Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ursula Keller
Professor at the federal technical university of Zurich ("ETH Zurich“), Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Initial appointment: January 21, 2022 (by court)
Elected until: end of Annual General Meeting 2026
Personal information
Year of birth: 1959
Nationality: Swiss
Education/qualifications
1984: Physics diploma, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
1987: Master of Science in Applied Physics, Stanford University, USA
1989: Doctorate in Applied Physics, Stanford University, USA
Career history
1984–1985: Visiting scientist, Physics department, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland
1985–1989: PhD student in the department for Applied Physics, Stanford University, USA
1989–1993: Member of technical staff, AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel, USA
since 1993: Professor at ETH Zurich (associate 1993 – 1997, full professorship since 1997 until August 2024), Physics department, Ultrafast Laser Physics (ULP), Switzerland
1995–2014: Co-founder of Time-Bandwidth Products (TBP) and GigaTera, now part of Lumentum (member of the supervisory board of TBP 1995 - 2014 and GigaTera 2000 - 2003)
2001: Visiting professor at the Lund Institute of Technology, University Lund, Sweden
2003–2007: University Council of the University of Hanover; medal of honour for special services
2006: Miller visiting professor at the University of California in Berkeley, USA
2014–2018: Member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation, Mathematics, Natural and Engineering Sciences Division SNSF Research Council
2010–2022: Director of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology (MUST)
August 2024 – July 2025: Full Professor, ETH Zurich, Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
Relevant knowledge, skills, and experience
- digitization, AI, cybersecurity
- innovation
- technological expertise
- markets and internationality
- entrepreneurship / management
Membership of legally required boards and comparable supervisory boards in Germany and abroad
none
Other important duties supplementary to the above mandates and supervisory board mandate
none
Member of the following major professional organizations
- Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA/OPTICA), Director at Large 2010 - 2012
- elected foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
- APS International Councilor (elected) until 2023
In the opinion of the Supervisory Board, Prof. Dr. Keller is an independent member in accordance with sections C.1, C.6 and C.7 of the German Corporate Governance Code (as amended on April 28, 2023).
As at February 2025