AI for Decision Makers – Executive Course at ETH Zürich

Michele Volpi holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Lausanne (2013). He was a postdoctoral researcher in the CALVIN group at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics (2014–2016), and then a member of the Multimodal Remote Sensing and Geocomputation groups at the University of Zurich’s Department of Geography (2016–2017). He joined SDSC in 2018 as Senior Data Scientist in the Research Team and became Lead Data Scientist in 2022. Since 2025, Michele serves as Climate and Environment Domain Lead, overseeing SDSC’s activities in this area. He leads projects in geospatial machine learning, working with Earth observation and geolocated spatio-temporal data, with applications in climate and weather, ecology, natural hazards, and agriculture, among others. Michele is also a Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Systems Sciences at ETH Zurich.

Luke completed his PhD in oceanography at the University of Cape Town in 2017.

After a short stint at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Cape Town, he joined the Environmental Physics group at ETH Zürich as a postdoc in 2019.  Here, his research focussed on ocean biogeochemistry.  Specifically, he used machine learning approaches to estimate surface ocean pH and surface ocean carbon fluxes from satellite and ship-based observations.

Luke has also been involved developing scientific data processing tools for several autonomous observation platforms.

Guillaume Obozinski graduated with a PhD in Statistics from UC Berkeley in 2009. He did his postdoc and held until 2012 a researcher position in the Willow and Sierra teams at INRIA and Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. He was then Research Faculty at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech until 2018. Guillaume has broad interests in statistics and machine learning and worked over time on sparse modeling, optimization for large scale learning, graphical models, relational learning and semantic embeddings, with applications in various domains from computational biology to computer vision.

Uta joined SDSC in May 2024 as Head of Communications & Events. Prior to that, she held various business communication management roles in technology-driven companies in material and life sciences, information and telecommunications as well as automotive industries. Her specialty is to transform complex messages into simple stories to help organizations reach key audiences with relevant and compelling contents, leveraging media and digital channels.Uta holds a Master of Arts from Humboldt University of Berlin, a Master of Business Administration from La Salle University, Philadelphia, and a graduate certificate in Sustainability Leadership from Cambridge University. In her free time she enjoys sports and traveling with her husband and two sons.

Marisol has a degree in Law and more than 15 years of experience working as a notary officer in Madrid. After relocating to Switzerland with her family, she obtained a certification to teach Spanish as a foreign language, dedicating four years to teaching Spanish online to students of all ages and backgrounds. Marisol has returned to her professional roots as an administrative assistant, joining the SDSC team in June 2023.

Elisabet Capón García joined the SDSC in March 2023 as Open Research Community Manager for the Renku team.

Elisabet obtained her PhD. in Process Systems Engineering.  After that, she has led and worked over 10 years in multiple projects in the academia and the industry, related to the design and implementation of decision support systems for several industry sectors. Elisabet is highly concerned with the challenges our modern society faces, and deeply committed to sustainability.

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Marisol has a degree in Law and more than 15 years of experience working as a notary officer in Madrid. After relocating to Switzerland with her family, she obtained a certification to teach Spanish as a foreign language, dedicating four years to teaching Spanish online to students of all ages and backgrounds. Marisol has returned to her professional roots as an administrative assistant, joining the SDSC team in June 2023.

Valerio started his career working for 7 years as a particle-physics researcher at CERN. In 2016, he moved to consulting, applying data science in several industries. First, he joined the Quant team of Ernst & Young in Geneva. Later, he created his own company, SamurAI sàrl, providing consulting services for his clients. He also has a passion for teaching very complex subjects in simple terms. That is why he particularly enjoys offering training programs to private companies and universities. Valerio joined the SDSC in May 2022 as a Principal Data Scientist with the mission of accompanying industrial partners and other institutions through their data science journey.

Johan Berdat joined the SDSC in May 2019 as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

After completing his M.Sc. in Computer Science at EPFL, he worked for a few years as a consultant in the industry. Specialized in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision, he loves challenges in document analysis and knowledge extraction.

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Clément Lefeebvre joined the SDSC in January 2019 as a Data Scientist with an emphasis on industry-oriented projects in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, acquired in 2016 from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Following this, he earned a Master of Science in Computational Science and Engineering in 2018, also from EPFL. Throughout his academic journey, Clément concentrated on leveraging Data Science and Machine Learning techniques to enhance efficiency in industrial processes. Subsequently, he developed a specialized interest in Generative AI, with a particular focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP), especially in the application of Large Language Models for innovation.

Klemen Voncina joined the SDSC in April 2026 as a Machine Learning Engineer in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

Klemen holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Groningen. Prior to this, Klemen worked for several years in both consulting roles and startups. He brings a strong engineering-focused perspective, combined with a solid background in machine learning. He particularly enjoys tackling practical challenges, especially those related to infrastructure and application deployment. Outside of work, Klemen enjoys a range of outdoor activities such as climbing and mountaineering, as well as more home-based hobbies like board games, reading, and tea.

Kyle (Hogir) van de Langemheen joined the SDSC in September 2025 as a Machine Learning Engineer in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne. ‍

‍Kyle holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Groningen. He brings several years of experience applying AI across research and industry.

Outside of his professional interests, Kyle enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, and coffee.

Thibaut holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from HEIG-VD. Before joining the SDSC, he worked in startups where he developped a diverse skill set combining cloud infrastructure, database and application development. Thibaut is very enthusiatic about new technologies and best coding practices and he is looking forward to supporting the team and its projects.

Johan Berdat joined the SDSC in May 2019 as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

After completing his M.Sc. in Computer Science at EPFL, he worked for a few years as a consultant in the industry. Specialized in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision, he loves challenges in document analysis and knowledge extraction.

