Tamar Kohn

Tamar Kohn is a Full Professor and Director of the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory at EPFL's School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is also an Adjunct Researcher at Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) since 2010. Her academic journey includes Associate Professor (2014-2023), Tenure-track Assistant Professor (2007-2014), and Postdoctoral Fellow (2004-2006) at EPFL, as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan (2016-2017).

• Education: PhD in Environmental Engineering (Johns Hopkins University, 2004), Diploma (MSc) in Environmental Sciences (ETH Zurich, 1999)

Her research focuses on environmental virology, photochemistry, and water treatment. Key areas include airborne virus inactivation, waterborne pathogen disinfection, and the chemical fate of contaminants. She has pioneered studies on sunlight's role in pathogen inactivation and wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance.

Her publications address: (1) airborne virus survival mechanisms (2023), (2) wastewater variant tracking (2022), (3) chlorine-resistant viruses (2020), (4) sunlight disinfection modeling (2018), and (5) disinfectant mechanisms (2012). These works have been cited over 350 times in major journals.

• Scientific Awards: Excellence in Review Awards (2021, 2011), Paper of the Year Award (2016), Emerging Investigators Issue feature (2010)

Kohn has supervised 16 PhD students (12 completed), 18 postdocs, and 25 Master's students. She has secured over 6 million Swiss francs in research funding and holds editorial roles (e.g., Associate Editor, Environmental Science & Technology). Institutional responsibilities include chairing EPFL's Environmental Engineering strategy committee and serving on WHO expert panels.