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März 2014 Das Magazin für die ETH-CommunitySeptember 2014 ETH-community magazine
Matter in Hand Performance
Wrestling for success Page 4
Takeoff in Dübendorf Page 8
Gold for Stefano Brusoni Page 10
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pin Board
Publishing information“life – the magazine for the ETH community” is a medium for internal communication within ETH Zurich and is published quar-terly in German and English by Corporate Communications (HK).
Editorial officeNorbert Staub (Head of Internal Communications)Andrea Schmits, Florian Meyer, Anna FocàImages, layoutEvelyn Graf ProofreadingBeate Marder (German), Lilian Dutoit (English)TranslationSyntax Translations LtdLayout, conceptAgentur Paroli AGPrintingNeidhart + Schön AGCirculation17,000 copiesContactlife magazine, ETH Zurich,HG FO 37.6, 8092 ZurichEmail the editors: [email protected] information: www.ethz.ch/lifeCoverImage by Steffen Schmidt of the picture agency Keystone, taken at the 2014 Northeastern Swiss Wrestling Festival in Wigoltingen.
Official opening of the LEE building
13 October 2014. ETH Zurich’s new mul-ti-storey building on the Oberer Leonhard site (known as “LEE”) has been under construction for around four years. Since June, however, staff from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) and the KOF Swiss Economic Institute have been moving into their new offices there. Around 450 workspaces are spread over 10 floors of office space in the LEE building, which also contains a lecture theatre, seminar rooms, the information and service centre for the ML building division and roof terraces. ETH President Ralph Eichler and Vice President Roman Boutellier will officially open the LEE building on 13 October.
www.ressourcen.ethz.ch/index_en →
When the earth moves6 September 2014. Local earthquakes shake Switzerland around 500 to 800 times a year. Only 10 or so of these are strong enough for people to feel them, but for the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich they provide important information for assessing seismic risk. To mark its 100th anniversary, the Swiss Seismological Service is showcasing its work at the focusTerra museum in an exhibition entitled “unforeSeeable – Earthquakes in Switzerland”, which guides visitors through Switzerland’s earthquake history. unforeSeeable – Earthquakes in Switzerland6 September to 30 November 2014, focusTerra museumMonday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Free admission
www.focusterra.ethz.ch/index_en → www.seismo.ethz.ch/index_en →
The ETH card: now also a keyto the Main Building31 January 2014. In July alone, over 50 mathematics students and ETH Zurich employees used their ETH cards to get into the Main Building at night. Most ETH buildings have long been equipped for electronic access, and now the Main Building is, too. Outside normal opening hours (10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday to Friday and 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekends), ETH staff now no longer need a key to enter the building; they can use their ETH card. Card readers
are located at the side entrances on Rämistrasse and the Polyter-rasse, at the entrance to floor D on Tannen strasse and at the entrance to floor C near the ETH Link bus stop. At these entrances there are also yellow exit buttons (pictured) for leaving the building.
www.eth-karte.ethz.ch/index_en →
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(illustration: Marion deichmann)
National Science Foundation comes to ETH26 November 2014. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is Switzerland’s foremost institution for promoting scientific research. Yet how exactly does it support research projects and upcoming young scientists? What do doctoral stu-dents and postdocs have to do to submit an application for a project or a grant? To give young researchers a chance to find out the answers to these questions at first hand, the SNSF is joining forces with ETH Zurich to organise a “Research Day” on 26 November. In the university’s Main Building, experts and researchers will use information stands and talks to present the available funding programmes.
www.snf.ch/en →www.ethz.ch/researchday →
Enzos for ETH
22 July 2014. The “Enzos” have arrived! These versatile pieces of campus furniture from Vienna were delivered in July. There are 16 Enzos in total and the intention is to use them to liven up the campus, based on an idea thought up by students. Most of the Enzos were designed in August according to design specifications from the depart-ments. An “Info Enzo” with a QR code provides information on the background behind these objects.
www.ethz.ch/enzos-en →
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The curtain falls on togETHer 2014
22 August 2014. Let the show begin! That was the slogan for togETHer 2014, ETH Zurich’s staff party. For one evening, the piazza on the Hönggerberg campus was transformed into a huge circus, where around 3,500 guests were treated to culinary delights along with musical and acrobatic en-tertainment. The families of ETH staff were also invited to the party and there were plenty of activities to amuse the children, including pony rides, a bouncy castle and mask-making. www.ethz.ch/together-en →
A video and pictures of the event are available on the website.
