Collège des Ingénieurs

Universität Stuttgart

Martin Albiez, born in 1983 and raised in Germany, started in 2003 to study Software Engineering at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, majoring in database design, project management and IT architecture. In 2007, with his studies nearing completion, Martin Albiez started his own business as a freelance consultant specializing in (Java) IT architecture and project management. His clients include well-known companies like the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in Germany and the Fraunhofer Research Institute. Martin joined the Collège des Ingénieurs MBA program in order to enrich his technical knowledge with an economical and commercial dimension. In his project he is currently working as a process analyst and project management consultant at Siemens Audiologische Technik in Erlangen, a leading healthcare supplier in the field of hearing aids.

TU Dresden, Werkstoffwissenschaften

Henning was born in 1983 in the vicinity of the former German capital, Bonn. He went to an international school in Bonn finishing as the best student with a French-German high school diploma. He sharpened his French skills during a term at the Lycée Pierre de Fermat in Toulouse. During his school years he was actively involved in the organization of rowing trips all across Europe. Furthermore he participated in several Model European Parliament sessions in Copenhagen and Bonn. After high school he served a military period at the 26th Airborne Division in the Saar region. The airborne experience sparked his interest in aeronautics. In 2003 he started his studies in materials science at the Technical University of Dresden (TUD). To broaden his technical knowledge and to learn an additional language, he spent one year at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden.

TH Karlsruhe, Physik / National Research Center CNR-INFM BEC, Italy / TU München

Ingrid holds a degree in Physics from the University Karlsruhe (TH) and did her PhD in theoretical Physics at the National Research Centre on Bose Einstein Condensation in Italy. Born in Romania in 1981, Ingrid moved to Germany at the age of seven and grew up in a bilingual environment from an early age. This experience enticed a broad interest in foreign cultures and languages. After her high school graduation with A-levels in French and English, Ingrid chose to study physics at the University Karlsruhe (TH). She did her pre-diploma degree in geophysic. Attracted by the novel field of ultracold gases, she decided to write her diploma thesis on quantum phenomena in Bose condensates.

Centrale Paris / KTH Stockholm

Born in 1985 in France, Benjamin joined the \"Ecole Centrale Paris\" engineering school in 2005, where he developed a broad scientific knowledge in physics, mathematics and mechanics. During the last year at the school, he chose to study industrial management and became interested in economics and business administration. After a six month internship in a strategy consultancy, where he worked for two world leader companies in their respective sectors, he decided to return to his engineering profile and studied renewable energy systems at Stockolm\\\'s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). As he wishes to work in a position where he can combine technical creativity and strong strategic impact, he particularly valuates the College des Ingenieurs\' dual education with its MBA and the mission he is currently performing in strategic product development for Air Liquide.

AgroParisTech / ESALQ Sao Paulo

Born in 1987 in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, Ernst completed a joint degree in Agronomic Engineering at the University of São Paulo (USP) in partnership with AgroParistech (former Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon - INA P-G) in Paris, France, where he also obtained a MsC in the Economics of Sustainable Development shared with the French Institute of Petroleum, starting his career in the Energy and Environment sector. In 2008 he carried out an internship on Biodiversity Mitigation Mechanisms at the European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER) in Karlsruhe, Germany, an Institute built by Electricité de France (EDF).

Politecnico di Milano

Davide was born in 1983. He got his Bachelor degree at the Politecnico di Milano in Energy Engineering in 2005. Parallel to his university career Davide worked for many years as a Social Educator in non-profit associations, developing relationship skills and a social responsibility. Enthralled by energy science, he continued his studies in Energy Production and Conversion at Politecnico di Milano, getting his Master degree cum laude in 2008. Part of his thesis, titled “A Sustainable Energy Assessment within the East African Community” was developed during an internship at the Dar Es Salaam Institute of Technology in Tanzania in cooperation with the local Ministry of Energy. The work earned him a prize, delivered by ANIMP and OICE (Italian associations of industry, engineering and economics).

ENGREF

Born in 1984 in the south-west of France, Amandine graduated from AgroParisTech, the top engineering school in the forefront of life sciences. She obtained a masters degree in agronomy and environmental sciences. Eager to extend her knowledge on environmental public policies, she joined l’Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et des Forêts, an application school of AgroParisTech. In the framework of her ENGREF studies, she is taking part in the MBA program of the Collège des Ingénieurs, where she expects to get a global vision on companies’ management and strategy in the field of energy and sustainable development. During her education, she made the choice to carry out an additional year of internships in Germany where she was involved in a cross-border project of renewable energies technology transfer. She has also taken part in public research programs, such as plant selection in New Zealand or modelling strategy interactions in the French vegetable industry (INRA).

Universität Stuttgart, Maschinenbau

Simon Braun was born in Reutlingen in 1984. His fascination for sciences and their application motivated him to study mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart in 2004. Having acquired a broad engineering knowledge Simon focused on computerized simulation methods and industrial engineering in his final years. During an internship in the global plant coordination department of Mahle he was given the chance to assist the project leader regarding the expansion of a plant in Romania. He deepened this work experience in plant design and production efficiency improvement by lean principles during his final thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing, Engineering and Automation (IPA).

Shanghai Jiatong University

Zinan was born in Nanjing in 1980. He graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University where he majored in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He finished his master thesis in Alcatel Germany and worked for 2 years as purchasing engineer there afterwards. In 2008, he started his career as a senior analyst for Point Carbon, in Oslo where he was in charge of Carbon Market Research in Asia and worked as the Chief Representative of Point Carbon in China before joining in CDI.

