Prof. Dr. sc. nat. Michael Schaepman (b. 1966) studied geography, experimental physics, and informatics at the University of Zurich and earned his doctoral degree at the Department of Geography of UZH in 1998. Following postdoctoral work at the University of Arizona in Tucson, USA, he returned to the UZH Department of Geography in 2000 to head up a research group. In 2003, Michael Schaepman was appointed professor of geographic information science at the Department of Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University (Netherlands), where as of 2005, he was academic head of the Center for Geoinformation. He has been professor of remote sensing at the Department of Geography (Remote Sensing Laboratories) at the University of Zurich since 2009.

His research priorities include Earth observation, remote sensing, and spectroscopy to measure biodiversity from space. Michael Schaepman was appointed Vice Dean and then Dean of the Faculty of Science in 2014 and 2016, respectively. As Vice President for Veterinary Medicine and Science, he has been responsible, among other things, for the Research, Innovation and Academic Career Development division since August 2017. Since 2018 his position was Vice President of Research, and since August 1, 2020 he is serving as president of the University of Zurich.

Prof. Dr. Michael Schaepman is currently serving as President at the University of Zurich.

His personal website as member of the Executive Board at the University of Zurich:

https://www.uzh.ch/de/about/management/unileitung/president.html

Michael E. Schaepman

Prof. Dr. sc. nat., President and Professor of Remote Sensing

Dept. of Geography, Remote Sensing Laboratories

University of Zurich

Winterthurerstrasse 190

CH – 8057 Zurich, Switzerland

https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=w_DZ9_wAAAAJ

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-9565

http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-9213-2009

 

Education

1991     University of Zurich (Switzerland), Experimental Physics, BSc

1994     University of Zurich (Switzerland), Geography, MSc (dipl. geogr.)

1998     University of Zurich (Switzerland), Natural Sciences, PhD (Dr. sc. nat.)

 

Employment history including current position(s)

2019–present	Affiliated Scientist, Caltec/NASA JPL, USA
2018–present	Vice President of Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2014	Visiting Research Scientist, Caltec/NASA JPL, USA
2009–present	Full Professor of Remote Sensing, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2005–2009	Scientific Manager, Centre for Geoinformation, Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), The Netherlands
2003–2009	Full Professor of Geoinformation Science with special attention to Remote Sensing, Environmental Sciences Group, Wageningen University (WU), The Netherlands
2000–2003	Project Manager for APEX at ESA and University of Zurich, Switzerland
1999–2000	Postdoc, Optical Science Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

 

Institutional responsibilities

2020–present	President of Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2018–2020	Vice President of Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2017–2018	Vice President of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2016–2017	Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2014–2016	Vice Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2013–present	Director, University Research Priority Program ‘Global Change and Biodiversity’, University of Zurich, Switzerland
2017–present	Register of professional activities and interests: https://www.uzh.ch/prof/ssl-dir/interessenbindungen/client/web/S

 

Approved research projects

2018–2026	Remotely Sensing Ecological Genomics, Private Foundation, PI
2018–2025	Airborne Research Platform for the Earth System (ARES), UZH, NASA JPL/Caltech, and 7 institutions, PI
2017–2020	globDiversity, ESA STSE, PI, http://www.globdiversity.net
2017–2020	Live Better with Biodiversity! SNF Agora, PI, http://p3.snf.ch/project-171647, http://biodiversitymeanslife.ch/
2013–2024	University of Zurich Research Priority Program on ‘Global Change and Biodiversity’, UZH, PI, http://www.gcb.uzh.ch
2009–2020	Airborne Prism Experiment – a next generation imaging spectrometer for the Earth system, ESA Prodex, PI, http://www.apex-esa.org

 

