People

I hold an affiliation with the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics at Heidelberg University. I am also a Distinguished Research Scientist at IBM Research, where I lead the AI Compute Frontiers group in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. My research focuses on emerging computing paradigms and exploratory memory technologies. My early research focused on modeling and controlling nanoscale physical systems, which led me to IBM Research–Zurich, where I explored novel data storage concepts based on micro‑ and nanoscale devices. This work sparked a long‑term research program on phase‑change memory (PCM), encompassing both fundamental device physics and the development of efficient circuits and algorithms. Since around 2015, my research has shifted toward in‑memory computing, culminating in the design and fabrication of advanced prototype chips that exploit memristive devices to tightly integrate computation and memory.

Since the early days of my academic career, I was fascinated by the efficiency and complexity of the nervous system and its parallels – but also contrasts – to artifically enigneered systems. I have worked on the analog neuromorphic BrainScaleS-2 system developed in Heidelberg and have enjoyed the convergent design between hardware and algorithms, targeting both biology-inspired applications and also the machine learning perspective. In Heidelberg but then increasingly at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (University of Zürich and ETH Zürich), hybrid systems combining traditional CMOS circuits with novel memory devices, have since peaked my interest, and I have since gained experience with commercial RRAM technologies as well as lower-level integration efforts.