The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is a public research university located in Lausanne, Switzerland. It specializes in natural sciences and engineering. It is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, with three main missions: education, research and innovation. The QS World University Rankings ranked EPFL as the 14th best university in the world across all fields in 2021, whereas THE World University Rankings ranked EPFL as the world's 19th best school for engineering and technology in 2020.EPFL is part of the Domain of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Domain), which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. In addition to EPFL, ETH Domain also includes Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as well as several research institutes: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), and
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).
In connection with research and teaching activities, EPFL operates a nuclear reactor CROCUS, a Tokamak Fusion reactor, a Blue Gene/Q Supercomputer and P3 bio-hazard facilities.