Sébastien MarcelExpertise
image processing, pattern recognition, machine learning, biometrics
Current work
Face recognitionSpeaker recognitionMobile biometrics ( http://www.mobioproject.org )Spoofing ( http://www.tabularasa-euproject.org )Biometrics evaluation and testing ( http://www.beat-eu.org )
Sébastien Marcel is the head of the Biometrics group and senior research scientist at the Idiap Research Institute (CH), where he leads a research team and conducts research on biometrics and more particularly face recognition, Jean-Marc OdobezExpertise
Computer Vision, machine Learning (Bayesian models, deep learning), multimodal processing.Activity analysis, human behavior understanding, human communication, interaction modeling
Dr Jean-Marc Odobez (Msc 1990, PhD 1994) received his Ph.D degree from Rennes University in 1994 for his PhD dissertation done at INRIA. After 5 years as an assistant professor at the University du Maine, France, he decided to join Idiap, where he is now the Head of the Perception & Activity Understanding Group and adju
Giovanni De MicheliExpertise
Design technologies for integrated systems on silicon, such as synthesis, hw/sw codesign and low-power design, as well as systems on heterogeneous platforms including electrical and biological components.
Scientific Director of EcoCloud Center at EPFL
Directing activities towards creating sustainable computation including AI.Designing energy-savvy data centers and edge devices.
More information
Please read http://si2.epfl.ch/~demichel/
Giovanni De Micheli is a research scientist in electronics and David Atienza AlonsoDavid Atienza Alonso is an associate professor of EE and director of the Embedded Systems Laboratory (ESL) at EPFL, Switzerland. He received his MSc and PhD degrees in computer science and engineering from UCM, Spain, and IMEC, Belgium, in 2001 and 2005, respectively. His research interests include system-level design methodologies for multi-processor system-on-chip (MPSoC) servers and edge AI architectures. Dr. Atienza has co-authored more than 350 papers, one book, and 12 patents in these previous areas. He has also received several recognitions and award, among them, the ICCAD 10-Year Retrospective Most Influential Paper Award in 2020, Design Automation Conference (DAC) Under-40 Innovators Award in 2018, the IEEE TCCPS Mid-Career Award in 2018, an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2016, the IEEE CEDA Early Career Award in 2013, the ACM SIGDA Outstanding New Faculty Award in 2012, and a Faculty Award from Sun Labs at Oracle in 2011. He has also earned two best paper awards at the VLSI-SoC 2009 and CST-HPCS 2012 conference, and five best paper award nominations at the DAC 2013, DATE 2013, WEHA-HPCS 2010, ICCAD 2006, and DAC 2004 conferences. He serves or has served as associate editor of IEEE Trans. on Computers (TC), IEEE Design & Test of Computers (D&T), IEEE Trans. on CAD (T-CAD), IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing (T-SUSC), and Elsevier Integration. He was the Technical Program Chair of DATE 2015 and General Chair of DATE 2017. He served as President of IEEE CEDA in the period 2018-2019 and was GOLD member of the Board of Governors of IEEE CASS from 2010 to 2012. He is a Distinguished Member of ACM and an IEEE Fellow.
Radhakrishna AchantaExpertise
Image Processing, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning
Radhakrishna Achanta has a PhD in computer science from EPFL, an MSc from NUS, Singapore, and a BEng from India. He has over 20 years of industrial and academic experience in the capacities of an individual contributor as well as a manager. His domains of expertise are Computer Vision, Image Processing, and Machine Learning. He has authored over 50 peer reviewed papers and patents, which have more than 23’000 citations. He has co-founded 4 st
Devis TuiaI come from Ticino and studied in Lausanne, between UNIL and EPFL. After my PhD at UNIL in remote sensing, I was postdoc in Valencia (Spain), Boulder (CO) and EPFL, working on model adaptation and prior knowledge integration in machine learning. In 2014 I became Research Assistant Professor at University of Zurich, where I started the 'multimodal remote sensing' group. In 2017, I joined Wageningen University (NL), where I was professor of the GeoInformation Science and Remote Sensing Laboratory. Since 2020, I joined EPFL Valais, to start the ECEO lab, working at the interface between Earth observation, machine learning and environmental sciences.
