ISIC-Newsletter 2015
© 2016 EPFL
ISIC is a superb institute with a world-leading faculty and outstanding staff and students.
The past year saw the opening of a new ISIC satellite at Sion, which is part of the Energypolis. The major focus is on renewable energy and sustainable chemistry, although other areas are also present including environmental protection and analytical chemistry.
Not surprisingly, 2015 saw ISIC continue to ascend rankings – coming in at first place in Europe in the National Taiwan University Ranking, which bases performance on scientific publications. According to the Web of Science, which ranks chemistry departments according to publications and citation data from the last decade, ISIC is now ranked at the top in Europe, having finally overtaken Cambridge towards the end of 2015, while also overtaking Harvard and Stanford in the same year. While these rankings are a reasonable measure of our academic achievements, we must also continue to respond to the needs of society around us. And it is exactly our ability to connect our scientific achievements with the wider world, both locally and internationally, that shapes our goals and helps us to translate fundamental science into new processes and products, as well as to create new companies that have a lasting impact on the world we live in.