2022 Speakers
Prof. Dr. Jens Schneider, Dr. Philipp Rosendahl, and Chris Borg, M.Sc.
Generative Structural Design and Additive Fabrication
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Schneider studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt and graduated with a PhD about his research on glass structures. He holds the professorship for structural analysis since 2009 and since 2020 he is vice president for industry transfer and internationalization at the Technical University of Darmstadt. His research concentrates on the areas of building with paper, energy technologies and glass and polymers.
Dr.-Ing. Philipp Rosendahl studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The work of his doctoral thesis on the fracture mechanics of thin layers is applicable to problems of structural engineering such as adhesive bonding and to geophysical problems such as skier-triggered snow slab avalanche release. He is currently working as the head of the Generative Design Lab at the Technical University of Darmstadt and co-founded the startup company 2phi, which aims at improving skier safety in the backcountry by transferring scientific advances into practice.
Chris Borg Costanzi, M.Sc. is a PhD Candidate at the Technical University Darmstadt, where he has been researching the use of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) as a fabrication tool in construction. He graduated as an Architect and Civil Engineer (Perit) from the University of Malta, after which he completed his Masters degree at Delft Technical University, graduating with honours and summa cum laude on the topic of concrete additive manufacturing. In 2016, his master’s topic was awarded a 4TU research grant, in which a concrete shell structure was 3D printed together with Eindhoven Technical University.
Dr. Romana Rust, and Dr. Michael Kraus
Augmented Intelligence Concepts for Design in Architecture and Engineering
Dr. Romana Rust is a computational architect and senior researcher at Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich within the Design++ initiative – Centre for Augmented Computational Design in AEC. She is also Co-leader of the Immersive Design Lab, a lab for collaborative research and teaching in the field of extended reality and machine learning in architecture and construction. Her particular interest is the development of innovative computational methods that integrate multiple design objectives such as geometry, acoustics, materiality and robotic fabrication. She is member of the core developer team of COMPAS, the open-source computational framework for collaboration and research in architecture, structures and digital fabrication. Romana studied architecture at Graz University of Technology and graduated in 2012 with honors. She holds a Doctor of Sciences degree in Digital Fabrication from ETH Zurich for her thesis “Spatial Wire Cutting - Integrated Design, Simulation and Force-adaptive Fabrication of Double Curved Formwork Components”, which she received in 2017.
Dr. Michael Kraus is a Senior Researcher at the Chair of Concrete Structures and Bridge Design and Co-leader of the Immersive Design Lab of the Design++ Initiative at ETH Zurich. He researches and teaches in the area of Scientific Machine Learning for the built environment. His research includes the development of machine and deep learning methods and their application with a particular focus on structural design issues as well as component verification. His research regularly takes place at the interface with other sciences such as architecture but also psychology and computer science. Dr. Michael Kraus studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Munich and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Bundeswehr University in Munich as well as at Stanford and ETH Zurich. In order to ensure the transfer of knowledge into practice, he runs companies with a focus on industry-related applications of artificial intelligence in addition to his university activities.
Prof. Dr. Catherine De Wolf
Digitalization for Circularity (D4C)
As Assistant Professor of Circular Engineering for Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Prof. Catherine De Wolf is conducting research on digital innovation towards a circular built environment. She is the director of the Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA), an interdisciplinary team of civil engineers, environmental engineers, architects, anthropologists, urbanists, and computer scientists who collaborate towards automating the reuse of building materials. A key element in Catherine's work is ensuring a continuous link between academia and industry. Therefore, she works with real-world examples such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris. After studying Civil Engineering and Architecture in Brussels, she obtained a PhD in Building Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also worked at the University of Cambridge, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and University of Technology Delft (TU Delft) as well as in design firms such as Arup, Ney & Partners, and Elioth.
Prof. Dr. Pierluigi D'Acunto
Conceptual Design of Structures at the Interface Between Human and Machine Intelligence
Pierluigi D'Acunto is Assistant Professor of Structural Design at the Department of Architecture of the Technical University of Munich. He holds a degree in Building Engineering-Architecture from the University of Pisa (2007) and a Master of Architecture from the Architectural Association in London (2012). He completed his doctorate with distinction at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Schwartz (2018). Pierluigi's research explores the convergence of architecture and structural engineering through computational design and emerging construction technologies. His recent research developments are located in equilibrium-based computational design and structural form-finding assisted by machine learning, aiming to develop a design framework in which the machine actively supports the human designer from the early stages of the design process.
Prof. Dr. Alice Alipour
Cyber-Physical Systems to Enable Responsive Buildings
Prof. Dr. Alice Alipour is a Visiting Professor at D-BAUG’s Institute for Infrastructure Management and a Senior Fellow at ETH Collegium Helveticum. In her home institution, i.e., Iowa State University, she is a Cerwick Faculty Fellow and an Associate Professor of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Prof. Dr. Alipour’s research is primarily on the investigation of civil infrastructure systems subjected to extreme events. This is with a focus on the application of data-driven probabilistic methods and decision-making approaches toward assessing and enhancing the resilience of the physical built environment under multi-threat conditions. Prof. Dr. Alipour has authored over 100 publications in leading journals, archived conferences, book chapters, and agency reports. Her research is supported by funding from multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), as well as multiple state, local, and private agencies. She was the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award in 2018 and Charles W. Schafer Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service in 2021.
Prof. Dr. Sarah Billington
Hybrid Physical + Digital Spaces for Enhanced Sustainability and Wellbeing
Sarah Billington is the Chair and UPS Foundation Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and a Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. From 1998-2002 she was an Assistant Professor at Cornell University. She received her B.S.E. with high honors in Civil Engineering & Operations Research and a certificate in Architecture Studies from Princeton University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Her past research focused on sustainable, durable construction materials including bio-based composites and ductile cement-based composites. Her current research focuses on the impact of building design and materials on human wellbeing and on the public acceptance of affordable housing.