Institut fédéral de recherches sur la forêt, la neige et le paysage WSL
Fonction
Collaborateur technique
Unité
Groupe
Contact
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF
Flüelastrasse 11
7260 Davos Dorf
Site
SLF Davos Da B 1 13
Research Interests | Applied snow science & Sports engineering My work in applied snow science focuses on how snow interacts with equipment, structures and people. This ranges from investigating snow mechanics and its influence on the friction of skis, snow adhesion and the icing of infrastructure such as train pantographs, the role of snow conditions and jump design in snow sport injuries, as well as how snow properties governs gas transport in snow as a factor in avalanche burial survival. A second focus is the physics and practice of snowmaking, slope grooming and snow storage, including water losses during snow production, with a strong emphasis on knowledge transfer to ski resorts and international sports federations. I also develop field instruments for snow characterization, such as the InfraSnow to quantify the microstructure of snow. |
Professional experience - Projects | |
Research Engineer 2022 - now | Snow Physics Group at SLF/WSL |
Scientific staff member Group Industrial Projects & Snow Sports at SLF 2009 - 2018 | Investigating the role of snow conditions for snow sports injuries Running cold lab infrastructures: Support SLF students, research guests and colleagues with cold lab experiments Lecturer Snow Science Winter School 2026: Snow Sports and Industry Guest Lecturer at ETH Zürich, CMAS Lab: Ski testing and simulation Development of snow instruments in cooperation with FPGA Company GmbH Attendance at the Olympic Games as snow temperature forecaster Snow-How transfer: Handbook of slope preparation and grooming Development of a "zero-energy" snow gun Scientific / technical support of the swiss national xc-team Consulting: Snow making potential, snow farming planning and monitoring |
Trainee 2008 | Measurements of mechanical properties of racquets and strings |
Student assistant 2006-2008 | Biomechanics of rhythmic gymnastics Engineering of sport equipment (CAD) |
Academic Education | |
2018 - 2024 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) | PhD (Dr.-Ing.): Institute of Applied Materials - Material Science & Engineering (IAM - WK) The influence of snow physical properties on the ski-snow friction: From real scale measurements on skis to investigations of fundamental processes on the microscale |
2004 - 2009 University of Magdeburg | Sports Engineering (Dipl. -Sporting.), University Magdeburg Focus: Materials & Product Development
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2001 -2003 TU Hamburg | Business Engineering, TU Hamburg |