You are kindly invited to join us at MIT (Room 3-133) for speech by Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard followed by a roundtable discussion with the President of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Patrick Aebischer and Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School Sarah Slaughter on sustainability and energy.

As climate change and recent worries about nuclear power continue to shape the debate about sustainable energy, countries around the world are working to accelerate the transition to a “green economy”. Federal Councillor (Head of Department of Energy and the Environment) Doris Leuthard will present Switzerland's vision and strategy in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The event will be followed by a Swiss summer reception.

If you'd like to attend, please RSVP.

The speech from Federal Councillor Leuthard will be followed by a discussion with Patrick Aebischer and Sarah Slaughter in the fields of sustainability and clean energy. Biography of Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard As head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard is one of the seven members of the Federal Council, Switzerland's cabinet. DETEC's strategy focuses on the principles of sustainable development, which are implemented in terms of policy in the fields of the environment, transport, energy, communications and spatial development. Before taking the helm of DETEC on 1 November 2010, Federal Councillor Leuthard was head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA) from August 2006 to October 2010. During this time, she was responsible for the labour market, vocational education and training, technology, innovation, agriculture, housing, national economic supply and trade policy. She represented Switzerland at international organisations including the WTO, OECD, FAO and the World Bank and chaired the EFTA Council. In 2010, Doris Leuthard was also President of the Swiss Confederation.

Patrick Aebischer, President of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

trained as an MD and a Neuroscientist at the Universities of Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland. From 1984 to 1992, he worked at Brown University in Providence, RI, as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medical Sciences. In 1991, he became the chairman of the Section of Artificial Organs, Biomaterials and Cellular Technology of the Division of Biology and Medicine of Brown University.

In the fall of 1992, he returned to Switzerland as a Professor and Director of the Surgical Research Division and Gene Therapy Center at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne.

In 1999, Patrick Aebischer was appointed President of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) by the Swiss Federal Council, he is also member of the ETH Board since 2004. He is a member of numerous professional societies, both in Europe and America. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and of the Swiss Academy of Medicine. Patrick Aebischer is also the founder of three biotechnology companies. His current research focuses on the development of cell and gene transfer approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Sarah Slaughter, Senior Lecturer in the MIT Sloan School of Management

coordinates the Sloan Sustainability Initiative, co-teaches "Strategies for Sustainable Business" and manages the Sustainable Business Laboratory (S-Lab).

Before returning to MIT to join the Sloan School, she was CEO of MOCA Systems, Inc., a company she founded based on research she conducted as a professor at MIT. She was a professor in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Construction Management, with research interests in innovations in infrastructure and the built environment, and was previously a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lehigh University, and worked with the Center for Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS). She received her B.S., M.S., and PhD degrees from MIT.

Her current research focuses on the development, assessment, implementation and diffusion of innovations for sustainable and disaster-resilient infrastructure and the built environment. She is currently supervising several research projects focusing on sustainability strategies related to capital facility assets. Several projects focus specifically on developing effective strategies, appropriate organizational structures, and business case analysis for commercial real estate, manufacturing, nonprofit, and high technology organizations.