LMU München, Physik

Sofia started her academic career in Physics in her home-town Düsseldorf at the Heinrich-Heine-Universität. She enjoyed the excellent student-to-teacher- ratio that allowed personal counselling by the professors and their staff, hence, getting insights in the way a university operates. Having passed her intermediate diploma, she decided to broaden her horizon by living and studying in Cape Town, South Africa for one year. She graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BSc (Honours) with a glimpse on the variety of cultures and perspectives to life. Upon her return from Africa\'s top university, she decided to continue her studies at one of Germany\'s top universities, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich where she majored in Biophysics. Due to her curiosity when it comes to economics, she also joined the Student Academy Consultancy in Munich .

UC Louvain (Maths Appliquées)

Frédéric Charlier was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1985. He holds a Bachelor Degree in engineering and a Master Degree in Applied Mathematics from the Université Catholique de Louvain. In order to diversify his educational background, he also took a program in management, obtained a certificate in Philosophy and took another program for young entrepreneurs (CPME). As a committed student, he took over various responsibilities, on the one hand, as president of a cultural organization, and a member of the student representation committee, on the other.

Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Born in 1986 in Nimes in the south of France, Jean-Charles Cizel grew up in France and French Guyana. He joined the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, a French top engineering school in 2006 and studied Economics and Industrial engineering. Eager to work on cross-disciplinary subjects, he conducted a research internship on link creations in blog networks at the CNRS and the Ecole Polytechnique and later studied the feasibility of a strategic investment in photovoltaic panels for Orange. As a bridging year, he went to the United States and worked for Michelin in South Carolina to improve the supply chain processes in a mining tires plant.

Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

She studied market and corporate finance at ENPC -a top French engineering school- and then spent one year as an intern by OC&C Strategy Consultants where she helped create a new supermarket chain, identify growth priorities for a vegetable packer and redefine the marketing strategy of an apparel mail order retailer.

Telecom Madrid / King’s College

Alberto de la Fuente was born in 1985 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. After completing high school in his hometown, he moved to Madrid to start his studies in Telecommunications Engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) in 2003. During this time he collaborated on different projects related to robotics and e-home. Willing to live an international experience he decided to spend his final year of studies in London doing an MSc by Research in DSP, where he graduated as the first of his promotion. There he worked on a dissertation, in collaboration with a biomedical institute, focused on applications of the EMG signals (captures of the electrical activity in the muscles) and the Wigner-Ville distribution.

RWTH Aachen, Entsorgungsingenieurwesen

Born in 1982, Susanne grew up and went to high school in Jülich, a town well known for the nearby Helmholtz research centre, where she came into early contact with cutting-edge research in the fields of energy and environment. As a consequence she later opted for the multidisciplinary study program of Environmental Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, majored in environmental process technology and finished her degree with distinction in 2009. Driven by the desire to think outside the box and to expand her knowledge beyond one specific academic scope she took the chance to explore a broad variety of topics.

Universität Tübingen / Tufts University, Bioinformatik, Studienstifung

Jonas was born in Stuttgart in 1983. Driven by the strong desire to learn more about mathematics and natural sciences, he enrolled in the bioinformatics program at the University of Tübingen in 2003. After having earned his pre-diploma and a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation, he decided to broaden his academic scope by pursuing parallel studies of business administration in addition to his bioinformatics major. In order to develop a more diverse view on economic issues, he spent two semesters at Tufts University in Boston, where he completed courses in the fields of economics, statistics, econometrics and finance.

Msci Cambridge, Downing College

Lauren was born in 1987 in Chelmsford in the UK where she began her education. In 2009, she obtained a Master’s degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge with a specialism in Materials Science and Metallurgy. During this period, she complemented her studies with practical experiences acquired through a series of internships. She spent three months in Berlin at Rolls-Royce Deutschland studying crack propagation though turbine blades using cutting-edge Finite Element techniques. The following year, she gained further experience at a consultancy firm in London where she was closely involved in the development of a computer program which modelled the costs involved in aluminium sheet fabrication at all production plants worldwide.

Politecnico di Torino

Stefano was born in 1983 in Torino where he was raised and became an Engineer in 2008. Before joining the CDI, Stefano worked as an associate consultant at The Boston Consulting Group (Milan office) for 9 months. At BCG, Stefano was involved in 3 projects: business development for a major infrastructure player, business portfolio strategy for a Food & Beverage global leader, and the modeling of Italian power generation market for an energy company. Stefano is a Physics Engineer, graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in April 2008 with a final grade of 110/110 cum laude. He completed his thesis work at the University of California, Berkeley. The focus of his research in California was chemical sensing for explosive detection using nanotechnologies.

Politecnico di Torino / Dublin City University

Giuseppe was born in 1985 in Reggio Calabria (Italy). After high-school, he decided to move and study Mechanical Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino, Italian top engineering school. In July 2009 he accomplished his Master of Science cum laude in Mechanical Engineering. During his master of science he spent one semester, as Erasmus student, at Dublin City University (DCU) where he had possibility to experience an international atmosphere meeting people from every part of the world. He loved that time and with great desire of knowing as many languages as possible, coming back to Turin he participated to “Bosch Progetto Prisma”, four months course given by Bosch to impart German, at basic level, to young selected engineers.

Universität Stuttgart, Fahrzeug- und Motorentechnik

Sebastian’s passion for cars and state-of-the-art technology has accompanied him from an early age on. Hence, he entered the field of automotive technology to study automotive engineering at the University of Stuttgart after completing civil service in 2002. His major fields of study were automotive mechatronics, particularly automotive bus systems and electronic control units. Sebastian gained practical experience working for Porsche’s R&D department for two years during his academic career where he was deeply involved in the development of a static driving simulator with focus on driver assistance systems and man-machine interfaces.

