Honors
NASA Agency Group Award
The development team around the deep learning models of the Prithvi and INDUS family received the NASA Agency Group Award in summer 2025: For developing AI foundational models that enhance scientific analysis, facilitating breakthrough discoveries, and exemplifying collaborative innovation, setting new standards for transparency and scientific rigor in AI development.
NASA MSFC Honor Award
I received the NASA Honor Award from Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for my contributions to deep learning for earth observations in summer 2024.
IBM Significant External Honor
I was recognized with an IBM Significant External Honor in 2025 for my contributions in geospatial AI as part of our collaboration with NASA.
IBM Outstanding Accomplishment Award
My work on deep learning for weather and climate assessments have been awarded with an IBM Outstanding Accomplishment Award in 2024.
Tenure-Track Professorship Recommendation
I was fortunate enough to be recommended for a tenure-track professorship at a German university of excellence in winter 2024. I decided to stay in industry research.
Dissertation Award
My dissertation Data-Centric Artificial Intelligence: Foundations and Methods for Deep Learning was recognized as one of the most outstanding theses in Germany in 2024 by the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies.
Disseration Award Nomination
My thesis Data-Centric Artificial Intelligence: Foundations and Methods for Deep Learning has been nominated for a faculty-wide dissertation award by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
IBM Outstanding Accomplishment Award
In summer 2023, my contributions on pioneering deep learning to accelerate scientific discovery have been awarded with an IBM Outstanding Accomplishment Award in 2023.
Outstanding Dissertation
I defended my Ph.D. thesis with summa cum laude.
Best Paper Award at HHAI
Our paper on the interdependence of reliance behavior and accuracy in AI-assisted decision-making got awarded with the best paper award at HHAI’23! Find the paper here and the ranking here.
Best Paper Award Nomination at WI
Our paper on improving the efficiency of human-in-the-loop systems: adding artificial to human experts was nominated for the best paper award at WI’23 and is one out of four papers from the entire set of accepted papers that was selected for a thought-provoking session. Find the nomination here.
Scholarship for International Research on AI
I received a DAAD scholarship as part of my master’s thesis supporting research on AI in 2020.
Invited talks
This is an excerpt of recent invited talks I gave during conferences, workshops, and panels.
Invited keynote speaker at University of Oxford (2025)
I had the pleasure of giving a keynote at the Intelligent Earth Graduate School on large-scale generative multimodality for Earth observation.
Invited keynote speaker at CVPR (2025)
I had the pleasure of giving a keynote at CVPR MORSE on large-scale generative multimodality for Earth observation.
Invited lecturer at HDCRS (2025)
In a team of NASA and IBM researches, we gave a one-day workshop on TerraMind and Prithvi models.
Invited speaker and panelist at PASC (2024)
I contribute to the deep learning in earth systems sciences workshop at PASC’24 in Zurich! Find the workshop here.
Invited panelist at ICLR (2024)
I contribute to the data-centric machine learning research (DMLR) workshop at this year’s ICLR in Vienna! Find the workshop here.
Invited speaker at BIFOLD (2024)
Among other speakers from NASA, ESA, Google Research, Apple Research, etc., I contributed to the two-day workshop on Machine Learning and Data Management for Earth Observation as an invited speaker! Find the event here and a recording of my talk on YouTube.
Invited keynote speaker at IBM Think on Tour (2023)
As a special guest, I contributed to the keynote on generative AI for business and climate impact based on our work at IBM Research in collaboration with NASA. Find more information here.
Invited lecturer at NASA workshop (2023)
In a team of NASA and IBM researches, we gave a one-day workshop on data science at scale and geospatial deep learning. Find more information here.
Media coverage of past projects I have been involved in
International
Wall Street Journal
IBM and NASA Collaborate to Research Impact of Climate Change with AI. Article (Feb 1st, 2023)
Forbes
IBM AI Helps NASA Researchers Mine Earth Data. Article (Feb 1st, 2023)
Germany
Spektrum der Wissenschaft
NASA und IBM machen Geodaten-KI für alle zugänglich Article (August 7th, 2023)
BigData-Insider
Mit KI gegen die Folgen des Klimawandels Article (April 14th, 2023)