Prof. em. Dr. Erich J. Windhab

Erich J. Windhab has been Full Professor of Food Process Engineering at the Institute of Food Science and Nutrition at the ETH Zurich since April 1991. In addition to the main office, laboratory and pilot plant complex at the ETH center, Prof. Windhab also oversees a pilot plant at the Technopark in Zurich.

Erich J. Windhab was born on May 6, 1956 in Karlsruhe, Germany. After completing his studies in chemical engineering and process technology at the University of Karlsruhe, he received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the same university (Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, May 1985). From 1984 - 1988 Erich J. Windhab established his own engineering business, LTG GmbH in Karlsruhe, specializing in process engineering and related consulting work.

Asked by the government of Lower Saxony, Germany, as well as the Volkswagen Foundation, E. J. Windhab established the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL) in Quakenbrück,/Osnabrück, an industrial research institute, in 1985. Two years later in 1987 he was promoted to vice president of DIL. He served for five years in this position. From 1988 to 1992 E. J. Windhab held lectures in Fluid Dynamics II / Rheology at the Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Process Automation, Technical University in Munich/Weihenstephan, Germany. Although he was invited to fill the position as Chair of Fluid Dynamics and Process Automation in Munich in the fall of 1991, Prof. Windhab decided to transfer to the ETH in Zurich.

Prof. Windhab's research priorities are fluid technological processes for microstructuring of multiphase systems, mainly in the food-related field. He connects the domains of rheology, fluid dynamics, micro structuring analysis and process-/apparatus development. Not only experimental but also numerical methods are incorporated. Interdisciplinary projects (so-called polyprojects) link Prof. Windhab's Laboratory for Food Process Engineering with the Laboratories for Physical Electronics, Polymer Physics, Food Microbiology, Food Chemistry and Technology, Food Biotechnology and the Paul Scherrer Institute, as well as with the food and food rocessing industry.