by Petra Schneider, International Relations Officer Asia, 18 March 2021

Since beginning of this year, I have a new job at the Office of the President. My designated work place is Singapore, a beautiful city I had only visited twice in my life, each visit only lasting a couple of days. Over Christmas, I watched the third season of the “Westworld” series which was almost entirely shot in Singapore. In the “Making of” featurette, the movie producers stated that they searched for filming locations that looked like “the city of the future” and came to the unanimous conclusion that Singapore is it. Singapore is not only a city with many high-rise buildings, but it brings together nature and city developments in a unique way (for example the FCL Global Program at the Singapore ETH Centre SEC).

So, in January I applied for entry to Singapore. A week later my request was granted and a packing frenzy began. It is always hard for me to pack for a different season than I am currently in. With the record snow in Zurich at the end of January, it was really trying to imagine a life with daytime temperatures at a constant 31°C (and in the context of work, not on a beach). The first two weeks I would be quarantined in a “surprise” hotel room that I would not be allowed to leave. I searched the internet and talked to a couple of colleagues about what to expect, and what others recommended. Since I am a real coffee junkie, and everything is better with a nice cup of hot steaming coffee, I stuffed my Nespresso coffee maker (with plug adapter) including packs of coffee capsules in one bag… along with my Swiss army knife. (Would it be okay to also pack a few bottles of Merlot from Ticino? I decided “no”). Now I was all set and ready to go!

Departure from Zurich

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I had not travelled overseas. I had heard of some mixed experiences from a colleague who voyaged to the US in autumn with fellow travelers in full-on disposable jumpsuits, so I was not sure what to expect on my SWISS flight to Singapore. At Zurich Airport, there were even fewer travelers around compared to September when I visited my mom in Berlin for her birthday. The E Gate which usually facilitates intercontinental flights at ZRH was closed. My flight departed from Gate D. Only 14 Passengers showed up, and we all got on a bus to our freezing cold plane (morning temperatures that day were below -10°C). The crew on the plane was super nice and relaxed. This felt very pleasant and comforting.

Arriving in Singapore

My plane touched down in Singapore at 5.20 a.m. local time. Disembarking was a breeze, with people in protective wear greeting us in a friendly manner and showing us the way. To my surprise, the immigration process went very smoothly. I got to pick up all of my luggage and proceeded to the arrival COVID test, which was located in a tent (tennis court size) with loud disco music playing, and the people administering the COVID test almost seemed to have a good time. This made me feel at ease. At the Exit we were directed to a bus which would bring us to our designated SHN (SHN = Stay Home Notice) hotel. Even my luggage was carried to the bus for me (and unloaded at the hotel), which was a really nice gesture.

The quarantine in hotels is mandatory even for Singapore residents. Besides better compliance with the rules of the quarantine, the hotels are kept in business. My fellow passengers and I got lucky and were assigned the Swissotel, where all the rooms have small balconies which we are permitted to use while wearing a mask, and many rooms have a view (mine with a full frontal Marina Bay view). One should always focus on the positive.

Day 5

At the hotel, we are provided with food three times a day – local cuisine, mostly Indian, Chinese or Thai, all of which I love. Everything is prepared fresh and always tasty. Though I am not a health nut, after three days I was really craving something fresh. So, I decided to order some groceries online: fruits, vegetables, milk and cereal. Merely half an hour later everything was delivered to my room, including a Swiss style müesli brand name “Alpen”. Tasty!

For exercise I brought a foldable yoga mat and exercise bands. With ASVZ@home, I try to work out. But with the very limited space not all programs really “fit” space-wise, and also my coordination skills are not what I hoped they would be. Today I tried to go for a walk, which I had adopted as a routine back home in Zurich (but not in my apartment). I felt really silly walking back and forth in my hotel room, with the Aircon “on”, for crying out loud (maybe I do Monty Python style silly walks tomorrow). Not entirely sure how things will look in the remaining nine days to go. I will get back to you on that. Or maybe not. Asia is calling.