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King of the “Schwingers” Ernst Schläpfer (left) wrestles his opponent to the ground at the 1984 Kilchberger Schwinget wrestling festival.
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A wrestler’s determination:focusing firmly on the goalPerformance is an integral part of our everyday lives, no matter how ambitious our goals are. Max Schläpfer, the son of a famous “Schwinger”, wants to be one of the best in his studies and his sporting pursuits. Study coach Barbara Koch-Kiennast explains what it takes to achieve this.
Text Andrea Schmits Photo (right) Oliver Bartenschlager
Sawdust f lies all over the place as the “Schwinger” – a traditional Swiss wrestler – jerks his opponent out of an apparently stable position and wrestles him onto his back on the ground. What many city dwellers only ever hear about in media reports on the “Eidgenössisches Schwing und Älplerfest” – Switzerland’s national
Swiss wrestling and Alpine sports festival – has been taking place live on ETH Zurich’s Polyterrasse for the past few days. The Academic Sports Association Zurich (ASVZ) organised the “Schwinget @ Polyterrasse” event to mark its 75th anniversary. Over the course of three days, members of Schwingklub Zürich (SKZ), a local Swiss wrestling club, and some of Switzerland’s top traditional wrestlers demonstrated what the sport
of “Schwingen” is all about. Brave students were given the chance to test their own wrestling skills, too.
One ETH student who is well versed in this traditional Swiss style of wrestling is Max Schläpfer. The 27yearold sports student from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST) has close links to Switzerland’s national sport within his family: his father Ernst was a champion “Schwinger” in 1980 and
Matter in Hand Performance
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Max Schläpfer is a student in ETH Zurich’s Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST). As part of his studies, he is spending time at a rehabilitation centre in Affoltern am Albis, where he is testing gait training on a Lokomat robotic treadmill.
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Text Andrea Schmits
On 9 November, students will be showcasing their most successful inventions as part of the “Treffpunkt Science City” programme.
What is top performance? Does it mean winning a Nobel Prize or a gold medal? Or is a single mother working at a checkout to support her family an example of someone performing at her highest level? The autumn edition of “Treffpunkt Science City”, which runs from 26 October to 30 November, is exploring this topic through a series of events. These include a discussion on elitism and pressure to perform in childhood, a talk given by neuroscientist Lutz Jäncke and a workshop on how, in bionics, peak performances are copied from nature and applied to innovative technology.
The events will focus primarily on performance in humans, nature and technology, but one day is being devoted entirely to the performances of students. One of the highlights of the “Student Power Day” will be an exhibition of “Formula Student” racing cars developed by the AMZ Racing Team from
the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ). The annual Formula Student race series is the world’s largest competition for engineers. Each year, the AMZ, which was founded by ETH Zurich students in 2006, develops a prototype to enter in various Formula Student races throughout Europe. Having previously produced three vehicles powered by combustion engines, the AMZ has been focusing exclusively on developing electric racing cars since 2010. The team won the Formula Student Germany race in August with this season’s electric vehicle “grimsel”, which has a peak output of 201 horsepower.
Breaking the world record by tandemETH Zurich’s “cieo” team has also delivered an outstanding performance, achieving its goal of developing the world’s fastest humanpowered vehicle. With its specially developed tandem, the cieoStreamliner, the team managed to cover 83 kilometres in one hour in July 2013 to set a new world record. The futur isticlooking vehicle consists of seats or recliners for the drivers, which are mounted one on top of the other to save space, and an ultralightweight shell, which the team has optimised in a wind tunnel.
