We Are ETH

Felix Seidel is a Data Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Caltech. He shares with us how ETH Zurich influenced him, and continues to be important for him today.You could say that ETH Zurich is the thread red connecting the dots in Felix Seidel’s career. A Data Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at Caltech in California, Felix’ story begins with his passion for flying. Tune in to find out how his dream career in aviation turned into a scientific one, for which ETH was the place to be. Along the way, Felix explains how to work with satellite data, why he never became an astronaut, and why it’s important to sometimes fail, and learn from it.This is his story.Link with all the details: https://circle.ethz.ch/podcast/

Gisbert Schneider – winner of the Ernst Schering Price 2022 – worked in various places before his professional path led him to ETH, where he now heads the Singapore-ETH Centre.On the occasion of the ETH Circle Annual Meeting, we bring you a special live recording of the We Are ETH Podcast. It features Gisbert Schneider, the Director of the Singapore-ETH Centre and Full Professor of Computer-Assisted Drug Design, in conversation with Susan, with our ETH Circle Members as the audience. They discuss everything from his foray into rock music, to his moves from Frankfurt to Zurich to Singapore.This is his story.Link with all the details: https://circle.ethz.ch/podcast/Download transcription of this episode

It was when Margherita Fontana left ETH Zurich that she realized it had given her a unique value proposition, which was solid baggage to take with her to the corporate world.Our 6th episode is all about ETH alumna and chemist Margherita Fontana of Dow Chemicals. A scientist at heart, she discusses with host Susan how resilience comes from learning how to cope with uncertainty, and how she came to drive change because she didn’t feel included. An advocate for women in STEM, she explains how ETH prepared her for the challenges she would encounter later in her career, by laying the foundations for dealing with complexity, and problem-solving.This is her story.Please also have a look at here profile here.Download transcription of this episode

Philippe Kahn, a serial technology innovator, and entrepreneur, who studied mathematics at ETH Zurich, is credited with creating the first camera phone solution.In this episode, Susan talks to Philippe Kahn, founder of four successful technology companies, with a focus on his most recent passion: sleep. In addition to talking about the content of his work, Philippe shares his work ethic, which explains why he still practices playing the flute daily. He also connects the dots for us between his passion for sailing, Einstein, and mathematics.Follow this link for more details: https://circle.ethz.ch/podcast/Download transcription of this episode

Switzerland's former ambassador to the US Martin Dahinden made many exciting encounters during his diplomatic career, and ETH Zurich played a key role throughout.In this episode, Susan talks to Swiss diplomat Martin Dahinden. Having studied economics, Martin held various positions in the diplomatic service, including with Swiss Missions to the UN and NATO. Before becoming the Swiss Ambassador to the US in 2014, he was Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. He is an expert on Swiss security policy in an international context and currently lectures on this topic at the neighbouring University of Zurich. A keen cook and great storyteller, he is also the author of a book highlighting the Swiss contribution to culinary history, entitled: “Beyond Muesli and Fondue”.You can read Martin’s ETH Circle portrait here: Martin Dahinden – ETH CIRCLE. This is his story.Download transcription of this episode

It seems like Martin was destined to go to ETH Zurich. From an early age, he showed interest in disassembling electrical objects with a lack of propensity for assembling them again, which pointed the way towards learning how to do that – with a little nudge from a friendly ETH faculty in the neighborhood. From then on, he kept a close relationship with the institution, which still continues to this day. Martin takes us through this journey, starting with his studies in Electrical Engineering, continuing with his travels across the world, and explaining how he came into the world of the internet.“If more people knew about engineering, they would find their passion in it, because you can really do a lot… I mean, you can change the world.”Episode 3 tells the story of ETH alumnus Martin Bosshardt, one of the founding members of the ETH Circle. You can read his profile here: https://circle.ethz.ch/member/martin-bosshardt/. The former CEO of Open Systems, Martin is currently leading ETH Spin-off company Anapaya Systems, which provides SCION-based networking software and solutions – a new internet technology for more secure and more reliable online networks.Link with all the details to be found on the ETH Circle websites.Download transcription of this episode

Jennifer’s story is one of coming full circle. Originally from Detroit and having recently moved back there, Jennifer explains how her serendipitous path and global living experiences built on each other: From Detroit to Colorado to study anthropology; to Senegal and Ghana in order to see this work on the ground; to New York and living through 9/11, creating a need to focus on understanding terrorism and crisis, which took her to California for further studies; to Switzerland in order to go deeper in this field at the ETH Zurich Center for Security Studies; and back to the US.Back to Detroit in fact, to be a part of a new community that looks to create spaces and rebuild the city in a new light, based to a large extent on the theoretical background and principles from her work at ETH. “ETH gave me a canvas, and they gave me the best paints in the world. And they said: “paint what you want.” And as a creative, in terms of thinking, writing, seeing, interpreting, analyzing, it gave me this license to dance across a couple of different domains that were all about our environment, and our interplay with our environment.”In our second episode, Susan talks to Jennifer Giroux dialing in from Detroit, USA, about connecting the dots that led her back to her hometown, via ETH Zurich and beyond. Jennifer is a social research and strategy consultant focusing on the social impact space. She spent seven years at the ETH Zurich Center for Security Studies. She is an active member of the ETH Circle.Please find more information on the ETH Circle network here.Download transcription of this episode

ETH Zurich was not Jeannine's first choice for a place of study, but she made the switch because she was looking for more opportunities to apply her creative side. “At ETH, you learn that it is entirely up to you what you want to make out of your university experience. ETH gives you a lot of freedom in how you can achieve your goals.”This was exactly the foundation she needed, as it gave her the freedom to develop both her skills and personality. "We are not machines. Students are all individuals, and they need the liberty to find which way they want to go," says Jeannine.In the first episode of our alumni podcast series "We are ETH", Susan meets Jeannine Pilloud, the CEO of Ascom Holding AG. You can read Jeannine's ETH Circle portrait here: https://circle.ethz.ch/member/jeannine-pilloud/.Listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich, Ascom is a global telecommunications company focusing on wireless on-site communications. Jeannine is its CEO since 2019. Previously, she notably held positions at IBM and SBB, the Swiss Federal Railways. After first studying German, history, and journalism at the University of Zurich, she went on to complete a degree in architecture at ETH Zurich. She was recently appointed to the Board of the ETH Alumni Association. This is her story.Please find more information on the ETH Circle network here.Download transcription of this episode

We Are ETH is a podcast series featuring stories from Alumni of ETH Zurich around the globe. Hosted by ETH Circle Member and Entrepreneur Susan Kish, We Are ETH brings you conversations with the people who have taken their ETH experience out into the world and turned it into a company, a career, and a way of life.