Arthur Schneiter
Scientific collaborator
Office A215
Phone: +41 32 718 22 51
Research interests
My main activity at the lab is the coordination of the project “Microbes go to school”, that aims at promoting service-learning applied to STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in Switerland. In concrete terms, this is about opening new bridges between the academic world and the population through classroom workshops that are designed and lead by our biology students. Students sharpen their scientific communication skills to a non-specialist public, the children are awakened to issues that aren’t part of their school curriculum or only dealt with on the surface, and the communication around the project, among others by its participants, helps to spread scientific knowledge that is often confined within the walls of the university. My job as a coordinator implies global follow-up and development of the project, assistantship for the students, production of informative and promotional audiovisual content about the project, curation of social media and web page, as well as fundraising.
Research-wise, I’m currently working on a paper about biorecycling of metals. The current situation about electronic waste encompasses various domains of science besides a societal and geopolitical dimension, which makes it a complex which makes it a complex problem. At its core, the key issue is that we basically extract staggering quantities of rare metals from the Earth to put them in infinitesimal quantities into objects that we don’t know how to properly recycle. That issue, and my almost lifelong interest in biology and computer sciences motivated me to explore biological solutions to solve the problem, even though my academical background was primarily about environmental sciences. My master thesis was about biorecycling electronic waste by harnessing bacterial-fungal interactions with low tech methods. Today, this research is going on with prototypes of paper-printed circuits made at EPFL and will lead to a publication later this year.
Education
- 2018 – 2021: Master of Science in Biogeosciences (University of Lausanne / University of Neuchâtel)
- 2013 –2017: Bachelor of Science in Geosciences and Environment (University of Lausanne)
Publication
