Sylvie Roke

Sylvie Roke is a full professor at EPFL. She obtained master degrees in chemistry and physics from Utrecht University (NL) with highest honors, and a PhD degree (2004, highest honors) from Leiden University. She was Max-Planck presidential Group Leader in Stuttgart (2006-2012) and became Director of the Laboratory for fundamental BioPhotonics at EPFL in 2011, where she holds the Julia Jacobi chair in photomedicine. She served as Associate Director (2018-2020) and Director (2020-2024) of the institute of Bioengineering/EPFL.

Roke’s research is aimed at inventing non-invasive label-free nonlinear optical tools and theories to understand aqueous systems/interfaces on multiple length scales, retaining molecular precision: Vibrational sum frequency scattering (2003), high throughput second harmonic (SH) scattering (2013), SH surface-water imaging (2017), and correlated vibrational spectroscopy (2024). These tools are used to understand the molecular level properties of water in diverse systems such as in solutions, at buried interfaces, in and outside droplets, curved nanoscale membranes, and in living systems.

Roke was awarded the LJ Oosterhoff prize (2003), the Minerva prize (2006) (NL), and the Hertha-Sponer prize (2008) (D). She was elected as a fellow of the Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German Academy of Natural Scientists (2010), as a Fellow of the Werner von Siemens Ring (2010), and was selected for the Excellence Network of the Robert-Bosch Foundation. Roke was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2020), and the Optical Society of America (2021). In 2022 she was elected as a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW). Roke is a member of the board of reviewing editors for Science (2025) and 2026 awardee of the IBI Lebowski award (EPFL).