Supervision of junior researchers at graduate and postgraduate level

PhD (in order of time, co-supervision in italic): Ulrich Beisl, Peter Keller, Mathias Kneubühler, Stephan Bojinski, Gabriela Strub, Benjamin Koetz, Zbynek Malenovsky, Jason Brazile, Allard de Wit, Yuan Zeng, Raul Zurita Milla, Xiaomei Jin, Harm Bartholomeus, Michael Jehle, Sander Mucher, Mozghan Abbasi, Jochem Verrelst, Francesco Dell’Endice, Othmar Frey, Andreas Hueni, Felix Seidel, Daniel Odermatt, Petra D’Odorico, Rogier de Jong, Valerie Laurent, Titia Mulder, Daniel Henke, Lucie Homolova, Lucia Yanez, Philip Jörg, Lukas Zuberbühler, Christof Knoeri, Karim Lenhard, Anna Schweiger, Reik Leiterer, Hossein Torabzadeh, Jörg Weyermann, Johann Müller, Christophe Magnard, Inge Juszak, Irene Garonna, Parviz Fatehi, Yana Yankova, Eugenie Paul-Limoges, Madlene Nussbaum, Marta Gomez, Sanne Diek, Daniela Braun. Ongoning: Xie Jing, Elias Mendez, Chengxiu Li, Daniel Kükenbrink, Jonas Böhler, Meinrad Abegg, Fabian Schneider, Alejandra Parreno, Gillian Milani, Carla Guillen, Zhaoju Zheng, Simon Trim, Christian Rossi, Julia Menk, Noel Gorelick, Julian Fagir, Emiliano Caslani

Postgraduate: Rogier de Jong, Max Frioud, Silvia Garbari, Giulia Ghielmetti, Daniel Henke, Philip Jörg, Andreas Hüni, Mathias Kneubühler, Cornelia Krug, Erich Meier, Morana Mihaljevic, Felix Morsdorf, Claudia Röösli, Adrian Schubert, David Small, Hendrik Wulf, Jan Clevers, Lammert Koositra, Alexander Damm, Johannes Kaiser, Miina Rautiainen, Matti Mottus, Glenda Garcia Santos, Felix Seidel, Edoardo Alberti, Veruska Mucchione, Debra Zuppinger-Dingley, Devis Tuia, Jia Guorui, Anko Börner, Felix Stumpf

 

Teaching activities (summary information)

Courses taught at UZH, ETH, University of Arizona, and Wageningen University. Guest courses taught at ETH, Utrecht University, ITC Twente University. Awarded several prices as ‘Teacher of the Year’, ‘Best Teacher’ and several second and third rankings at Wageningen University and UZH.

 

(Past) Memberships in panels, boards, etc., and individual scientific reviewing activities

ESA ESAC member, ESA Mission Advisory Group (MAG) member (LSPIM, SPECTRA, Sentinel-2, CHIME)

Detailed list: https://www.uzh.ch/prof/ssl-dir/interessenbindungen/client/web/S

Reviewer for major peer reviewed journals in the field, including (but not limited to) Global Change Biology, PNAS, Nature, Remote Sensing of Environment, IEEE TGRS, IEEE JSTARS, Ecological Indicators, Ecological Applications, etc. Reviewer for major institutions and scientific organisations (such as ESA, German DFG, Swiss NSF, US NSF, UK NERC, Netherlands NWO and NSO, etc.)

 

Active memberships in scientific societies, fellowships in renowned academies

IEEE, Senior member; FutureEarth, Director Global Research Project, Affiliated Scientist Caltech / NASA JPL

 

Organisation of conferences

Organizer and co-organizer of several conferences for IEEE, Earsel and SPIE, Convenor and Chair World Biodiversity Forum 2020

 

Entrepreneurial Activities

Co-founder (1994), co-owner (1996), board member (1996–2015), and president of the board (2002–2009) of Netcetera AG and Netcetera Holding AG in Zurich. Netcetera specializes in mission critical software design. Member of various foundations and boards related to innovation and entrepreneurship (Innovationspark Dübendorf, startup@UZH, bluelion, Technopark AG, etc.). Initiator of the UZH Innovation Hub, clustering thematic innovation and entrepreneurial activities of the University of Zurich

 

Research Output List

https://scholar.google.ch/citations?user=w_DZ9_wAAAAJ