Telecom ParisTech / Imperial College

Adeline was raised in the south of France, in the very heart of the aeronautical industry. But after her preparatory classes, she decided to study telecommunications at TELECOM ParisTech, France’s top engineering school in telecoms. She specifically studied networks, information systems security, and concurrency systems. Having been used in her childhood to moving and discovering different cultural environments, she decided to complete her third year of engineering school abroad. She chose to join the Department of Computing of Imperial College London for a MSc in Advanced Computing . She broadened her knowledge range there by attending classes such as Quantum Computing as well as Computational Finance.

Barcelone Industriales / ENSTA

Born in Barcelona (Spain) in 1985, Ana joined the “Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya” (UPC) in 2003. Four years after, Ana moved to Paris to participate in the double master program TIME (“Top Industrial Managers for Europe”) with ENSTA ParisTech, one of the top ten engineering schools in France. In 2009, she acquired her master degrees in Mechanical Engineering from UPC and Production Engineering from ENSTA ParisTech. During her studies, Ana worked as a research assistant in some R&D projects, ranging from the automotive safety in the UPC to the aeronautical industry at the TUDelft (The Netherlands).

X Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

After two years of “classes préparatoires”, in 2004 Cyril joined the “Ecole Polytechnique” - a French top engineering school - where he acquired a broad scientific knowledge. During his last year there, he studied fundamental physics and economics. He also conducted an internship as a reservoir engineer in Marathon Oil, an oil company, in Scotland. After his nomination to the “Corps des Ponts et Chaussées” of the French administration – a corporation of high civil servants with an engineering background – he pursued further education for one year at the “Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées”. His coursework was focused on economy and finance, and Cyril gained there his second Master Degree. During this time, Cyril worked for Total in Paris as an analyst in the Strategy Department, focusing on the countries of the Persian Gulf.

Supélec

Marc was born in 1986 in Paris. He graduated from Supélec, a top French engineering school at the forefront of energy and information systems, in 2009. While at Supélec he enjoyed the opportunity to follow an internship at the Embassy of France in Canada, investigating research funding in Canada. He also became the president of the humanitarian association on campus, organizing a project in India to rebuild a school. During his last year at Supélec, he followed a double degree program in Nuclear Engineering at the INSTN (part of the CEA). In order to strengthen his knowledge in the energy field, Marc performed a nine-month placement at AREVA NP on neutron studies for the EPR project. Now at the CDI, he aims to acquire business skills and to apply them in the scope of his mission at EDF in both, the Marketing and R&D departments.

Ruprecht Karls Universität Heidelberg, Promotion Biowissenschaften

Julia was born near Karlsruhe, Germany, and studied Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg, followed by a Master of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology. During that time she joined a variety of research institution and gained practical experience in academic research and biotechnology companies. She spent several months at the Biological Faculty of the University of Warwick in England. After completing her Master studies, she joined the Helmholtz International Graduate School for Cancer Research at the German Cancer Research Center and worked on her PhD project which she completed in 2009 with highest distinction. Julia has been a member of the German scout association VCP for many years.

MIT Ms

Danielle was born in Riverside, California, in 1985. She enrolled at the University of California, Irvine, in 2003, where she was awarded a UC Regents Scholarship, the prestigious national Barry Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in Education, as well as the Associated Students of UC Irvine Top Student of 2007. Danielle obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Materials Science Engineering in 2007, graduating first in the School of Engineering (comprising 1,052 students) summa cum laude. She held an internship at Goodrich Corporation’s Aerostructures Division specializing in nacelle systems before moving on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, Danielle pursued a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering, winning the MIT Presidential Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Ecole Centrale Paris / EPFL

Alba was born in 1985 in the lovely city of Barcelona, Spain. She joined Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and enrolled in the TIME program (“Top Industrial Managers for Europe”). She holds both an Industrial Engineering Degree from UPC and a Generalist Engineering Diploma from Ecole Centrale Paris. Her strong interest for Biotechnology drove her to Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland where she pursued a Master Thesis in Mechanobiology and Morphogenesis, better understanding tumor strategies for metastasis through the lymphatic system. Alba also did project training at the Bioengineering department of IITK, Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, where she could broaden her outlook on genetic issues.

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Telecommunication Engineering

Milagros was born in 1984 in Cáceres (Spain). In 2002, after completing her highschool studies, Milagros joined the Telecommunication Engineering school (ETSIT) of Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM). At the same time she was a student at UPM and in order to complete her training, she carried out two internships, within Telefónica R&D and the Department of Electronic Engineering of the UPM repectively. For Telefónica R&D, Milagros performed a study on WSDL (Web Services Description Language) and its advantages for the company in terms of project description. Within the Department of Electronic Engineering, she conducted her master thesis in the field of communication for distributed systems.

TU Dresden, Elektroenergietechnik / Supélec

Tobias was born in 1980 in Würzburg, Germany. Before his academic career, he gained professional experience during an apprenticeship in a medium-sized company in the field of medical technology. He then graduated at the Dresden University of Technology (TUD) where he majored in electrical power engineering. In collaboration with Siemens AG he pursued in his diploma thesis the problem of connecting decentralised generation units to the electrical power grid in order to gain a maximum power injection. For one year in France, Tobias carried out an internship at EDF, Centre National d’Equipement Nucléaire (CNEN) followed by studies at the power engineering chair at the École Supérieure d’Électricité (SUPÉLEC). This enabled him to deepen his knowledge in electrical power engineering as well as to follow his intercultural interests.

Telecom ParisTech

Guenièvre was born in 1986 in Marseille. She graduated from Telecom ParisTech, a top French Engineering School in 2009. She gained professional experience in project management through a 6-month internship at Capgemini Consulting, in the Technology Transformation practice. During her studies, she was involved in several extra-curricular activities, by leading a group of 14 students. Thereby she was able to improve her skills in team-work and leadership.

