Born in the United States, Sivula studied at the University of Minnesota, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. He continued his studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of California (Berkeley), where he joined the research group of Prof. Jean Fréchet. During his thesis research he worked to developed strategies to control the morphology of conjugated polymer-based photovoltaic devices and gained his doctorate in 2007. Sivula then joined the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI, led by Professor Michael Grätzel) at the EPFL. There he developed nanostructured films with iron oxide for hydrogen production using solar energy. He was promoted to research group leader in LPI in 2008 and in 2011 he accepted an appointment as tenure-track assistant professor at EPFL in the Institute of Chemical Science and Engineering. Currently he is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and he leads the LIMNO lab while also teaching courses on Transport Phenomena, Chemical Engineering Practicals, Product design, and solar energy conversion systems.