New Professor for Computational Design
At its meeting of 8 and 9 March 2023 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed Bernd Bickel as Professor of Computational Design at D-ARCH and D-BAUG and granted Stephan Pfister the title professor.
Professor Bernd Bickel (*1982), currently Professor and Vice President for Technology Transfer at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, and Senior Staff Research Scientist at Google in Zurich, as Full Professor of Computational Design in the Department of Architecture and equally affiliated with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG). Bernd Bickel conducts research into digital technologies with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and extended reality. He has a particular interest in computer graphics at the intersection between robotics, computer vision, machine learning, materials science and digital fabrication. The aim of his research is to create new and efficient ways of modelling, simulating and fabricating digital content. His work has won multiple prizes, including an Oscar (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Technical Achievement Award) in 2019 and an ERC Starting Grant in 2016.
The appointment of Bernd Bickel is embedded in the Design++ research center. Thus, D-ARCH and D-BAUG will strengthen their competences in research and teaching in the field of digital technologies for design and fabrication with a focus on artificial intelligence and extended reality. Bickel will take up his post on 1 February 2024. Welcome, Bernd!