Unit
EssentialTech - Administration
CenterRelated people (14)
Klaus Benedikt Schönenberger
Vision: Scientific research and technology development can be mobilized to help the poorest and most vulnerable in this world. Klaus Schönenberger obtained an MSc in Microengineering (1993), followed by a PhD (1996) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). After a post-doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, he spent over 10 years in the medical devices industry in leading positions such as Vice-President of Worldwide R&D in a 1bn company. In 2009, as he was working for a medical devices company, he received a shock: he realized that there is a huge imbalance in access to medical technology in industrialized versus low and middle-income countries. After a closer look, he discovered that he imbalance’s main cause is a mismatch between existing technologies and business models, with those needed in low and middle-income countries. He decided to leave industry and, in 2009, he co-founded the EssentialMed Foundation, an innovative non-profit venture. In 2011, realizing that both technology and business models needed a profound rethinking, he joined EPFL where he launched EssentialTech, an initiative inspired by the philosophy of EssentialMed but expanded to a much wider portfolio of "essential" technologies. The university-wide program aims to develop innovative technologies and business models, for the benefit of sustainable development in low and middle-income countries. In this role, he has already launched and overseen a dozen large projects. Major Humanitarian actors such as the ICRC, MSF and Terre des Hommes took notice of the innovative approach proposed, and decided to collaborate in 2015-2016. This has resulted notably in the joint creation between EPFL and ICRC, of the Humanitarian Tech Hub at EPFL. In May 2017, Klaus directed and launched a MOOC(Massive Open Online Course) entitled “Technology Innovation for Sustainable Development” which aims to spread the unique methodology and approach worldwide. As of today, more than 6000 people have enrolled. In 2018 a first spin-off company was created. Award winning Pristem SA will deploy an innovative new digital xray imaging system, specifically designed for low-income contexts. In December 2018, the creation of the EssentialTech centre was announced by EPFL's presidency, and Klaus is now the Centre's director. Another spin-off of the EssentialTech Centre is the company HMCare, launched in 2020, which is deploying a transparent surgical mask.
Cara Christine Tobin
CARA C. TOBIN, PE
Civil Engineer
EDUCATION
PhD in Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Fulbright Fellowship
01/2007-present
Master's in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship Recipient
06/2001
Bachelor's in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Fellow
06/1999
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Department of Environmental Engineering, Lausanne, Switzerland, MINERVE2011
· Research on Predicting floods and managing hydropower in the Swiss Alps. Project includes improving knowledge of hydrological processes and conducting uncertainty analysis.
10/2007 - present
Asian Development Bank: World Bank, Baku, Azerbaijan
· Environmental engineering specialist in charge of reviewing environmental aspects of water supply and wastewater discharge designs. Environmental Assessments Performed and managed the local environmental, social and resettlement specialists.
02/2009 - 07/2009
Asian Development Bank / World Bank, Yerevan, Armenia
· Environmental engineering specialist for the assessment of water supply designs. Performed Environmental Assessments and Resettlement due diligence.
01/2008 - 04/2008
Temple University, Department of Civil Engineering, Philadelphia, USA
· Adjunct Professor for Environmental Engineering,
Introduction to the Environment and Environmental Engineering
10/2005-06/2006
CH2M HILL, Environmental Engineering Consultancy, Philadelphia, USA
· Project leader for river discharge ammonia toxicity study
· Engineer in charge of over $ 100,000 in WWTP design upgrades
10/2004-06/2006
MWH Ltd., Environmental Engineering Consultancy, Christchurch, NZ and Brisbane, AU
Leader hydraulic engineer for major components of a $ 150 million wastewater and desalination project
· Head shape for a dozen water and groundwater projects
02/2003-09/2004
Kennedy / Jenks Consultants, Civil Engineering Consultancy, San Francisco, USA
· Environmental engineer in charge of Drinking Water Source Assessments and water quality sampling programs
08/2001-01/2003
Stanford Environmental Fluid Mechanics Lab, USA
· Developer of a 3D computer model simulating turbulent mixing at lateral boundaries due to steepening and breaking of internal waves
08/2000-06/2001
Georgia Instititute of Technology, Civil Engineering Labs, USA
· Analyzed influence of copper sorption rates on particle flocculation kinetics
Developed turbulence · PIV experiments in hydraulic flume
06/1998-06/2000
AFFILIATIONS and SPECIALIZATIONS
. Fluent en Anglais et Français, proficient in Spanish
· Professional Civil Engineer (PE072050), ASCE, AGU, Fulbright Alumnus
· Experienced with ArcGIS, Matlab, R Statistical Analysis, MapInfo, MODFLOW, H2OMap, AutoCAD, Idrisi, Unix / Lenox, Fortran, NetCDF, Visual Basic