About the author

Petra Schneider studied Chemistry at the TU Berlin, worked for Roche Pharmaceuticals, and founded two start-up companies. In 2010 she became a member of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at ETH Zurich. This year she joined the Office of the President at ETH to foster institutional relations with Asia. She has recently moved to Singapore.

by Margherita Fontana, Director at Dow Chemical & ETH Circle Member, 9 March 2021

This year, the celebration of Women International Day coincides with another anniversary: the 1-year global work-from-home anniversary due to the COVID-19 lockdown which started in March 2020. Ironically, the flexibility that many of us were claiming was needed and would be the Future of Work became the omnipresent new reality, which for many women did not turn out to be as good as expected.

I started my current role at Dow as Global Procurement Director of Strategic Planning and Governance in the middle of the pandemic. Moving into a global functional role from my previous Business Commercial Director role was quite a change to manage on its own, let alone doing it during this extraordinary year. The change has been a tremendous learning and growth opportunity which has not come without challenges. One of the major issues to manage has been that of managing family life, home schooling, and a new job at the same time. What has enabled me to successfully navigate the year and the new start has been a strong leadership support both at work and at home. At home, my husband and I are a strong team that supports each other. As two full-time working parents, we share all duties and responsibilities equally and this is a considerable part of the reason why we can both be happy and successful in pursuing our respective career objectives. Having a strong support basis, whether this comes from family, friends, or a supportive network, is a very important anchor we should build in our lives, to get the psychological safety that we all need in order to thrive in our lives. At work, it has been fundamental to have a leader who has been very supportive and who creates a psychological safe environment where everybody can be themselves and bring their best everyday.  What has also helped me to navigate the new life style during the pandemic year has been maintaining the discipline of disconnecting from work, travelling back home to Italy to visit my family, enjoying the outdoor life whenever possible and maintaining a focused and clear mind trough practicing sports and yoga.

In addition to the role I just described, I was also appointed as the Chair of the Dow Global Women Network, which I consider a privilege that comes with the big responsibility of advancing inclusion and women’s representation at all levels in the company. Being part of such a strong and diverse network has definitely contributed to help navigating the difficult past year, while continuing to be a source of constant learning during my own leadership journey.

I am not new to the experience of navigating major career and life changes during a major crisis. In fact, in 2008 in the middle of the financial crisis, on the day Lehman Brothers announced the bankruptcy and the company I was working for back then was acquired by a bigger company, I had to make a major decision within a few days. I had to decide whether to secure a loan to finance the MBA program at INSEAD I had just been told I was accepted into. It was not an easy consideration, but I had clarity and determination around the vision I had for myself. The focus on the long term goal of moving into a leadership role versus the short term notion of securing the next available job, allowed me to persevere and achieve the goal I had for myself.

Decision making in highly uncertain times has taught me a lot. First and foremost, believe in yourself and in your vision and dreams, even if everybody around you is trying to convince you of the opposite. Never settle with the obvious easy choice. The rewards come once we stretch and challenge ourselves. Growth and opportunities do not arise out of comfortable situations, quite the opposite! Going through these experiences, the learnings prepare us to thrive in uncertain and ambiguous situations, like the ones the pandemic has presented. This is advice I would always share with girls and women who have aspirations and ambitions to develop themselves: be ready to explore the less obvious paths and have the courage to embrace uncertainty, in whatever format this might present itself.

Looking back at where it all started for me, curiosity has led me to where I am today, but most probably I would not have come that far if I wasn’t open to embracing some level of uncertainty. My parents have taught me to be curious and hungry for learning, in order to continuously grow in the journey that I would choose for myself. This has given me the strength not to put off by difficulties along the way. The only recommendation I would give to my younger self is do not hesitate to ask for help and look for advice along the way!

Links

https://ethz.ch/services/en/employment-and-work/working-environment/equal-opportunities/strategie-und-zahlen/frauen-an-der-eth/frauenstreik-eth/promoting-women.html

https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2021/03/international-womens-day.html

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

About the author

Dr. Margherita Fontana is the Global Strategic Planning and Governance Procurement Director at Dow Chemical, leading Dow’s Global Strategic Procurement activities. Prior to her current role, she held the EMEAI Procurement Director role, and was accountable for the Strategic Sourcing and Procure to Pay Services in the EMEAI region. Margherita is the Chair of the Global Dow Women Inclusion Network (WIN), leading the advancement of women in Business both DOW and externally. In 2020 she was recognized as HERoes 100 Women Future Leaders list supported by Yahoo Finance.

by Rafael and Gabriel Sonderegger, ETH Zurich students, 18 February 2021

In April of 2020, the first wave of the pandemic fully hit Switzerland and our lives changed drastically. As we all know, there was a severe face mask shortage caused by huge demand and limited supply, as well as worldwide export bans. That is when my brother and I decided to set up a local production in Switzerland.