François MaréchalPh D. in engineering Chemical process engineer
Researcher and lecturer in the field of computer aided process and energy systems engineering.
Lecturer in the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and environmental sciences engineering in EPFL.
I'm responsible for the Minor in Energy of EPFL and I'm involved in 3 projects of the Competence Center in Energy and Mobility (2nd generation biofuel, Wood SOFC, and gas turbine development with CO2 mitigation) in which i'm contributing to the energy conversion system design and optimisation.
Short summary of my scientific carrer
After a graduation in chemical engineering from the University of Liège, I have obtained a Ph. D. from the University of Liège in the LASSC laboratory of Prof. Kalitventzeff (former president of the European working party on computer aided process engineering). This laboratory was one of the pioneering laboratory in the field of Computer Aided Process Engineering.
In the group of Professor Kalitventzeff, I have worked on the development and the applications of data reconciliation, process modelling and optimisation techniques in the chemical process industry, my experience ranges from nuclear power stations to chemical plants. In the LASSC, I have been responsible from the developments in the field of rational use of energy in the industry. My first research topic has been the methodological development of process integration techniques, combining the use of pinch based methods and of mathematical programming: e.g. for the design of multiperiod heat exchanger networks or Mixed integer non linear programming techniques for the optimal management of utility systems. Fronted with applications in the industry, my work then mainly concentrated on the optimal integration of utility systems considering not only the energy requirements but the cost of the energy requirements and the energy conversion systems. I developed methods for analysing and integrating the utility system, the steam networks, combustion (including waste fuel), gas turbines or other advanced energy conversion systems (cogeneration, refrigeration and heat). The techniques applied uses operation research tools like mixed integer linear programming and exergy analysis. In order to evaluate the results of the utility integration, a new graphical method for representing the integration of the utility systems has been developed. By the use of MILP techniques, the method developed for the utility integration has been extended to handled site scale problems, to incorporate environmental constraints and reduce the water usage. This method (the Effect Modelling and Optimisation method) has been successfully applied to the chemical plants industry, the pulp and paper industry and the power plant. Instead of focusing on academic problems, I mainly developed my research based on industrial applications that lead to valuable and applicable patented results. Recently the methods developed have been extended to realise the thermoeconomic optimisation of integrated systems like fuel cells. My present R&D work concerns the application of multi-objective optimisation strategies in the design of processes and integrated energy conversion systems.
Since 2001, Im working in the Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory (LENI) of Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where Im leading the R&D activities in the field of Computer Aided Analysis and Design of Industrial Energy Systems with a major focus on sustainable energy conversion system development using thermo-economic optimisation methodologies. A part from the application and the development of process integration techniques, that remains my major field of expertise, the applications concern :
Rational use of water and energy in Industrial processes and industrial production sites : projects with NESTLE, EDF, VEOLIA and Borregaard (pulp and paper).Energy conversion and process design : biofuels from waste biomass (with GASNAT, EGO and PSI), water dessalination and waste water treatment plant (VEOLIA), power plant design (ALSTOM), Energy conversion from geothermal sources (BFE). Integrated energy systems in urban areas : together with SCANE and SIG (GE) and IEA annexe 42 for micro-cogeneration systems.
I as well contributed to the definition of the 2000 Watt society and to studies concerning the emergence of green technologies on the market in the frame of the Alliance for Global Sustainability.
Vassily HatzimanikatisDr. Vassily Hatzimanikatis is currently Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Lausanne, Switzerland. Vassily received a PhD and an MS in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and his Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the University of Patras, in Greece. After the completion of his doctoral studies, he held a research group leader position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland. Prior to joining EPFL, Vassily worked for three years in DuPont, Cargill, and Cargill Dow, and he has been assistant professor at Northwestern University, at Illinois, USA.