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Top performance on the“Student Power Day”
Two drivers lie on top of one another in the aerodynamic tandem developed by the “cieo” team. (Illustration: CIEO)
“Treffpunkt” revamped“Treffpunkt Science City” has been taking place twice a year since 2006. Each five-week series of events explores a particular theme through talks, demonstrations, exhibitions, laboratory tours and discussions, which are free of charge and offer something for people of all ages. The “Treffpunkt Science City” programme booklet has been given a fresh look, featuring the same dark blue bar with the ETH logo seen on other ETH Zurich publications at the top. Inge Keller-Hoehl has taken over responsibility for run-ning the series of events from Rolf Probala.www.ethz.ch/treffpunkt-en →The latest electric racing car from the Academic Motorsports
Club Zurich (AMZ), known as “grimsel”. (Illustration: AMZ)
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1983, while his cousin Jörg Abderhalden has won the “Eidgenössisches Schwingfest”, the Swiss national tournament, three times – in 1998, 2004 and 2007.
Ernst Schläpfer is not just a double wrestling champion; he also completed a doctorate at ETH Zurich in 1988 – an impressive achievement. How does it feel to grow up as the son of such a successful father? “There’s no question that my father is a very high achiever”, said Max Schläpfer when we caught up with him during a study break. “I was predestined to be involved in sport, too. Children want to emulate their fathers and achieve something too.” So Max Schläpfer took his own place in the sawdust wrestling arena when he was just a little boy, but it was not long before he opted for handball instead as his main sport. This is not exactly a break from family tradition, however: the president of Max’s handball club “Pfader Neuhausen” happens to be his father.
A full timetableBefore starting his studies at ETH, Max Schläpfer completed an apprentice ship in automation engineering and worked for three years. “But I felt an inner sense of dissatisfaction. My father ended up with a doctorate, and I thought to myself ‘Hey, make more of yourself’”, he says.
Whether he was at school, training as an apprentice, working or studying as he is now, Max Schläpfer’s timetable has always been full. When he is not learning, he is busy training. He also leads handball training sessions at the ASVZ, is a member of the “Movement Sciences and Sport” student association and is in volved in teaching schoolchildren the art of “Schwingen” as an assistant sports coach. “I would have a guilty conscience if my timetable wasn’t full. It’s important to me to be one of the best in my studies and in sport.”
How does he fit in all these activities? “I learned from an early stage that I had to be well organised and manage my time. There are plenty of hours in the day. If I didn’t go training after studying I wouldn’t know what to do.”
Playing handball has done more than show Max the importance of time management. It has also taught him how to
How to make optimum use of your time: six tips on time management
Twice a year, Sandra Bajus from the Personnel and Organisational Development team runs courses on time management. Here are her top tips:1. define your own goals: What is important? What do you want to achieve in your pro-
fessional life and in your private life?2. identify and eliminate time thieves: Use a weekly log to find out what you are spend-
ing a lot of time on and where you could make improvements.3. plan your day in writing: Set priorities, estimate how long tasks will take and assess
their importance, but remember to leave buffer time, too.4. reduce interruptions: You can do this by switching off e-mail notifications or divert-
ing phone calls for a specific period of time.5. Set fixed times for dealing with e-mails: Then decide what to do with them straight
away – reply immediately, schedule time for them later or delete them.6. Be clever in how you channel your energy: Tackle important work when your energy
level is at its highest and do less demanding tasks when you are low on energy.
“i have to feel that anything is possible. a positive attitude is essential for performing well.” Barbara Koch-Kiennast
deal with defeat. “I take a pragmatic approach to things like losing matches. I try to identify my mistakes to find out what I can do better next time.”
Barbara KochKiennast from the Orien tation & Coaching for Students unit also advocates this approach. “People can use setbacks to analyse the situation and adapt their behaviour accordingly. Children can’t learn to walk overnight – they fall over countless times first”, she says. “It is also important not to attach all of your selfworth to one thing.”
