Hansruedi Siegrist

Hansruedi Siegrist is head of the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG) in Duebendorf and Professor at the Institute of Hydromechanics and Water Resources Management since 2002.

Born on December 29, 1948 in Zürich, he studied civil engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur. After four years of employment in two engineering companies he studied organic chemistry at the department of natural science of the ETH Zurich. After the post diploma in Sanitary engineering at ETH, he was employed as a teaching assistant at EAWAG. He received his doctorate under Professor Dr. Werner Stumm at the Institute of Aquatic Sciences and Water Pollution Control and was awarded the Otto Jaag Water protection price. After his doctorate he worked for two year as a research associate at the Stanford University with Prof Dr. Perry McCarty in the field of groundwater pollution. From 1986 to 1997 he was a senior scientist at the EAWAG and since 1997 he is head of the department of environmental engineering. Since 1990 he teaches at ETH Zurich, initially in the field of environmental chemistry and later in sanitary engineering. In 2000/01 he took a sabbatical leave at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

His research focus is on the physical, chemical and biological processes of wastewater and sewage sludge treatment, mathematical modeling and the behavior of trace pollutants in wastewater treatment. He is member of different national and international committees and task groups in the field of urban water engineering.