Hi, I’m Luis!

I’m a PhD student in the Remote Sensing of Environmental Change (RSE) group at the University of Zurich, working with Livia Piermattei and Hendrik Wulf. My research combines optical and SAR satellite imagery with deep learning to map glaciers across the European Alps and beyond.

What draws me to this work is the combination of environmental urgency and technical challenge. Glaciers are among the clearest indicators of climate change, yet they are challenging targets to map. This is particularly true where debris cover makes them nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. In my PhD, I focus particularly on improving the automated mapping of debris-covered glaciers.

I hold a BSc and MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, and wrote my master's thesis at ETH Zurich on applying deep learning to historical water storage reconstruction. I now apply these technical skills to an environmental problem I care about.

Outside the office, I spend time hiking or mountain biking in the Alps, my preferred form of ground truth collection.