Vassilys research interests are in the areas of computational systems biology, biotechnology, and complexity. He is associate editor of the journals Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Metabolic Engineering and Integrative Biology, and he serves on the editorial advisory board of the journals Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, and Industrial Biotechnology. He has written over 70 technical publications and he is co-inventor in three patents and patent applications.
Vassily is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2010), he was a DuPont Young Professor (2001-2004), and he has also received the Jay Bailey Young Investigator Award in Metabolic Engineering (2000), and the ACS Elmar Gaden Award (2011).
Samy BengioExpertise
Large Language ModelsReasoningStatistical machine learningSpeech processingPerson authenticationMultimodal processingSequence processingArtificial neural networks, support vector machinesHidden markov models, gaussian mixture modelsetc
Expertise
Large Language ModelsReasoningStatistical machine learningSpeech processingPerson authenticationMultimodal processingSequence processingArtificial neural networks, support vector machinesHidden markov models, gaussian mixture modelsetc
Mission
Samy Bengio
Mario PaoloneMario Paolone received the M.Sc. (with honors) and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1998 and 2002, respectively. In 2005, he was appointed assistant professor in power systems at the University of Bologna where he was with the Power Systems laboratory until 2011. In 2010, he received the Associate Professor eligibility from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Since 2011 he joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is now Full Professor, Chair of the Distributed Electrical Systems laboratory and Head of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER) FURIES (Future Swiss Electrical infrastructure). He was co-chairperson of the technical programme committees of the 9th edition of the International Conference of Power Systems Transients (IPST 2009) and of the 2016 Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC 2016). He was chair of the technical programme committee of the 2018 Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC 2018). In 2013, he was the recipient of the IEEE EMC Society Technical Achievement Award. He was co-author of several papers that received the following awards: best IEEE Transactions on EMC paper award for the year 2017, in 2014 best paper award at the 13th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems, Durham, UK, in 2013 Basil Papadias best paper award at the 2013 IEEE PowerTech, Grenoble, France, in 2008 best paper award at the International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC). He was the founder Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks and was Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics. His research interests are in power systems with particular reference to real-time monitoring and operation, power system protections, power systems dynamics and power system transients. Mario Paolone is author or coauthor of over 300 scientific papers published in reviewed journals and international conferences.
Henry MarkramHenry Markram started a dual scientific and medical career at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. His scientific work in the 80s revealed the polymodal receptive fields of pontomedullary reticular formation neurons in vivo and how acetylcholine re-organized these sensory maps.
He moved to Israel in 1988 and obtained his PhD at the Weizmann Institute where he discovered a link between acetylcholine and memory mechanisms by being the first to show that acetylcholine modulates the NMDA receptor in vitro studies, and thereby gates which synapses can undergo synaptic plasticity. He was also the first to characterize the electrical and anatomical properties of the cholinergic neurons in the medial septum diagonal band.
He carried out a first postdoctoral study as a Fulbright Scholar at the NIH, on the biophysics of ion channels on synaptic vesicles using sub-fractionation methods to isolate synaptic vesicles and patch-clamp recordings to characterize the ion channels. He carried out a second postdoctoral study at the Max Planck Institute, as a Minerva Fellow, where he discovered that individual action potentials propagating back into dendrites also cause pulsed influx of Ca2 into the dendrites and found that sub-threshold activity could also activated a low threshold Ca2 channel. He developed a model to show how different types of electrical activities can divert Ca2 to activate different intracellular targets depending on the speed of Ca2 influx an insight that helps explain how Ca2 acts as a universal second messenger. His most well known discovery is that of the millisecond watershed to judge the relevance of communication between neurons marked by the back-propagating action potential. This phenomenon is now called Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP), which many laboratories around the world have subsequently found in multiple brain regions and many theoreticians have incorporated as a learning rule. At the Max-Planck he also started exploring the micro-anatomical and physiological principles of the different neurons of the neocortex and of the mono-synaptic connections that they form - the first step towards a systematic reverse engineering of the neocortical microcircuitry to derive the blue prints of the cortical column in a manner that would allow computer model reconstruction.