Ecole Centrale Paris / RWTH Aachen, TIME

Olivier was born in Lille in 1985. He studied at the engineering school « Ecole Centrale de Paris » and participated in the double degree program TIME to combine this generalist Master with a major in electrical engineering at the RWTH Aachen (Germany).

ENS Ulm

Benjamin was born in France in 1983. He studied Biology at the Ecole normale supérieure (Ens), a top French school focused on the training of high-level teachers and scientists. He first set his hands on research during an internship in a laboratory of Experimental Ecology at the Imperial College in London. Benjamin then focused on the field of microorganisms and graduated with a Master’s degree of Microbiology from the Ens and Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), including an internship at INSERM (French institute of health and medical research). He continued this scientific curriculum with a PhD on the fascinating topic of bacterial communities at the Institut Pasteur of Paris. Now husband and father, he enjoys his spare time playing football with friends, designing web sites, reading novels as well as science books.

Politecnico di Torino

Born in Ivrea (Italy) in 1984, Eugenio was students representative at his high school where he got his diploma with the highest grade in 2002. He then joined the Politecnico di Torino, Italian top engineering school, taking his bachelor degree cum laude in Computer Science Engineering in 2005 and being awarded with Premio Optime, dedicated to best graduates of Piedmont region. Afterwards he enrolled at Management Engineering where he got his master degree cum laude in 2007 receiving again the Premio Optime. Additionally, he attended the exclusive invitation based Alta Scuola Politecnica (ASP), an English taught project based school for young talents that wish to develop their potential. The ASP program ran parallel to the MSc programs and provided him also with the master degree from the Politecnico di Milano. Within the ASP, he became team leader of his project in collaboration with Luxottica and he learnt how to promote compelling innovation in a company.

Shanghai JiaTong

Wenjie LI was born in 1985 and grew up in the city of Nanchang, southeastern China. He entered Shanghai Jiao Tong University, an institution of high prestige in engineering, in 2003 and received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering during the following 6 years of study. As an experienced English-Chinese interpreter, he served numerous clients, both foreign and domestic, from various industries and gained first-hand observations and insight in cross-cultural communication and international trade and in China. He also worked as a medical image software engineering intern for one year at the Global R&D Center of Carestream Health Inc., former Eastman Kodak Health Group. He joined the MBA program of Collège des Ingénieurs for more comprehensive business training and an experience of exotic culture. Being a person of wisdom and great inner strength is his consistent pursuit.

Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Christophe is 24 and comes from La Ciotat, a wonderful small town just near Marseille in south of France. He first built an engineering background at the école Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées ParisTech. Then, he decided to specialize in economy and corporate subjects –such as macroeconomics and corporate law– for the following year in the same school. By the way, aware that the associative life was a great way to create value for both his fellows and himself, he was elected President of the student body. Through this one year experience, he learned to manage a team of 15 people in order to execute high impact projects.

TU München, Maschinenwesen / Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago

Christopher was born in 1984 in Starnberg, Germany. Influenced by his father, an engineer and entrepreneur, he started his studies in Mechanical Engineering in 2003 at the Technical University of Munich. Christopher decided soon to focus on the newly offered studies “Mechanical Engineering and Management” where he could gain both technical engineering knowledge as well as competency in the field of business through additional classes in key business administration topics. Within his technical emphasis he specialized in the fields of lightweight structures and astronautics. During his studies, he took the opportunity to study abroad at the Illinios Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA where he deepened his knowledge in aerospace engineering.

Tsinghua University

Born in China in 1985, LU Li studied in Tsinghua University, the top engineering university in China, and graduated as an “Honor Graduate” with his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Since 2005, he worked as a part-time marketing consultant in Philips Medical System for 4 years. This experience gave him a comprehensive understanding of B2B market and great interest in business and management. With the ambition to improve his business skills and capacities, in 2009, he joined CDI to acquire more trainings and working experiences in an international environment. Currently, he is working in Bureau Veritas, in charge of market strategy study in China. Photographing, traveling and trekking are his favorite activities in spare time.

TU Braunschweig, Informations-Systemtechnik

Sebastian was born in 1983 in Stuttgart. He graduated from the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he specialized in telecommunication and ubiquitous computing, the latter with focus on wireless sensor networks. During his studies he gathered experience in various companies in project management, IT consulting, recruiting and management consulting. As student he dedicated a bigger part of his time to AIESEC and bonding, the latter mainly in the financial area. As kid he had lived for two years in India, today he is passionate about the Brazilian language and culture.

Supélec / Dauphine

Born in 1986 in France, Nicolas entered Supelec, a top engineering school in the forefront of Energy and Information Science. There, he developed an interest in the business world with his involvement in the Junior-Enterprise. In his third year, he decided to major in system engineering and applied maths and to discover Finance at the University Paris Dauphine. Nicolas was employed by a small fast-growing consulting cabinet to work as a junior consultant for banks and insurance companies. He participated in two projects: the migration of Information Technology for marketable securities in a big French bank and the creation of a mathematical model for risk management.

TH Karlsruhe, Maschinenbau, Studienstiftung

Lucia was born in 1983 in Germany, where she lived for fourteen years before moving to France. She returned to Germany to study Mechanical Engineering at the Carl-Benz School of Engineering and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). During her studies she focused on product development, innovation management and micromechanics. Being very committed and highly motivated in both academics and social activities, she was awarded a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes). Lucia pursued parts of her studies at the National University of Singapore and the Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

LIUC Castellanza

Marco was born in 1984 in Turin. In 2006 he obtained a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from the University of Turin, presenting a thesis entitled \"Brand equity and value added in the automotive industry\". In the academic year 2007-2008, after attending a semester of study abroad at the Oxford Brookes University, he got a Master Degree cum laude in Marketing from the University Carlo Cattaneo LIUC of Castellanza. Before completing his academic career, he did an internship as Junior Product Manager at the Marketing Department of L\'Oréal Paris in Milan. During this experience Marco undertook his Master\'s thesis: \"The impact of digital marketing on the brand equity: the case of L\'Oréal Paris Studio Line.\"

Politecnico di Torino

Anna Martinetti was born in 1984 near Torino. She graduated at Politecnico di Torino in Electronics Engineering; she then continued studying in the same university where, in 2009, she obtained a Master of Science in Telecommunications Engineering, with a focus on satellite navigation systems. For six months, she worked as an intern in the PLANgroup at the University of Calgary, Canada, where she completed her thesis. After her graduation, Anna worked for Alenia SIA on the Eurofighter\'s navigation system and, in September 2009, she joined the MBA – Collège des Ingénieurs program at SAFM (Scuola di Alta Formazione al Management) – CDI Italia, to complement her technical background with a deeper knowledge of management and business administration. Anna is currently completing her mission in Alenia Aeronautica. In her spare time she enjoys reading, skiing and trekking.

UPM / TU München

Pablo was born in 1985 in Barcelona (Spain) and, when 3 years old, he moved to Brussels for 2 years with his family. This event and later his scholarship at the Lycée Français in Barcelona and Madrid (mainly the latter) were the reasons he became bilingual Spanish-French and developed an international profile. During his university studies in mechanical engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, he majored in electronics and automation. Pablo was keen on complementing his technical background with courses in organisation and management, attending the Organisation and Strategic Management summer course at the London School of Economics in 2008. That same year, he worked for Siemens as a project engineer in the Industrial Products & Services department, and organised the job-fair Induforum’08, taking charge of the coordination of the Technology department.

Università di Padova

Marcello was born in 1983 in Verona. He received high school level education with an emphasis on humanities at the Liceo Classico of his town, then pursued his scientific interest attending engineering studies at the Universita’ di Padova. At this university, one of the oldest in Italy, he achieved a Bachelor’s degree cum laude and a Master’s degree cum honors in Civil Engineering. His final thesis on computational mechanics gained the right of publication on the prestigious “International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering” and came as a result of the research he carried out within the annual scholarship he was awarded as a student at the University of California. After his graduation in October 2008, Marcello joined a major Italian engineering company for transportation infrastructures’ design, working on international projects such as the CityLife project in Milan.

Ecole Normale Supérieure, Lyon / PhD (Institut Pasteur & Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris)

Aurélie graduated from Life Sciences at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS Lyon), a top French school oriented mainly towards research and high-level teaching. She broadly studied subjects related to biology and geology, and then specialized in Neuroscience, notably at Imperial College, London. During 4 years, she worked as a research assistant on various topics for several long periods, in Nice, Paris and London. These internships taught her to analyze complex systems, to ask insightful questions, and to devise novel methods to come to new solutions. After graduation, willing to work on challenging international projects in intellectually stimulating environments, she pursued a PhD in Neuroscience at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. She also enjoyed the opportunity to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

TU Dresden, Technomathematik / Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble

Michael Mueller grew up near Dresden, Germany. Throughout his school time he had always been interested in sciences and mathematics. He regularly participated in maths competitions where he won several prizes and placed among the best young mathematicians nationwide. Therefore it was no surprise that he decided to major in Technomathematics when he started studying at the Dresden University of Technology in 2003. Besides the mathematical part, his studies also included minors in mechanical engineering and computer sciences.

Politecnico di Torino / Politecnico di Milano

Luca was born in Pescara (Italy) in 1984. He joined the Politecnico di Torino, one of the Italian top engineering schools, taking his bachelor degree cum laude in 2006 and his master degree cum laude in 2009 in Automotive engineering. He graduated also as a Mechanical Engineer at the Politecnico di Milano, thanks to the enrollment at the Alta Scuola Politecnica, an excellence school granting a special diploma to a selected number of students, with a passion for innovation and wishing to develop their potential in a multidisciplinary community. He enriched his academic background through work collaborations with Fiat Powertrain Technologies (internship in the gear design department), with Johnson Controls Automotive (internship in the program management department) and with Aermatica (benchmarking analysis of Rotorcraft-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).

Politecnico di Torino

Andrea was born in 1984 in Bordighera a small town in Italy close to the French border. After he obtained his scientific highschool diploma in 2003 he enrolled at the Politecnico di Torino. Now he holds a laurea magistralis cum laude in automotive engineering and is a licensed engineer. Winner of Politecnico di Torino’s scholarships from 2004 to 2008, Andrea gained experience through two internships: the first at CRF – Centro Ricerche Fiat in 2006 and the second at Johnson Controls Automotive as winner of the “John Fiori’s scholarship” in 2008 where he undertook his Master’s thesis on how to improve standards and procurement specifications in the seats testing and validation process.

UPC Barcelona, ETSEIB

Carlos was born in 1985 in Barcelona. He has always been interested in understanding the technical background and operating mechanisms of the systems and machines surrounding him. In order to fulfil his curiosity he joined the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in 2003 to study Industrial Engineering. During his studies he collaborated with a German car supplier, ZF Friedrichshafen AG at the Escola Tècnica Superior d\'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona (ETSEIB) working on Marketing activities and events for the firm. This experience gave him a first insight as to how a big multinational company works and its international and multicultural nature. In order to widen his horizons and gain international experience, he spent the summer of 2007 on an internship in the luxury retail department of Cartier in St Moritz, Switzerland.

TU München, Maschinenwesen

Lukas Ortner was born in 1984 in Vienna. He graduated from the Technical University of Munich, where he specialized in Production Engineering and Logistics. During his studies he was always anxious to complement theoretical knowledge with practical experience. He optimized a logistical structure at the BMW plant in Dingolfing, prepared the introduction of a health and safety management system at the Rational AG in Landsberg am Lech and halved the setup times of fine planking presses at the Hoerbiger Antriebstechnik GmbH in Penzberg. Furthermore, he gained experience in project management. At the BMW plant in Rosslyn/South Africa, he was assistant to the project leader for the implementation of the production of the new 3 series.

Politecnico di Milano

Lorenzo was born in 1984 in Milano. He graduated with a Bachelor Degree (Cum Laude) in Physics Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2006. Due to his strong interest in advanced technologies and their applications he decided to specialize in Nanotechnology and Photonics graduating with a Master Degree in Physics Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2008. He undertook his Master\'s thesis working on the international research project Polycom financed by the European Union and in collaboration with the most prestigious Universities in Europe. The project aims to develop a new optical transmission system for large scale distribution and Lorenzo gave his contribution on several fronts, both in terms of pure research in optics and photonics and in the realization of a Business Plan for the industrial application of the optical network.

Universität Stuttgart, Luft- und Raumfahrt

He was born in 1983 and raised in Mexico City. After graduating from a German high school in Mexico City he moved to Germany to study aerospace engineering at the University of Stuttgart. Majoring in air borne systems and aircraft design, Ian graduated in 2010. During this time he was an intern for 6 months at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne Germany, where he supported and developed astronaut training lessons for the ISS-Columbus Module. To broaden his avionic knowledge and gain further European experience, he joined as an ERASMUS student the MSc. course “aerospace vehicle design, avionic systems design option” at the University of Cranfield in the UK. During this time he developed an autonomous ground collision system for a 70seater turbo prop aircraft and functioned as the avionics group manager. For his master thesis he worked 6 months at the department of “The Future of Flying” at EADS-Innovation Works in Munich.

Università di Bologna / University of California at Berkeley

Alessandro was born in 1985 in Faenza, Italy. He holds a BSc in Energy Engineering summa cum laude from the University of Bologna and a MSc with a specialization in Nuclear Engineering, also summa cum laude, from the same University. In 2003 he was selected among several hundred applicants to be a Collegio Superiore Fellow of the University, and followed a curriculum studiorum of excellence, taking extra classes and maintaining strict GPA requirements throughout the five years. In 2007, having ranked first in the university-wide selection process, he won the Overseas to California scholarship offered by his university and spent two semesters at the University of California at Berkeley, in the United States.

Politecnico di Torino / University of Illinois

Edmondo was born in 1984 in Cagliari, Sardinia. He obtained a double bachelor in electrical and computer engineering from Politecnico di Torino and ENSERG Grenoble and a double Master Degree cum laude from Politecnico di Torino and University of Illinois at Chicago. Although he has a technical background, his outlook has always been wider and he has interest for public relations, politics, economics and recently for sports and nutrition as well.

Università di Torino

Born in 1983 in Novara (Italy), in 2001 Fabiola enrolled in the Faculty of Economics of the University of Milano-Bicocca. In 2003 she won a grant in the Erasmus Programme study that allowed her to spend a year at University of Geneva (Switzerland) and afterwards she graduated with a Bachelor degree magna cum laude in Economics, Statistics and Informatics from University of Milano-Bicocca. Then Fabiola started her Master studies in Business Administration at University of Turin; along with her academic career she gained practical experiences by spending one-year internship program at Borsa Italiana in Milan where she was finally hired in March 2007, right after getting the Master degree with Thesis of Distinction from the Faculty of Economics, University of Torino.

Politecnico di Torino

Pietro was born in 1985 in Torino. He graduated at the Politecnico di Torino in Biomedical Engineering, where he conducted his master thesis on microwave imaging for breast cancer detection. Thanks to his multidisciplinary education path Pietro developed flexibility, creativity and a strong attitude for problem solving. Through an internship done at the CTO Hospital (Torino, Hand Surgery department), Pietro also had the chance to improve his skills in communication and team-working, learning how to set objectives and best manage resources in order to fulfil them. In 2009 Pietro was enrolled in the MBA Programme at SAFM (Scuola di Alta Formazione al Management) – CDI Italia, a unique chance to enrich his technical background with managerial skills and financial knowledge. Now he’s performing his mission at the business planning and control department of Magneti Marelli.

Universität Würzburg, Chemie / CPE Lyon

Born in 1983, Alexander studied Chemistry at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and at CPE Lyon where he finished his studies in July 2009 with two diplomas, in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. During his studies in Würzburg, Alexander had the opportunity to do an extended six month research internship at the Imperial College London. Here, he first came in touch with applied research and hence decided to continue his studies in France to learn more about the engineering aspects of his field of study. Furthermore, Alexander obtained more experience in the applied research field at BASF in Germany, where he worked on a project for process optimization concerning the synthesis of an ionic liquid. In July 2009, he finished his studies with his final year project at TOTAL at their headquarters in Paris.

Politecnico di Torino / Lausanne / Grenoble

Roberto was born in Rivoli (Italy) in 1984. He earned his Bachelor degree in Physical Engineering (2006, cum laude) at Politecnico di Torino and obtained the International Master of Science in Nanotechnology for integrated systems (2008, cum laude) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, the Grenoble Institute of Technology and the Politecnico di Torino. This gave him the possibility of living and studying abroad for 18 months visiting three different countries. He had been doing research for his Master’s thesis at the IBM-Stanford spintronics Science and Applications Center (Almaden, CA) studying Vanadium-compouds’ phase transitions.

