Alexander Wokaun Editor & Author

Alexander Wokaun is an ETH Professor and the Head of the General Energy Research Department at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland. He received his Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and subsequently worked at IBM and Bell Laboratories. From 1982 to 1985, he directed a program on surface energy transfer processes at ETH Zurich. In 1986, he became full professor of physical chemistry at the University of Bayreuth, with a research program comprising studies of materials surfaces, catalytic reaction mechanisms and laser surface modification. Since 1994 he has led the General Energy Research Department of the Paul Scherrer Institute and taught in the Chemistry Department at ETH Zurich. Development of a sustainable energy system is at the focus of his research program, which comprises technologies for the use of renewable energies, energy storage, clean and efficient energy converters, and assessment of the environmental consequences of energy use. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Advisory Group on Energy of the European Union. He chairs the Steering Committee of the Competence Center Energy and Mobility which facilitates large-scale collaborative projects of ETH domain institutions. In July 2007 he was appointed Vice Director of the Paul Scherrer Institute for the area of Energy Research. Erik Wilhelm earned his Ph.D. from ETH Zurich in the Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland. His focus is on powertrain simulation, hybrid control optimisation and heuristic vehicle design. He has an Honours Bachelor degree and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada.