart has been professor for autonomous systems at ETH Zurich, where he originally studied mechanical engineering, and in 1989 wrote his doctoral thesis. After a year as a postdoc at Stanford University, from 1991 to 1996 he worked as a development partner of the firm Mecos Traxler AG and as a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Robotics, ETH Zurich. In 1996 he accepted an appointment as a professor for autonomous micro-systems at the ETH Lausanne (EPFL), where from 2002 to 2006 he was a Member of the Management Faculty of Engineering and was also founding chairman of the Space Centre.

Siegwart is a member of the Swiss National Science Research Council SNF and an expert of the International Foundation of Robotics. His research has laid foundations for the scientific development of autonomous mobile robots and he has been involved in the creation of five spin-outs in the field of autonomous robots and navigation systems.

Commenting on his appointment, Siegwart said, “A special feature of the ETH is the breadth of its research and knowledge. I think we should use it more [as we develop more] interdisciplinary projects.”

In his new role Siegwart is responsible for technology transfer and industrial collaboration.