He received a tenure track position at the Weizmann Institute where he continued the reverse engineering studies and also discovered a number of core principles of the structural and functional organization such as differential signaling onto different neurons, models of dynamic synapses with Misha Tsodyks, the computational functions of dynamic synapses, and how GABAergic neurons map onto interneurons and pyramidal neurons. A major contribution during this period was his discovery of Redistribution of Synaptic Efficacy (RSE), where he showed that co-activation of neurons does not only alter synaptic strength, but also the dynamics of transmission. At the Weizmann, he also found the tabula rasa principle which governs the random structural connectivity between pyramidal neurons and a non-random functional connectivity due to target selection. Markram also developed a novel computation framework with Wolfgang Maass to account for the impact of multiple time constants in neurons and synapses on information processing called liquid computing or high entropy computing.
In 2002, he was appointed Full professor at the EPFL where he founded and directed the Brain Mind Institute. During this time Markram continued his reverse engineering approaches and developed a series of new technologies to allow large-scale multi-neuron patch-clamp studies. Markrams lab discovered a novel microcircuit plasticity phenomenon where connections are formed and eliminated in a Darwinian manner as apposed to where synapses are strengthening or weakened as found for LTP. This was the first demonstration that neural circuits are constantly being re-wired and excitation can boost the rate of re-wiring.
At the EPFL he also completed the much of the reverse engineering studies on the neocortical microcircuitry, revealing deeper insight into the circuit design and built databases of the blue-print of the cortical column. In 2005 he used these databases to launched the Blue Brain Project. The BBP used IBMs most advanced supercomputers to reconstruct a detailed computer model of the neocortical column composed of 10000 neurons, more than 340 different types of neurons distributed according to a layer-based recipe of composition and interconnected with 30 million synapses (6 different types) according to synaptic mapping recipes. The Blue Brain team built dozens of applications that now allow automated reconstruction, simulation, visualization, analysis and calibration of detailed microcircuits. This Proof of Concept completed, Markrams lab has now set the agenda towards whole brain and molecular modeling.
With an in depth understanding of the neocortical microcircuit, Markram set a path to determine how the neocortex changes in Autism. He found hyper-reactivity due to hyper-connectivity in the circuitry and hyper-plasticity due to hyper-NMDA expression. Similar findings in the Amygdala together with behavioral evidence that the animal model of autism expressed hyper-fear led to the novel theory of Autism called the Intense World Syndrome proposed by Henry and Kamila Markram. The Intense World Syndrome claims that the brain of an Autist is hyper-sensitive and hyper-plastic which renders the world painfully intense and the brain overly autonomous. The theory is acquiring rapid recognition and many new studies have extended the findings to other brain regions and to other models of autism.
Markram aims to eventually build detailed computer models of brains of mammals to pioneer simulation-based research in the neuroscience which could serve to aggregate, integrate, unify and validate our knowledge of the brain and to use such a facility as a new tool to explore the emergence of intelligence and higher cognitive functions in the brain, and explore hypotheses of diseases as well as treatments.
Hervé LissekExpertise
Acoustics and audio engineering, Electroacoustics.Room acoustics.Active noise control.Acoustic metamaterials.Assisted reverberation.Psychoacoustics.Sound spatialization
Expertise
Acoustics and audio engineering, Electroacoustics.Room acoustics.Active noise control.Acoustic metamaterials.Assisted reverberation.Psychoacoustics.Sound spatialization
Mission
Head of the Acoustic Group at the Laboratory of Wave Engineering LWE. Research topics :Active Electroacoustic Resonators: turning conventional lou
Michaël Clément Louis Ghislain ThémansMichaël Thémans holds a M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics (University of Namur, Belgium) and a Ph.D. in Operations Research and Transportation Modeling (EPFL, Switzerland). His Ph.D. thesis, supervised by Prof. Michel Bierlaire, was entitled "Numerical Methods and Models Relevant to Transportation Applications".