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Clément Lefeebvre joined the SDSC in January 2019 as a Data Scientist with an emphasis on industry-oriented projects in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, acquired in 2016 from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Following this, he earned a Master of Science in Computational Science and Engineering in 2018, also from EPFL. Throughout his academic journey, Clément concentrated on leveraging Data Science and Machine Learning techniques to enhance efficiency in industrial processes. Subsequently, he developed a specialized interest in Generative AI, with a particular focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP), especially in the application of Large Language Models for innovation.

Klemen Voncina joined the SDSC in April 2026 as a Machine Learning Engineer in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

Klemen holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Groningen. Prior to this, Klemen worked for several years in both consulting roles and startups. He brings a strong engineering-focused perspective, combined with a solid background in machine learning. He particularly enjoys tackling practical challenges, especially those related to infrastructure and application deployment. Outside of work, Klemen enjoys a range of outdoor activities such as climbing and mountaineering, as well as more home-based hobbies like board games, reading, and tea.

Kyle (Hogir) van de Langemheen joined the SDSC in September 2025 as a Machine Learning Engineer in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne. ‍

‍Kyle holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Groningen. He brings several years of experience applying AI across research and industry.

Outside of his professional interests, Kyle enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, and coffee.

Thibaut holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from HEIG-VD. Before joining the SDSC, he worked in startups where he developped a diverse skill set combining cloud infrastructure, database and application development. Thibaut is very enthusiatic about new technologies and best coding practices and he is looking forward to supporting the team and its projects.

Prof. Olivier Verscheure is the director and founder of the Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC). Olivier also co-leads a joint training program between EPFL and HEC Lausanne, specifically designed for senior executives. Since 2018, Olivier has been a member of the Board of Directors of Lonza, a global leader in the life sciences sector. This company provides products and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and specialized healthcare industries.Olivier began his career at IBM Research after earning his Ph.D. in computer science from EPFL. He held several research and leadership positions at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in New York and co-created and co-directed the IBM Research center in Dublin, Ireland, before joining the EPFL in 2016.

Silvia holds an MSc in Computer Science from EPFL and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of York, UK. She has been a senior research fellow at the University of Trento and later at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Here, she had the chance to work on Marie Curie and ERC projects relating to natural language processing. From 2012 to 2019, she was a Senior Manager and NLP expert at ELCA Informatique Switzerland, whose AI department she helped create and expand. Silvia joined the Swiss Data Science Center in 2019 and is currently its Chief Transformation Officer, in charge of the team leading organizations to digital transformation.

Alessandro joined the SDSC in March 2019 as a data scientist focused on industry collaborations. His mission is to support corporates in leveraging the power of their data by adopting analytical approaches and data-centric solutions. His background is in biomedical engineering, with a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Tübingen. Before joining the center, he worked as a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, at the EPFL Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience in Geneva, and as data scientist for a private ecommerce company.

Clément Lefeebvre joined the SDSC in January 2019 as a Data Scientist with an emphasis on industry-oriented projects in the Innovation team, based in Lausanne.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, acquired in 2016 from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Following this, he earned a Master of Science in Computational Science and Engineering in 2018, also from EPFL. Throughout his academic journey, Clément concentrated on leveraging Data Science and Machine Learning techniques to enhance efficiency in industrial processes. Subsequently, he developed a specialized interest in Generative AI, with a particular focus on Natural Language Processing (NLP), especially in the application of Large Language Models for innovation.

Thibaut holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from HEIG-VD. Before joining the SDSC, he worked in startups where he developped a diverse skill set combining cloud infrastructure, database and application development. Thibaut is very enthusiatic about new technologies and best coding practices and he is looking forward to supporting the team and its projects.

Saurabh Bhargava, joined the SDSC as a Principal Data Scientist in the Industry Cell at the Zürich office in 2022. Saurabh previously worked in the retail sector and the advertising industry in Germany. He lead and built various data products for customers using state of the art machine learning methods and industrializing them thereby adding value for the customers. He completed his PhD from ETH Zürich in June 2017 specializing in machine learning applications on Audio data. He obtained his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from EPFL and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, India in 2011 and 2009 respectively. His interests and expertise are in combining state of the art data science and data engineering tools for building scalable data products.

Silvia holds an MSc in Computer Science from EPFL and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of York, UK. She has been a senior research fellow at the University of Trento and later at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Here, she had the chance to work on Marie Curie and ERC projects relating to natural language processing. From 2012 to 2019, she was a Senior Manager and NLP expert at ELCA Informatique Switzerland, whose AI department she helped create and expand. Silvia joined the Swiss Data Science Center in 2019 and is currently its Chief Transformation Officer, in charge of the team leading organizations to digital transformation.

Marisol has a degree in Law and more than 15 years of experience working as a notary officer in Madrid. After relocating to Switzerland with her family, she obtained a certification to teach Spanish as a foreign language, dedicating four years to teaching Spanish online to students of all ages and backgrounds. Marisol has returned to her professional roots as an administrative assistant, joining the SDSC team in June 2023.

Uta joined SDSC in May 2024 as Head of Communications & Events. Prior to that, she held various business communication management roles in technology-driven companies in material and life sciences, information and telecommunications as well as automotive industries. Her specialty is to transform complex messages into simple stories to help organizations reach key audiences with relevant and compelling contents, leveraging media and digital channels.Uta holds a Master of Arts from Humboldt University of Berlin, a Master of Business Administration from La Salle University, Philadelphia, and a graduate certificate in Sustainability Leadership from Cambridge University. In her free time she enjoys sports and traveling with her husband and two sons.