Time to do nothingTo perform well, however, Barbara KochKiennast believes that a positive basic attitude is essential. “I have to feel that anything is possible. If I say to myself ‘This won’t work’, then it won’t. A kind
of negative filter is created and you only do things that reinforce this negative mindset.”
Other factors she considers to be important for achieving a good performance include setting precise goals, knowing your own limits and taking time to recover. “Most athletes are well aware that their bodies need time to recover after training. What many people don’t realise, however, is that the brain needs recovery time after learning, too”, she says. Unfortunately, recovery time is regarded as lost time these days. “But there’s no fooling your body: you get tired and lose motivation.” The expert is keen to stress that we should make a conscious effort to leave free time in our schedules to do absolutely nothing. “After all, both sport and learning use up energy and resources.”
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ConverSationS
A “Silicon Valley” for ZurichETH Zurich became involved in designing an innovation park for the Zurich area at an early stage. Roman Boutellier, Vice President of Human Resources and Infrastructure, and Andreas Flury, Managing Director of the Swiss Innovation Park Association, tell us what this ambitious project in Dübendorf is all about.
Text Samuel Schlaefli Photo Oliver Bartenschlager
Mr Flury, what is an “innovation park”?Flury: It’s a place where, in collaboration with industry, research findings are transformed as quickly as possible into marketable products. In spite of the new communication possibilities available to us, nothing beats a facetoface discussion. We therefore need a kind of knowledge biotope in selected locations where this sort of exchange can take place.
Mr Boutellier, how long has ETH been working on the plans for an innova-tion park like this for Zurich?Boutellier: We started evaluating the idea and comparing it with existing innovation parks abroad 10 years ago as part of doctoral and Master’s degree theses. Last year the Swiss Conference of Cantonal
Directors of Economic Affairs chose ETH Zurich and EPFL as hubs around which two national innovation parks are to be set up. A representative from EPFL and I are chairing the Swiss Innovation Park Association. We at ETH are working closely with the Canton of Zurich within this framework.
Why is the innovation park being built specifically on the site of the former Dübendorf airfield? Boutellier: In the area around Dübendorf there are all types of different research intensive businesses operating in very close proximity, from medical technology providers to power plant and turbine con struction companies. EMPA and EAWAG are already based in Dübendorf. ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Zürcher Fachhochschule are not far away. This kind of concentration is extremely rare throughout the world. To create an in novative “melting pot” out of this, however, we need to bring all these people together in a single location.
So the plan is for Dübendorf to become a kind of Silicon Valley for Zurich?Boutellier: Yes, that would be great! (laugh ing)
Will Dübendorf become a third cam-pus for ETH?Boutellier: No, we’re sticking to our two existing Zentrum and Hönggerberg campuses. None of our departments will be
moving to Dübendorf. ETH researchers will work with industry partners on specific projects in the innovation park.
Which companies would you like to attract to the innovation park?Boutellier: Many of the companies with which we already have an intensive working partnership – such as Disney, Oracle and Google – are keen to grow. Setting up the innovation park would create the space needed to step up these partnerships. However, we are also looking for new cooperation opportunities, for instance with Samsung in South Korea.
Will the innovation park focus on one particular subject area?Boutellier: No, visits to existing innovation parks in Boston, Berlin, Cambridge and Barcelona have shown us that a lot of things cannot be actively controlled.
Flury: Rather than focusing on one particular area, it is more important that the companies based in the innovation park are amongst the absolute best in their field. To encourage these com panies to set up business here, we have to offer them the opportunity to establish themselves in Switzerland and work with the universities on research without much administrative or organisational effort.
Mr Boutellier, you have compared innovation parks all over the world. What are the key factors behind the success of parks like this?