Between 2002 and 2007, he was research and teaching assistant in the Transport and Mobility Laboratory at EPFL. He published 5 papers in international journals in the field of Transportation and Operations Research. He was teaching assistant for 15 courses in Operations Research and Behavioral Modeling. He also supervised 20 master theses and research projects in Optimization and Behavioral Modeling. During the same period, he was working on several large-scale transportation-related research projects, in association with MIT and ETH Zurich as well as transportation professionals in Switzerland (Bureau Robert Grandpierre Rapp, Lausanne, Büro Widmer, Frauenfeld), sponsored both by the Swiss Federal Office of Roads and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Between 2007 and 2009, he was statistician and R&D specialist at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne. He provided support in statistics and modeling to R&D centers worldwide and was involved in over 50 R&D projects. In parallel to this, he developed innovative discrete choice models to predict consumer purchasing behavior and disseminated these new methodologies to Nestlé markets worldwide. He also designed and analyzed over 40 market research studies for various Nestlé markets around the world. He also gave training in market research and Design of Experiments to R&D community.
Between 2007 and 2011, he also holded a position as lecturer at EPFL, teaching a master course in Numerical Optimization. Since 2014, he is lecturer at EPFL, co-teaching the "Global Issues" course entitled "Mobility B" which focuses on transportation systems and logistics systems.
Between 2010 and 2014, he was the Deputy Director of EPFL's Transportation Center (TraCE), in charge of the operational management of the EPFL's Transportation Center with the main focus on the business development activities. The main tasks associated with this position were:
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Develop strategic business partnerships and research projects with private companies and industries as well as public institutions and authorities, at the local, national and international levels.
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Percolate and highlight EPFL's ongoing research activities in transportation outside EPFL.
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Obtain external funding to conduct new cutting-edge multi-disciplinary research projects in the field of transportation at EPFL.
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Management of large-scale R&D projects with industry.
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Promotion of technology transfer and innovation in all fields related to transportation and mobility.
Between January 2015 and December 2016, he was Deputy of the Vice-President for Innovation and Technology Transfer at EPFL, in charge of seconding the Vice-President Adrienne Corboud Fumagalli in her various tasks.
Since January 2017, he is the Deputy of the Vice-President for Innovation at EPFL and the Head of the "Large Enterprises" and "Innovation Projects" Units of the Vice-Presidency for Innovation. He is also in charge of the operational management of 5 Interdisciplinary Centers affiliated to the Vice-Presidency for Innovation.
Since May 2017, he also holds the position of Vice-President of the EPFL Innovation Park Foundation.
Since mid-2018, he acts as the EPFL’s representative in the Board of Switzerland Innovation Network West EPFL (an innovation-driven network composed of 6 innovation poles in Western Switzerland).
Some other activities and affiliations of Michaël Thémans include:
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Scientific consulting for various private companies and national agencies in Switzerland and in France.
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Business Development and Fund Raising for various EPFL's startups and spin-offs.
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Strategic Business Development Advisor for BestMile SA.
Since May 2012, in parallel to his main activity at EPFL, he is partner and Chief Business Development Officer at "6T - Bureau de Recherche", an EPFL's spin-off specialized in mobility analysis.
His main scientific expertise is in the design, development and applications of demand models and optimization algorithms, which he successfully used during ten years in transportation, food and marketing contexts. He also has a significant experience in market research and consumer understanding. He also has a strong experience in the transportation demand analysis and in the modeling/optimization/simulation of complex transportation systems.
During the years 2010-2014, he has acquired a global knowledge and expertise in transportation thanks to the operational and strategic management of EPFL's Transportation Center (TraCE) which gathers all EPFL's laboratories related to transportation and mobility.
