Rizlan Bernier-Latmani

Dr. Rizlan Bernier-Latmani serves as Full Professor at the Environmental Microbiology Laboratory at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where she has advanced from Assistant Professor (2005-2013) to Associate Professor (2013-2022) and Full Professor (2022-present). After completing her BS in Natural Resources at Cornell University, she earned her MS and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, followed by post-doctoral research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her research combines fundamental investigations of molecular-scale microbial processes with field-based research, focusing on metal-microbe interactions in the subsurface and their impact on biogeochemical cycling. As head of the Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, she employs a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary approach using advanced techniques from synchrotron-based spectroscopy to metagenomics. Her work has significant applications in bioremediation, nuclear waste repository stability assessment, and understanding biogeochemical cycles in pristine environments. Beyond her scientific contributions, she actively promotes gender equality in academia, serving as Chair of the ETH Women Professors Forum and the ENAC Diversity Office. Her research spans multiple field sites, including groundwater studies in Finland, Vietnam, and the USA, contributing to our understanding of contaminant mobility and fundamental biogeochemical processes. With over 5,800 citations to her work, she continues to advance the field while serving as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Microbiological Chemistry and contributing to major international conferences in geochemistry.