Swiss Innovation ParkSwitzerland’s two federal institutes of tech-nology are keen to create a national innov-ation network in close cooperation with the Swiss cantons, universities, universities of applied sciences and international busi-ness organisations. In 2012 the Canton of Zurich decided to establish an innovation park, which is to be built on the site of the former Dübendorf airfield.www.swissinnovationpark.ch →
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Boutellier: The close cooperation between the universities, industry, the authorities and associations. And this kind of project takes time. An innovation park won’t achieve success within two or three years – at best it is more like twenty to thirty years.
Who will ultimately benefit the most from this innovation park?Boutellier: Switzerland as a whole ought to
benefit and, given the federalist structure of the innovation park, it should do so. We will be creating a lot of forwardlooking jobs in Dübendorf.
Jobs for a well-educated global elite?Boutellier: No, we will be creating a lot of jobs for people who have completed apprenticeships, too. Innovation parks also need laboratory assistants, mechanics and technicians.
What are your highest hopes with regard to the innovation park in Dübendorf?Flury: That all partners will be inspired by the biotope idea and that this will spur them on to achieve great things through the synergies created.
Boutellier: Everyone is ready to get started. My hope now is that the political framework conditions for this are put in place as quickly as possible.
Roman Boutellier (left) and Andreas Flury (right) are pushing for the creation of an innovation park in Dübendorf.
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inSide out
A boss worthy ofdistinctionETH Zurich professor Stefano Brusoni fosters a work environment which enables his team to balance their work and family life. He has now been awarded the Golden Tricycle for his efforts.
Text Rebecca Wyss Photos Alessandro della Bella
Stefano Brusoni’s team is not exclusively Swiss; it also includes people from Italy, India, China, Finland, Turkey, Colombia, Hungary and Germany. The Professor of Technology and Innovation Management from the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC) leads a team of 16 employees – 10 of whom are women – with very wideranging cultural roots. This diversity brings life to the group, which is clear to see as soon as you enter the offices at Weinbergstrasse 56/58. The team members are relaxed around one another, cracking jokes and
surrounded by all kinds of unconventional office para phernalia such as exercise balls, a table football set and even a carnivorous plant. People enjoy working in environments like this. According to doctoral student Sonja Förster, this is not just because they are given plenty of freedom. “Stefano pays a lot of attention to our needs”, she says, adding that it does not matter whether those needs involve concerns about a research project or trying to strike a balance between work and parenthood.
Not just empty wordsThe Office of Equal Opportunities (Equal!) and the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH) recently presented Stefano Brusoni with the Golden Tricycle award, which is given to team leaders who create an exemplary familyfriendly working environment. Professor Brusoni has his team to thank for nominating him for this honour. “A team leader who fully supports each of his employees in planning their family life and trusts them too deserves the Gold en Tricycle”, says Daniella Laureiro Martinez, a senior researcher on the team. Brusoni himself is keen to stress that there is nothing particularly special about his management style: “I’m just passing on what my wife and I experienced in England when we were having children while pursuing doctoral studies.” They always worked in places where they were able to talk to their supervisors if they were ever struggling to balance par enthood with their work, he says.
Stefano Brusoni and his wife Eugenia have three children: Enrico, Pietro and Teresa. The two boys are aged 14 and 11, while the Brusoni’s daughter is almost four. Both parents are highly qualified people with jobs that demand a great deal from them – in terms of both time and place. Eugenia currently commutes between Switzerland and England, where she works as a senior lecturer. When she is in England, Stefano looks after the children. Every morning he takes little Teresa to the crèche next door to the WEV building where he works. He often spends his lunch breaks with his two sons, and then in the evenings he picks his youngest up again from the crèche. “Balancing children and work is not easy”, he admits. “But it is doable.”
No pressure from the bossThese are not just empty words, says Sonja Ripperger, who works as a parttime course and project manager for the Master of Advanced Studies in Management, Technology and Economics (MAS MTEC) programme, which Professor Brusoni has been in charge of for around a year. She, too, sometimes struggles to deal with the unpredictable aspects of family life and work and she has found Brusoni to be very understanding.
