Congratulations to Dr. Jalal Etesami for his professorship position!

• Can you describe your career path in a few sentences?

I received two bachelor degrees from Isfahan university of Technology, Iran in 2009, one in electrical engineering and one in applied mathematics. Subsequently, I attended Jacobs university in Bremen, Germany for two years to pursue a master degree in electrical engineering. Finally, I received a PhD on the topic of causal inference from the department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2017 working with Prof. Kiyavash.

I enjoyed my time in Germany so much that I returned there as a research scientist at Bosch center for artificial intelligence (BCAI), developing self-driving vehicles and modeling complex environments. During this time, I realized that I miss teaching and the academic research environment. So I joined EPFL in 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher at the Computer Science department and college of Management of Technology working with my former Prof. Negar Kiyavash who had moved from US to EPFL and Prof. Matthias Grossglauser.

As of January 2023, I will join the technical university in Munich (TUM) department of informatics as an assistant professor.

• You’ve joined EPFL since 2020 in Negar Kiyavash’s chair, how was your work experience during that time?

My time at EPFL has been extraordinary, working with talented professors, researchers, and students. The environment is quite friendly and collaborative. Although, most of my time at EPFL coincided with the Pandemic and work from their home, EPFL made it as bearable and pleasant as possible. So I could continue doing my research and teaching activities.

• You’ve just been hired at TUM as an assistant professor, how did the hiring process go and what do you wish to accomplish there in the future?

The hiring process at TUM is quite similar to the other top universities. I applied for this position at the beginning of 2022 and after two rounds of interviews, both online and via Zoom, I was selected as the top candidate. After a round of negotiation with the president of TUM and the dean of Informatics (computer science) departments, I was very glad to accept their offer. I will start in January 2023 as a W2 assistant professor in computer science department.

• Besides research, do you have another passion or interest?

Well, I do have a lot of interests: )

I love sport: tennis, ski, beach volleyball, and swimming in the lake. I enjoy hiking especially in beautiful Switzerland and occasionally camping in the nature.

I also like traveling and I hit the road as soon as I find some free time : )