Since June 2020, we operate a stable production facility for face masks locally produced in Schaffhausen. We produce about 20’000 face masks daily, which we distribute directly to companies or retail chains. Our masks can be found in pharmacies or even in bigger retailers like JUMBO all over Switzerland. But how did we get here?

We realized the simplicity of the structure of face masks. They are made of three layers of Polypropylene, which are widely available. To create our business, we essentially needed to get three key components sorted: machinery, material, and a production site. While usually such things are planned and thought out carefully, we acted fast. We invested all our capital in machinery and material, and only then started looking for a place to set it all up. We found an industry partner in our hometown, very eager to help with our project. The company “Altra” is a large industrial employer for handicapped people. Thankfully, we found them as a partner in time, otherwise we would have ended up with tons of material in front of our house. It might seem like we took an unnecessary big risk, but at the time we were in a hurry especially due to the constantly changing political situation in Switzerland. Luckily, everything worked out in our favour.

The next big challenge which presented itself was to ensure a smooth production. While the machine in its entirety worked, we were far from a stable and safe production. First, we had to address clear security issues. As there were no covers anywhere, accidents were a possibility and had to be addressed. Further, there were a lot of technical issues which had to be solved. The first few weeks, the machine barely worked as we had hoped. But eventually, we got there. Today we produce about 20’000 masks a day.

Initially, we spent most of our time at the production site. Today, our workload has shifted to dealing with new orders, meaning our work is now done from the office. Where are we now? Since the start of our project, we manufactured over 1.5 million face masks for the Swiss market. Although there is no longer any face masks shortage to speak of, our product is still very much in demand. We know that eventually the pandemic will pass, and life will return to normal. That will probably mark the end of our project. But this experience was incredibly valuable, and we are happy to have contributed a part in the battle against Covid-19.

Link

Sondia Website (only in German): https://sondia.ch/

About the authors

Rafael Sonderegger:
The thing that keeps me the busiest at the moment is: military service
My favourite app is: Instagram
One book or movie I recommend is: Any Quentin Tarantino movie
If all else fails, my instant pick-me-up is: my dog

Gabriel Sonderegger:
The thing that keeps me the busiest at the moment is: Exams
My favourite app is: Pinterest
One book or movie I recommend is: The good, the bad and the ugly
If all else fails, my instant pick-me-up is: my phone

by Jürg Brunnschweiler, Head of Office of the President, 7 Januray 2021

It feels like ages… but it was only a year ago that life was truly very different. My team and I were in the final preparations for our annual ETH Meets Davos flagship event. RETHINKING Creativity was the theme of the exhibition in the ETH Pavilion in Davos, during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2020. If we had only known how much creativity all of us soon would need in dealing with what became an unimaginably difficult year…

But first, we went to Davos to make particles dance, demystify quantum, explore the interface between science, technology and art, and investigate creativity more broadly. I remember that it was during those beautiful days up in the Swiss mountains that I started reading about the outbreak of a new virus in China on CNN. Not yet worried too much by the news, I was looking forward to my annual escape to Fiji right after Davos. It was on the flight from San Francisco to Fiji when I started to realize that what was coming, was closer and coming sooner than I thought: all the Fijian cabin crew wore face masks. A sight that is now part of everyday life. While playing with sharks in Fiji, worrying news started to pile up from around the globe, including Switzerland. I barely made it home before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020. ETH closed, and we all started working from home. Schools and (almost) everything else shut down. And many aspects of life really changed, came to an almost standstill.