He had no problem with her declining his request to take minutes recently because both of her children were in bed with chickenpox. At times like these, she says, Brusoni puts the children first and she knows he is not just saying this: “He is true to his word.”
The Golden TricycleThe Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH) and Equal!, the Office of Equal Opportunities, have awarded the Golden Tricycle prize for the eighth time. This award is presented to team leaders who enable their employees to balance work with childcare or looking after rela-tives. This involves ensuring that no im-portant meetings and appointments are scheduled in the evenings, promoting the careers of all employees even if they only work part-time, taking a flexible approach to managing working hours and providing opportunities for staff to work part-time or from home. The team leaders are nom-inated by their employees.www.family.ethz.ch/index_en →
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Stefano Brusoni was presented with the Golden Tricycle award at “togETHer 2014”, ETH Zurich’s staff party. He was voted the most family-friendly team leader of the year.
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Doctoral student Sonja Förster is currently expecting a baby and she receives a lot of support from her boss. She found that telling him she was pregnant was just like having a normal conversation. “I have never felt uneasy before having difficult discussions with him”, she says. “I know that his response will be understanding and that he will try to find a solution which works for everyone.” While many women are afraid of being demoted at work because they have a child, this particular young woman has complete confidence in Professor Brusoni. He is leaving it up to her to decide how long she wants to stay on leave after giving birth and whether she would like to work parttime or spend more time working from home: “That takes off the pressure.”
Allowing employees to work from home, avoiding evening meetings and appointments and offering flexibility in the event of family emergencies are simply a matter of course for Stefano Brusoni, not least because he has family commitments
himself. He rarely starts his lectures before 9 o’clock in the morning. “I do what I can”, he says, but also admits: “Of course, that is never enough.” However, he also realises that not everything is within his control. In Switzerland, in particular, women have been increasingly opting to work parttime after returning from maternity leave. Many of them find that
reducing their working hours can hinder their career development. For Brusoni, it is clear what needs to be done: “What we – and ETH – can do is openly send out signals showing that it is possible to balance motherhood, fulltime work and a career.” The Golden Tricycle award is an important step in this process. www.timgroup.ethz.ch →
Financial support for babies’ nursery placesFrom 1 October 2014, financial support will be provided for babies’ nursery places. In accordance with the guidelines on “Financial support for babies’ nursery places”, parents with babies (children aged under 18 months) who are not looked after by family members can apply for reimbursement of the difference in cost between a baby’s nursery place and an infant’s nursery place. This scheme, which was initi-ated under the ETH Zurich Gender Action Plan, is part of ETH Zurich’s continuous efforts to make it easier to balance work or studies with family commitments. The HR contact for this is Carole Siegfried.
www.ethz.ch/childcare →
There is a good atmosphere amongst the members of Stefano Brusoni’s team, who nominated their boss for the Golden Tricycle award.
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By tHe Way
Higher contributionsfor a secure pension Text Andrea Schmits
Personal pensions are a topic that is forever raising ques-tions. Will the money being paid into pension funds be enough to maintain the living standards to which people have become accus-tomed? Piero Cereghetti, long-standing Head of Human Resources who has recently left ETH Zurich, sheds some light on this.
Since the Publica pension fund announced that it would be raising pension contributions from 1 January 2015, many people have been wondering whether they will have to keep paying more while receiving less and less in return. Head of Human Resources Piero Cereghetti offers some words of reassurance: “I wouldn’t worry about it. Switzerland has one of the most wellfunded pension systems in the world. ETH Zurich is also well set up with the Publica pension fund”, he says.
The increase in contributions as of 1 January 2015 will range between 0.4 and 1.1 per cent depending on age. These higher contributions are necessary, as Publica is also intending to lower its technical inter est rate from its current level of 3.5 per cent to 2.75 per cent at the same time. The pension fund cites the persistently low interest rates as the reason for making this move, its main purpose being to secure pensions for the long term. Publica feels compelled to reduce the technical interest rate in order to ensure that it can stabilise the funded ratio even in the event of a low return on investment.
