Andrew James SontaExpertise
Human-building interaction, building energy, occupant behavior, sustainable design and planning, walkability, network analysis, machine learning, urban informatics, social systems.
Andrew Sonta is a tenure track assistant professor of sustainable civil engineering at EPFL. He directs the ETHOS Lab: Engineering and Technology for Human Oriented Sustainability. ETHOS is an interdisciplinary research group focused on using data-driven and computational tools to create interventions in the built envir
Matteo FaveroExpertise
Dynamic thermal comfort, Indoor environmental quality, Occupant-centric modelling, Human-building interaction, Multi-domain environmental exposure, Building physics, Building performance simulation, Thermal flexibility, Climate-adaptive buildings, Multilevel modelling, Statistical thinking, Causal thinking, Simulated-data experimentation.
Matteo Favero is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. He is currently a member of the Human-Oriented Bu
Simon Elias BibriExpertise
• Sustainable cities• Smarter eco-cities• Sustainable smart cities• Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) • Generative Artificial Intelligence of Things (GAIoT)• Foundation Models (FMs) • Quantum Generative Artificial Intelligence (QGAI)• Urban Digital Twins (UDTs)• Urban Brain (UB) • Smart Circular Metabolism• Urban planning and design• Environmental sustainability and climate resilience• Sustainable smart energy• Sustainable smart transportation• Sustainable smart waste and water management•
Tianqi LiuEducation Master of Science | Building Performance and Diagnostics 2021 – 2023 Carnegie Mellon University Bachelor of Engineering | Built Environment and Energy 2017 – 2021 Tianjin University
Charlotte GrossiordTeaching & PhD PhD Students Maxwell Zachary Wallace Bergström, Julie Anne Botzas-Coluni, Cross Jacob Heintzelman, Léo César Bernard Jacquat, Céline Joanna Sijlmans Past EPFL PhD Students Eugénie Mas, Laura Mekarni, Janisse Deluigi, Thibaut Juillard Courses Applied ecology ENV-422 The course will provide the ecological systems knowledge needed to question applied sustainability solutions. We willcritically assess the complexity of current environmental issues, illustrating basic ecological
Olga FinkTeaching & PhD PhD Students Han Sun, Leandro Von Krannichfeldt, Keivan Faghih Niresi, Zepeng Zhang, Vinay Sharma, Chenghao Xu, Raffael Pascal Theiler, Kevin Antonio Steiner, Sergei Garmaev, Amaury Wei Past EPFL PhD Students Ismail Nejjar, Mengjie Zhao Courses Data Science for infrastructure condition monitoring CIVIL-332 The course will cover the relevant steps of data-driven infrastructure condition monitoring, starting from data acquisition, going through the steps pre-processing of real
Gopal Narmada NaiduExpertise
Researcher with 8+ years of experience in computational physics and multiphysics modeling, focused on numerical simulation of light–matter interactions and photon propagation. Proficient in FEM, FDTD, and Monte Carlo methods to model energy conversion and optical behavior, with additional expertise in AI/ML techniques for model optimization and design exploration. Strong background in photonic devices, photo-thermal, thermo-optical effects, and nanostructure engineering. Adept at translating compl
Francisco Xavier Felix Martin Del CampoExpertise
Transdisciplinary researchSocio-metabolic researchMaterial flows and stocks analysisSustainabilityBuilt environmentInfrastructureClimate changeResource securityCircular economyWaste
Francisco has a Civil Engineering background specialized in Resources Management and has several years of professional experience in the construction and engineering sector. He received his Master's degree in Project Management for Environmental and Energy Engineering from IMT Atlantique, France, and his PhD in Sustain
Mats Julius StensrudTeaching & PhD PhD Students Ignacio Gonzalez Perez, Gellért Géza Perényi, Lorenzo Gasparollo, Julien David Laurendeau Past EPFL PhD Students Matias Janvin, Amit Sawant Courses Causal thinking MATH-352 This course will give a unified presentation of modern methods for causal inference. We focus on concepts, and we will present examples and ideas from various scientific disciplines, including medicine, computer science, engineering, economics and epidemiology. Probability and statistics (
Ayush AgarwalCurrent work
Developing size resolved elemental analysis methods for characterizing nano-objects in process effluents and environmental samples
Education PhD | Energy - Chemistry and Chemical Engineering 2020 – 2020 EPFL – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne / Paul Scherrer Institute M.Sc. | Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment 2017 – 2019 KTH Royal Institute of Technology B.E. (Hons.) | Chemical Engineering 2011 – 2015 Birla I
Zhujing ZhangEducation Master of Science in Building Technology | 2020 – 2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Master of Architecture | 2016 – 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bachelor of Science | 2011 – 2015 University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Teaching & PhDComfort and architecture: sustainable strategies This class offers an overview about comfort evaluations in architectural design and suggests passive and low-energy strategies suited to ensu
Caroline KarmannCaroline Karmann is a PostDoctoral Researcher at the Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID) in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). Caroline is interested in architecture and daylight in spaces, and in how our built environments affect our well-being. Her current research lies in the gap between visual comfort and visual interests based on the subjective and behavioral responses of occupants.
Caroline holds PhD in Building Science in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a dual Master’s degree in Architecture and Energy Engineering from INSA Strasbourg. Her doctoral project was devoted to indoor environmental quality in buildings using radiant conditioning systems. She conducted full-scale laboratory experiments and fields studies in 20 buildings. Her work was presented in multiple conferences including the ASHRAE conference, Windsor and PLEA, where she won Best Paper Award in 2018.
Caroline has five years of professional experience in the field of climate responsive building design. She worked as a consultant for daylight and energy at Transsolar (Stuttgart), where she specialized in building performance simulation, in particular daylighting simulation. Following her PhD, she worked for one year at Arup (London), where she conducted research on city resilience, and supported research activities through workshop facilitation and strategic planning.
Gabriele ManoliTeaching & PhD PhD Students Yuxin Yin, Marc Duran Sala, Guo-Shiuan Lin Courses Adventure on Planet B PENS-231 This course will take students on a cosmic journey and then back to Earth to reflect on planetary challenges and their solutions. Climate and water sensitive urban design ENV-526 This project-based course introduces students to the field of urban climate and hydrology, with a focus on nature-based solutions for the design of climate and water resilient cities. Soi
Seoyeon YunSeoyeon Yun joined HOBEL in November 2019 as a PhD student after receiving her Master's degree in Interior Architecture & Human Built Environment in Yonsei University from South Korea (2018) and as well as her BS(2016) at the same university. During her Master’s course, she focused on human thermal comfort of passengers in a private vehicle mostly based on the field experiments under the project with Hyundai Motors Company.
By joining HOBEL as a PhD student, Seoyeon was also selected as one of the final fellows on 3rd call (2019) in EPFLinnovators program, funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement. By participating in this programme, Seoyeon is expected to connect her knowledge with various transferable skills while advancing her entrepreneurship in her research field. As a PhD student in HOBEL, she currently focuses on the research of occupant-centric HVAC control for optimal air quality, comfort and energy use. With her previous research experiences and interests, she actively works on IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality) research fields.