Politecnico di Milano / Ecole Centrale Paris

Dario was born in 1984 in Milan. At the Politecnico di Milano, Dario participated in the double degree program TIME (Top Industrial Managers for Europe) with the École Centrale de Paris (ECP), gathering a Physical Engineering Master from the Politecnico di Milano and a Generalist Engineering Master from the ECP. Dario gained hands-on experience in real business with a diploma thesis at BIOS where he had the opportunity to focus on medical products certification. Thanks to involvement into many research projects, Dario had the opportunity to get a grasp on financial mathematics, chaotic systems and molecular physics.

RWTH Aachen, Maschinenbau / Tsinghua University, Doppeldiplom

Robin was born in 1984 in Bonn. He studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University majoring in Systematic Engineering Design. In the course of his university life Robin was selected to take part in a dual-degree program with Tsinghua University in Beijing for which he got a full government scholarship. Parallel to his studies Robin learned Mandarin Chinese at a private language school and traveled through the country to learn about Chinese people and culture. He finished his studies and obtained his Masters of Engineering and Diplom-Ingenieur degrees in summer 2009.

Universität Erlangen, Maschinenbau / McGill Montréal, Stiftung der deutschen Wirtschaft

Hansi was born in 1982 in Romania where he grew up bilingual (Hungarian and German). In 1990, when the iron curtain fell, he moved to Nurenberg/Germany with his family. At high school, he was engaged in developing and maintaining the school\'s computer and network infrastructure and homepage. After graduating from school and one year of civil service, he signed up for the Mechanical Engineering Diploma at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2003. Hans joined the students\' council from his first year of studies on, being in charge of a variety of responsibalities, up to being one of the students\' speakers in Erlangen and for all Bavarian students.

Universität Stuttgart, Luft- und Raumfahrt / Supaéro

Born in 1984, Steffen was raised in Baden Württemberg, the South Western part of Germany. After his first job experience in various technically oriented vacation jobs at ZF Lenksysteme AG in Schwaebisch Gmuend, he enrolled in aeronautical engineering studies at the Technical University Stuttgart. After two years of fundamental studies in physics, mathematics and design, he started a six months internship at Porsche’s development center in Weissach, where he got involved in the aero- and thermodynamic performance of sports cars. This was followed by a 12 months part time student worker employment. After having completed his first specialization in propulsion systems, he moved to SUPAERO in Toulouse, France for his second phase of specialization: aerodynamics.

RWTH Aachen, Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen / Tsinghua University Beijing (MEng.)

Johannes Schroeder was born 1982 in Raeren, Belgium but grew up in a village near Koblenz. Having a strong interest in engineering Johannes later chose the RWTH Aachen University for his studies in mechanical engineering and business administration. In 2006 Johannes applied for a scholar double master degree exchange program with China. This program sent him to a top Chinese university – the Tsinghua University in Beijing - for one year. Being enrolled in production engineering studies he enjoyed working in international teams. During this time he also learned the fundamentals of the Chinese language and culture. The final thesis at Tsinghua University concerned the cultural differences of communication in German and Chinese business relations.

Telecom Paris / Columbia University

Audrey graduated in 2009 as an engineer from Telecom ParisTech and as an Operations Research Master student from Columbia University, where she was granted a teaching assistantship in recognition of her outstanding scholastic achievement. As the daughter of a French father and an English native-speaking mother, she has been exposed to a bilingual environment since she was a child. Born in the United States in 1986, she has lived in France for twenty years, and made use of any opportunity she was given to travel and broaden her multicultural background. She went to the National University of Singapore to do research, then came back to the United States to complete her Master of Science.

X Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées

Valérie was born in Carcassonne (France) in 1984. She graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées where she developed skills in mechanical engineering and economics. She is an engineer of the “Corps des Ponts, des Eaux et des Forêts”. Through several hands-on experiences, Valérie discovered different professional universes. First, she had a 3 months internship in the City of London in 2007. The subject of this internship was the fight against fraud and money laundering in an investment bank. Then, she joined the Boston Consulting Group for a one-year internship in Paris and Buenos Aires (Argentina) where she strengthened her skills in communication, leadership, analysis and discovered several international firms in diverse sectors (energy, pharmacy, real estate, …).

Supélec / GeorgiaTech

Born in Paris in 1985, Quentin graduated from Supelec – a top Engineering School in the forefront of energy and information science – where he acquired a broad scientific knowledge and specialized in Statistics and Signal Processing. Eager to complete his education in an international environment, Quentin enrolled in a Master of Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta), where he developed his interest for applied mathematics and new technologies. He also took the opportunity to join for one semester the MBA curriculum of Georgia Tech and developed his knowledge on strategic operations and marketing management.

UP Valencia / Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Jaime was born in 1986 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). After having completed high-school at the Deutsche Schule Valencia, Jaime joined the Civil Engineering School of the Universidad Politecnica deValencia (UPV) in 2004. Being one of the top students in his year allowed him to spend his final year of studies at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (ENPC) in Paris. Nowadays he speaks Spanish, German, English and French. His university education, plus his team spirit and his ability to speak languages gave him the opportunity to work on multidisciplinary international projects as the Panama Canal Consortium, which involved designing the expansion of the Panama Canal and working with a consortium of companies from several different countries.

Humbold Universität Berlin, Physik / Cambridge University, Studienstiftung

Anton was born 1983 in Moscow. When he was 12 years old, he moved with his family to Germany. But, his interest for his home country has never left him. To perceive whatever holds the world together, he studied physics and maths in Dortmund, Berlin and Cambridge. He completed his study with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a Diploma in Physics from Humboldt University of Berlin. During his study Anton organized events for different student organization he took part in. For example, he helped planning and running a student run “community café” in Cambridge or organized a lecture for the department of physics showing students different branches of physics they could enter in a scientific career.