The technical interest rate is used to determine the current value of pension entitlements arising in the future. It also has an influence on the conversion rate,
which serves as a basis for calculating the pension amount. If the technical interest rate is too high, so too is the conversion rate and, consequently, the pension. That is why the conversion rate, which stood at 6.15 per cent, is now being reduced to 5.65 per cent. This gives rise to an additional requirement for savings contributions of 8.85 per cent in order to keep pensions at a level comparable to what they are now.
Continuous payments are importantTo prevent a decline in pensions, Publica will build up substantial provisions by 31 December 2014. Following on from this, an additional payment will be credited to the individual accounts of the pen sion fund members as of 1 January 2015. Members of the pension fund who are employed at ETH Zurich as of 1 Janu ary 2015 will receive a lumpsum compensation payment amounting to 8.85 per cent of their contributions. How ever, they will only be eligible for this if they joined Publica before 1 July 2014.
“The pensions of people who retire in 2015 will remain the same”, explains Cereghetti. “However, it is very difficult to predict what will happen in the future.
If the trend towards a longer life expectancy is borne out, then younger generations will either have to work longer or receive a smaller pension.” Members of ETH have the option to boost their future pension entitlements by buying into an occupation al pension scheme and making voluntary savings contributions. “Whether or not people choose to make voluntary con tributions and at what age they do this is up to them. Some people start thinking about their pension at the age of 20, while others don’t give it any thought until they are 55”, says Cereghetti. “The important thing is to ensure, as far as possible, that there are no gaps in payments into the pension fund.”
Personal advice on pensionsMembers of ETH Zurich can contact their relevant HR manager or get in touch with Publica directly if they have any questions about pensions. Simulations of various in-surance events can be generated on the Publica website.www.publica.ch/en/simulation →
Publica is lowering its technical interest rate. What will this mean for individual employees? (Illustration: iStock.com / Editing: ETH)
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CaMpuS FaCeS
Downtime is not his style Text Rebecca Wyss Photo Florian Bachmann
Ariel Stekla likes solving problems – IT problems, to be precise. He spends hours sitting at a computer, searching online for ways to resolve system errors or comparing notes on the perils of a particular programme with his work colleagues in the IT services group of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (ISG HEST). “For me it’s not about the solution per se”, says the 26yearold. “I’m interested in how to go about finding it.”
Stekla moved to Switzerland from Poland around six years ago with his parents. His mother and father, a preschool teacher and metalworker respectively, had found work here and let their son choose whether to come with them or stay and finish his computer science training at a technical
college in his home town. “It didn’t take me long to decide”, recalls Stekla. “I simply wanted to experience something new more than I wanted to stay with my friends.”
Stekla soon found his feet in Switzerland on a vocational level. He heard about the computer science apprenticeship at ETH Zurich through an acquaintance who worked in the IT services group, so he applied for a place and was accepted. “I was delighted to have the chance to complete an apprenticeship at ETH”, he says. “The IT tasks we are given here are very challenging.”
He is impressed by the sheer complexity of the operating systems alone. It is nothing like Poland, he explains, where operating systems are de signed to be simple so that they are easy to manage. Stekla says that he has learned a lot during his
fouryear apprenticeship: “While other people were spending all day taking printers apart, I was learning how to solve complex IT problems.”
However, he is keen to stress that adapt ing to life in Switzerland was not all that easy. The biggest obstacle was the language: “I didn’t understand a word, not even at school.” As well as studying hard for computer science subjects, he had to spend his free time learning German vocabulary, something he describes as “hard work”.
These days everything is different. Stekla is now studying IT services engineering at a PET (professional education and training) college. After he completes his course, he wants to do a Bachelor’s degree in this subject at a university of applied sciences. “I really enjoy learning. Standing still is just not for me.”
Polish-born Ariel Stekla has completed a computer science
apprenticeship at ETH Zurich.