He has also developed over the past seven years a strong experience and expertise in large-scale project management, people management, business development and technology transfer from research to business, with a strong focus on partnerships between academia and Large Enterprises in Switzerland and abroad. Pierre DillenbourgA former teacher in elementary school, Pierre Dillenbourg graduated in educational science (University of Mons, Belgium). He started his research on learning technologies in 1984. In 1986, he has been on of the first in the world to apply machine learning to develop a self-improving teaching system. He obtained a PhD in computer science from the University of Lancaster (UK), in the domain of artificial intelligence applications for education. He has been assistant professor at the University of Geneva. He joined EPFL in 2002. He has been the director of Center for Research and Support on Learning and its Technologies, then academic director of Center for Digital Education, which implements the MOOC strategy of EPFL (over 2 million registrations). He is full professor in learning technologies in the School of Computer & Communication Sciences, where he is the head of the CHILI Lab: "Computer-Human Interaction for Learning & Instruction ». He is the director of the leading house DUAL-T, which develops technologies for dual vocational education systems (carpenters, florists,...). With EPFL colleagues, he launched in 2017 the Swiss EdTech Collider, an incubator with 80 start-ups in learning technologies. He (co-)-founded 4 start-ups, does consulting missions in the corporate world and joined the board of several companies or institutions. In 2018, he co-founded LEARN, the EPFL Center of Learning Sciences that brings together the local initiatives in educational innovation. He is a fellow of the International Society for Learning Sciences. He currently is the Associate Vice-President for Education at EPFL.
Anastasios VassilopoulosPERSONAL INFORMATION Name : Anastasios P. Vassilopoulos email : anastasios.vassilopoulos@epfl.ch Tel: 41 21 6936393 Fax: 41 21 6936240 SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS 1995: Dipl. Mechanical Engineer, University of Patras, Greece 2001: Dr Mechanical Engineer, Doctoral thesis in fatigue of composite materials from the Dept. Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Greece CURRENT POSITION Senior Scientist (MER), Composite Construction Laboaratory (CCLab), EPFL PREVIOUS POSITIONS 2006-2012 Research and Teaching Associate, Composite Construction Laboaratory (CCLab), EPFL 2002-2006 Assisstant Professor, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Patras, Greece 2001-2003 Post-doctoral Research associate, (Part-time) Dept. Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics of the University of Patras, Greece. EDUCATION 1990 - 1995 Graduate student, Dept. Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Greece October 1994-January 1995 Dept. Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol, U.K. (In the frame of Erasmus project for the final year thesis, under the supervision of Prof. R. D. Adams) 1995 - 2000 Research assistant, Dept. Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras. LANGUAGES English, Greek, French COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES (Member of) Council of the European Society of Composite Materials (ESCM) Council of the European Society of Experimental Mechanics (EuraSEM) The European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS) The European Energy Research Alliance (EERA, JP WIND) The Technical Chamber of Greece (TCG) The Hellenic Association of Mechanical & Electrical Engineers SCIENTIFIC-RESEARCH INTERESTS Experimental methods for the study of the behavior of composite materials under static and fatigue loading Development of analytical methods for the study of the behavior of FRP composite materials under variable amplitude complex stress states Development of fatigue life prediction methodologies for composite materials and structures Design of constructions with composite materials Stéphane JoostExpertise
Geographic Information Science and spatial statisticsMolecular ecology, Landscape genomics, Seascape genomicsSpatial epidemiology, Health geographics
Publications Publications- List of publications
Teaching & PhD PhD Students Marco André Vieira Ruas, Manon Laetitia Pribille, Martine Valérie Besse Past EPFL PhD Students Estelle Rochat, Solange Catherine Gaillard, Oliver Michele Selmoni, Anaïs Ladoy, Annie Sandrine Guillaume Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Sylvie Stucki, Kevin Leempoel, Martí
Duccio TestaProfessionals experiences Supply teacher of mathematics, physics and computing 1994–1995 various high schools in Torino (Italy)
Teaching & PhD Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Theodoros Panis, Lorenzo Stipani Courses Sustainable energy innovation HUM-292 This course provides an introduction to the technical, social, and economic fundamentals of energy. The course examines the concrete case of nuclear fusion. How could this energy reshape our world? How can we ensure its acceptability, st