TH Karlsruhe, Maschinenbau / INSA Lyon, Doppeldiplom / ETHZ

Jan Spaniol was born in 1983 in Viersen, Germany. After doing his civil service he began with his studies in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. He completed a part of his major studies at the Institute Nationale des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) Lyon in the scope of a Double-Diploma-Program of the Franco-German University. Besides following lectures he also pursued his student research project in France in cooperation with Alcatel Space. For his diploma thesis he moved to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, where he worked out a process model to design versatile technical services.

Universität Paderborn, Informatik / Ecole Centrale Paris / University of Waterloo / Oxford University

Thomas was born in 1982 in Ahlen, Germany. While completing a double graduate degree program in Electrical / Computer Engineering and Computer Science / Business Administration at the University of Paderborn in Germany, he developed considerable analytical, project management and leadership skills. During his exchange year at the University of Waterloo in Canada, he had the chance to enhance his capacity to work with people of diverse nationalities and backgrounds using different languages. After his year in Canada, he spent another year at the Ecole Centrale Paris, where he chose to do a specialization in Strategy Management, Marketing and Finance.

X Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées

Born in Paris in 1984, Guillaume grew up in Versailles. He joined in 2004 the “Ecole Polytechnique” – a top-ranking French university for science and management. The first year at the “Ecole Polytechnique” being spent within the French military forces, he had his first leadership experience as a commanding officer in a Paris-based anti-riot police unit. Since then, he has been eager to train in engineering fields relevant to public action. The years he spent at the “Ecole Polytechnique” allowed him to receive a rigorous training in various fields of science, especially in applied mathematics and economy. After graduating from the “Ecole Polytechnique”, he joined the “Corps des Ponts, des Eaux et des Forêts” - the corporation of engineering civil servants of the French high administration.

Supélec / Imperial College

Born in 1985, Delphine grew up in a bicultural environment in France and Germany. After having completed high-school in Saarbrücken (Germany) and two years of “classes préparatoires” in Strasbourg (France), she joined Supelec, a top engineering school in the forefront of Energy and Information Science. During the years at Supelec, she was involved in different student organizations such as the Student Council and worked twice as an intern in Germany, mainly at DaimlerChrysler near Karlsruhe. Thanks to these experiences, she realized that she really enjoys working in multicultural environment. Therefore, she took advantage of the double degree opportunities of Supelec and went to Imperial College London where she got a Master of Science in Communications and Signal Processing in 2008.

TU München, Physik

Markus Trautwein was born in 1982 in Boeblingen in the south of Germany. In his studies at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) he majored in the fields of renewable energies and semiconductor sciences and received his physics degree in 2009. As a member of an entrepreneurial family he founded his first company even before finishing school. Before and during his academic studies he helped to develop the family business as well as gaining additional experience in other firms, ranging from small internet start-ups to large international companies like General Electric. In addition to his physics studies he was accepted in the 2004 Manage&More program at the TUM, an 18 month scholarship which focuses on fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and developing management skills. Believing in the combination of a scientific background and economics he joined the CDI as the logical next step.

TU München, Elektrotechnik / Nanyang Tech. Singapur

Tobias started his academic career as a student of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich, TUM) in 2003. He specialized in Automation and Control before he graduated in 2009. While he was a student, TUM sent Tobias to Singapore via its Laotse exchange programme. In Southeast Asia he continued his studies at Nanyang Technological University, where he could experience and appreciate the mindset and behaviour in a culture entirely new to him. Tobias worked in the Software Quality Engineering department of Philips Medical Systems, in the Product Management department of Knorr Bremse SfS and in the Purchasing department of BMW Asia.

TH Karlsruhe, Wirtschafsingenieur

Moritz was born in 1982 close to Frankfurt/Main in Germany. He has always been interested in engineering and economics and therefore decided to study Business Administration and Engineering at the Technical University of Karlsruhe. As a tribute to his passion for mobility and organizational structures, Moritz focused on automotive engineering and business organization during his studies. To get a deeper insight into automotive R&D-Processes, Moritz wrote his diploma thesis on new concepts for fuel efficient mobility in the development department at the Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany.

ENS Ulm

Guillaume is a very passionate man interested in wines, photography and most of all travelling. During the last four years he was a student of the École Normale Supérieure in which he studied computer science (especially machine learning and robotics), economics and finance. During this time, he did some internships at the robotics research center in Japan and in a few start ups (Hypios.com for example). He was also very active in the associative life and his time as president of the student association made him discover that he preferred managing a team rather than being stroked in technical work. That’s why he’s at the CDI undertaking a mission in the economic department of Réseau Ferré de France.

Universität Stuttgart, Maschinenbau

Michael Wolf grew up near Stuttgart, Germany. From an early age on, he was interested in various fields of technology. Therefore it was a necessary step to study mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart, starting in 2003. During his studies, Michael focused on production technology with the majors: logistics & material handling, manufacturing, engineering & management. To explore another culture, improve his English and apply his theoretical skills, Michael did an internship in New Zealand where he developed automation systems especially for the agricultural sector. Back home at the end of 2007 he continued working as a student assistant at a number of institutes at his university. Within these bounds, he published his first article. Michael finished his studies with a joint diploma thesis between the Institute for Industrial Engineering and Daimler AG. The subject was the identification of cost drivers in the press plant of Mercedes Benz.

TU München, Elektrotechnik / Multimedia University of Kuala Lumpur (MMU)

Ali was born in 1982 in Kuwait-City to Iraqi parents. After growing up in the UK, Kuwait and Baghdad his family moved to Munich where he finished high school and went on to obtain a B.Sc in Information Engineering from the Technology University of Munich (TUM) and a joint M.Sc in Communication Engineering from both the TUM and the Multi Media University of Kuala Lumpur (MMU) where he lead the debating team all the way to the quarter finals of the All Asian Intervarsity Debating Championships and ranked among the top 10 debaters out of 500 participants.