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PeKo at ETH StartThe Personnel Committee (PeKo) has been involved in the “ETH Start” event since 2013. This occasion offers the newest additions to the university’s administrative and technical staff the opportunity to pick up knowledge and gain a comprehensive picture of ETH Zurich quickly and easily. Under the auspices of Barbara Schröder Würtz from Personnel Development, ETH Start has built up an ex-cellent reputation and is proving increasingly popular. PeKo sees it as essential that new ETH employees learn the importance of representing staff interests right from the start, and it aims to show them how to do this. ETH employees form part of a unique environment which offers them opportunities to have an influence on de-velopments. In terms of occupational mobility, however, they are faced with limits, such as the rather restricted options available for career development. ETH Start is the perfect platform for mak-ing new employees aware of how their pro-fessional interests are represented within ETH Zurich. In the morning, two members of PeKo briefly present the Personnel Committee to the participants and draw their attention to the PeKo website, where they can find plenty of useful information. After lunch in the Dozentenfoyer, the new staff are given a chance to start making their first personal contacts. We very much appreciate the excellent cooperation of the organiser of this well-run event.
Lucia Kellerwww.peko.ethz.ch →
How I imagine ETHin 10 years’ timeOver the course of a year, I have had the chance to get to know ETH Zurich in a way that the average student never would. I’ve been annoyed at the complicated manner in which responsibilities are allocated and delighted to see how well many staff are doing their jobs, and I’ve sat on the sofa in the ETH President’s office and unravelled students’ problems which I could never have conceived of, even in my wildest dreams.
Now I can claim to know ETH well, so I have an idea of what might be possible in 10 years’ time. Time will tell whether my wishes come true.
In 2024, new students will get to know ETH Zurich and their fellow students in an introductory week. During this week they will build up a sense of affiliation with the university and of solidarity with their year group that they will carry with them throughout their years of studying at ETH, and it will be possible to organise these academic years on a much more individual basis than in 2014. The range of lectures and tutorials on offer will have been supplemented with discussion sessions, online courses and tutorials, collections of resources and independent project work. There will also be various opportunities for further development alongside studies. This will help to ensure that students graduate from ETH Zurich not only as experts in their chosen field, but also as people who know how they want to use their skills in their future career and in society.
Life on campus will have changed. With the addition of student residences, the Hönggerberg campus will have
transformed from a place exclusively for working and learning into a complete living space. Instead of heading out of the laboratory and straight to the bus stop, people will linger a little longer in the bar in the new student centre, watch a film in the same building or meet friends at one of the electric barbeque areas dotted about the campus. The atmosphere on a warm summer’s evening will be like being by Lake Zurich.
These facilities will add emotional value to the years students spend at ETH. Their fellow students will be like family, and they will get to know their professors not just as teachers lecturing in front of a class, but also as equal partners in discussion sessions. At the end of their studies at ETH, students will enjoy a wonderful graduation ceremony that will bring a fitting end to this formative period of their lives and put the finishing touch on their time as students.
Julia Wysling
VSETHThe Verband der Studierenden an der ETH (VSETH) – ETH Zurich’s student associa-tion – represents the interests of students vis-à-vis the Executive Board and the au-thorities. Julia Wysling was president of VSETH until 22 September.www.vseth.ethz.ch →
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Julia WyslingFormer President of VSETH
16 life 9 / 2014
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How to enhance your career prospects worry-free
Text Florian Meyer
How can you get to know company representatives during a game of miniature golf at ETH Zurich? Or share coffee and cake with a CEO? How do you win over a manager in just three minutes? And what should you wear when the dress code is “business casual”? Answers to these questions will be provided for students, doctoral students and alumni at the “Lange Nacht der Karriere” (“Long night of the career”) event in the ETH Zurich Main Building on 13 November. Participants will be treated to a wide- ranging pro-gramme including “career speed dating”, an “application catwalk”, opportunities to “meet, greet & play” with prospective employers, a “CV corner” and refreshments.
www.lndk.ch → (illu
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