The first few weeks and months in crisis modus were actually quite exciting. Life needed to be reorganized, new routines had to be established, one had to find new ways to get common things done. Almost everything was postponed. It was spring, and then summer in Zurich. Life wasn’t that bad, just different. I say this fully aware of my privileged situation, and knowing that there were many people suffering severely from the situation.

However, it wasn’t before long the realization kicked in that things were not just different or postponed for a few months, but most likely for a very long time. Life would never be the same again. I started to miss certain things. At the Office of the President, we support and are responsible for projects, events and activities that increase the positive perception of ETH Zurich globally. We nurture an international community of stakeholders that contributes to enhancing the visibility of the institution at home and abroad. All of which largely relies on bringing a diverse group of people together in one place to experience ETH. At the Schiffbau in Zurich, at the Musikbrauerei in Berlin, at the National Sawdust in Brooklyn, in our RETHINKING Pavilion in Davos.

All of that was 2020 and before. Today we are in the middle of a global pandemic that has forced us to change our daily life routines. Some of us are desperate to go back to their lives as they were before 2020. But as always, the future will look different from the past. We have decided to embrace the opportunity to rethink our way of living. RETHINKING Living not as a stand-alone exhibition like in previous years in Davos, but rather an overarching theme that will guide our outreach activities in the next two years. Stay tuned for more exciting news on how we will explore this topic during the course of 2021 and beyond.

About the author

Jürg Brunnschweiler is the Chief of Staff to the President of ETH Zurich and heads the Office of the President.

by Carlo Sferrazza, PhD candidate at the Institute for Dynamics and Control, 24 December 2020

In November, TEDxZurich featured the talk of ETH researcher Carlo Sferrazza introducing a novel sensing technology that targets the next generation of soft robotic skins.

Since the start of my PhD, I have often been asked about my research topic by my friends and family. These were only some of the instances when I have been confronted with the task of explaining the relevance of my research to people outside the field of robotics. While the potential of enabling robots with a soft skin that could give them a sense of touch is certainly fascinating to most of us, people still wonder why this is worth looking into, what it could be used for, and whether this is going to be dangerous. These are some of the questions that I try to address when giving public talks, and TEDxZurich was a fantastic opportunity to reach people across the globe.

I have always been keen to present my research to different types of audiences. I’ve been involved in presentations and demonstrations to researchers, engineers, politicians, artists, children and non-professionals. At the end of last year, I gave a short talk at the 2019 WORLD.MINDS Annual Symposium about the vision of my PhD research. When TEDxZurich approached me, it was the chance to bring on stage both the narrative part of my research, as well as a prototype of the concept I have been working on.

During my PhD at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, I designed and fabricated a soft tactile sensor that allows robots to retrieve rich contact feedback from their interaction with the environment. While modern cameras provide machines with a very well-developed sense of vision, robots still lack such a comprehensive solution for their sense of touch. In the talk, I presented examples of why this technology has the potential to revolutionize robotic manipulation, human-robot interaction, and prosthetics. Around halfway through the talk, I also demonstrated the sensing concept we developed. The way the sensor works is by using an internal camera to track markers placed within a deformable skin. I showed the views from the internal camera, and how the sensor can use the pictures from the camera to estimate in real-time the distribution of the forces applied to its soft surface, when interacting with my hand or with an arbitrary object.

Obviously, when I started preparing my talk, little did we know that it would be impossible to organize large events in person. Nevertheless, as the event was pre-recorded and live-streamed, the virtual talk could reach a much larger audience than usual. I believe that in the future such events should be held more often in a hybrid format, with in-person events streamed online to let more people all over the world take part in them.

Having always enjoyed watching public talks outside of my area of expertise, I hope that my talk at TEDxZurich has conveyed to the general public the significance of my research, with the hope of also inspiring young people and future researchers. If you were not able to watch the livestream, stay tuned for the talk ‘Robots that feel by seeing’ to be posted on YouTube in early 2021.

About the author

Carmelo (Carlo) Sferrazza is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, under the supervision of Professor Raffaello D’Andrea. His current research interests include the design and development of vision-based, data-driven tactile sensors, and learning-based model predictive control. He was a recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, and he received the ETEL Award for his master’s thesis on model predictive control of an unmanned aerial vehicle.