Interview series: Professors at D-ITET
In our interview series, professors at D-ITET give an insight into their research and personal motivation to go into academia.
"I have always been interested in things that have an impact on society"
Prof. Luca Benini holds the chair of digital circuits and systems at the Integrated Systems Laboratory (IIS). In the interview he talks about the trends towards open-source hardware architecture, new technologies, such as 3D integration, and fruitful collaborations within ETH.
"We want AI as a helpful assistant, not as an independent being"
Benjamin Grewe is Professor of Neuroinformatics and Neural Systems at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI) of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich and a researcher at the ETH AI Center. In the interview, he talks about his fascination for biologically inspired algorithms and the advantages of the newly developed language model SwissGPT over ChatGPT.
"Electrical energy is the basis of everything in electrical engineering"
Prof. Gabriela Hug is a professor at the Power Systems Laboratory in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering and head of the Energy Science Center (ESC). In our interview, the D-ITET graduate talks about her professional career and the importance of electrical engineering for future energy security.
"I want to bridge the gap between software and hardware"
Lana Josipović is an assistant professor and head of the Digital Systems and Design Automation Group (DYNAMO) at the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory (TIK) of D-ITET. In our interview, she talks about her research and her brand-new course “Synthesis of Digital Circuits”, and she explains how motivated students inspire her.
"If you have competition in your field, you're doing research on an important topic"
Jürg Leuthold is Professor of Photonics and Communication at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. In this interview, he talks about his research areas and their challenges, as well as the changes he would like to implement as new Head of Department.
"Diversity helps to keep people excited and open-minded"
Prof. Giacomo Indiveri is Associate Professor in the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI) at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. In our interview he talks about his research area Neuromorphic Cognitive Systems which enables electronic circuits to reproduce the dynamics and properties of biological circuits. He also explains how diversity benefits his group.
“My heart is set on cardiac imaging”
Sebastian Kozerke, professor at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBT), explains in our interview how magnetic resonance imaging and personalised "digital twins" can help in diagnostics and disease prediction in the future. He also talks about what he particularly appreciates about his position as Director of Studies at D-ITET and reveals himself to be a lover of Toblerone mousse at Dozentenfoyer.
"In nanoelectronics we work in a similar way to architects"
Prof. Mathieu Luisier heads the "Computational Nanoelectronics" group at the Institute of Integrated Systems. In our interview, the "Golden Owl" winner talks about the challenges of nanotechnology and about how he, as a former D-ITET graduate, perceives the department and its development. In the spring semester, he gives the lecture "Applications of Thermal Modelling: From Hot Atoms to Heated Tissues", in which there are still free places. It's worth dropping by!
"I am a bit jealous of my students"
Prof. Kaveh Razavi is leader of the Computer Security Group (COMSEC). In our interview he talks about his passion for hacking, why we should care more about computer security, and how he is preparing the Computer Engineering lecture he will take over next semester from Prof. Lothar Thiele. Currently the group is looking for a new doctoral student in Hardware Security. Applications are very welcome!
"My research is primarily about mathematical understanding"
Hans-Andrea Loeliger is a professor at the Signal and Information Processing Laboratory. In this interview he talks about basic research in signal processing.