Alba Alfonso García was born in Barcelona in 1986. In 2009, she graduated in Physics from the University of Barcelona. From 2009 to 2011 she held a “La Caixa” — DAAD scholarship to pursue an MSc in Optics and Photonics in Karlsruhe, Germany. In her Master’s Thesis, she used biophotonic tools to address in vivo early wound response in the young zebrafish retina. In the summer of 2008, she was awarded a Caixa Catalunya — Summer Fellowship to work in a biophotonic group at ICFO — The Institute of Photonic Science, doing research based on the design and development of a polarization second hermonic generation microscope to characterize the content and structure of tissue. She collaborated with the same group the summer of 2009. In 2010 she did a summer Internship at Leica Microsystems on cell manipulation by pulsed fs/ps laser sources, in Mannheim (Germany), in the Applications Development Department. In 2011, she was awarded a Balsells Fellowship to pursue a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests are biomedical photonics and bio-imaging. She enjoys photography, travelling and swimming.
Miquel Batallé López was born in Arbúcies (Girona) in 1986. In 2010, he graduated from Escola Politècnica Superior (University of Girona) obtaining a degree in Industrial Engineering. During his senior year, Miquel spent five months at the University of Southern Denmark to develop his degree thesis, as well as taking a few courses, in the field of Robot Systems Engineering. Miquel has also had the opportunity of broadening his knowledge in his fields of interest through several professional internships. Upon finishing his degree, Miquel worked for one and a half years at the University of Girona, participating in the project NEXT—100, which involved many universities and research groups. The lead researchers were a group of physicists working on a neutrino experiment with a Xenon TPC. The University of Girona research group was in charge of designing several mechanical systems needed for the research experiments. In 2011, Miquel was awarded the Balsells—Girona fellowship to pursue a Master of Science degree at the University of California, Irvine, in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Miquel is interested in the field of robotic systems. Miquel enjoys listening to music, watching TV, hanging out with friends, playing all kind of sports, traveling and eating great food.
Carles Civit was born in Barcelona in 1986. He graduated from the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona (ETSEIB) in the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), where he obtained the degree of Industrial Engineer. He completed his Master’s Thesis in the System Design Engineering Department at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, where he developed, along with other peers, an adaptive living space for elder people. This thesis involved the development of activity recognition software, sensor’s data analysis and robot programming. He obtained the Jasso scholarship awarded by the Japanese Government in order to develop it. In the summer of 2011, he was awarded the Balsells fellowship to pursue graduate studies in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests are system design and robotics that can help people directly. During the time he spent in college, he was an active participant in multiple student associations (such as the Board of European Students of Technology). His main hobbies are photography, outdoor sports and travelling.
Raúl Díaz García was born in Sabadell (Barcelona) in 1983. He graduated in Computer Science Engineering in 2007 from the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria (ETSE) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Later in 2009, he received a Master’s degree in Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence from ETSE as well. His Master’s Thesis involved the application of computer vision in the logistics industry. He worked for SONY as a computer engineer and business consultant in the logistics IT department as well in the business IT department from 2006 to 2010. His work consisted of maintaining the logistics host environment and also consulting for SONY’s sales division. He joined the French logistics company CEPL from 2010 to 2011 after SONY subrogated its logistics division. He has also been a teacher assistant for several courses taught by the Centre de Visió per Computador (CVC) at UAB during the past two years. He was awarded a Balsells Fellowship in 2011 to pursue a PhD in Computer Science Engineering at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of UC Irvine. His main interests in research are computer vision and machine learning topics. He enjoys playing soccer (especially futsal), discovering new music bands and hanging out with friends.
Albert Jordà Juanós was born in Ascó (Tarragona) in 1987. He obtained a double degree in 2008: one in Aeronautical Engineering (specialization in air navigation systems) from Escola Tècnica Superior de Castelldefels (EPSC), and the other one in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering from Glyndŵr University (United Kingdom). He received an Erasmus fellowship to complete this double program in the UK. After that, he came back to Catalonia to continue studying, and in 2011 he graduated in Aeronautical Engineering from Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeries Industrial i Aeronàutica de Terrassa (ETSEIAT). During his studies, in the summer brakes, he complemented his engineering formation working for different local companies, such as ISTEM SLU, which focuses on engineering projects and provides integral services. In 2011 Albert was awarded a Balsells Fellowship to pursue a MS degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests are in fluid dynamics. In his spare time he enjoys playing sports like football or ski, travelling, meeting new people and getting to know other cultures.
Anna Papió Toda was born in Riudoms, Catalonia, in 1984. She was admitted in the CFIS (Centre de Formació Multidisciplinar Superior) double degree program and received a M.Sc. (Ing.) degree in electrical engineering (telecommunications engineering) and a M.Sc. (Ing.) degree in computer sciences from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Catalonia, both in 2009. From February 2006 to March 2008 she was a Research Assistant at the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, UPC, working on the topic of ultra—wideband (UWB) imaging and location systems. During July—August 2006, she was a Visiting Researcher at the Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik und Elektronik, Universität Karsruhe, Germany, where she worked on UWB antennas. From April to December 2008 she was an Intern at Broadcom Corporation, Irvine, California, where she completed her master thesis. Since January 2009 she has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, USA, pursuing her Ph.D. on the topic of 60GHz antennas for communications and positioning systems. In the summer of 2011 she was an Intern at Broadcom Corporation, working on the design of antennas in low cost substrates. Her research interests include antennas, wireless systems and imaging and scatterer location techniques. She was awarded the Holmes Endowed Fellowship in 2009, the Fundación Caja Madrid Fellowship in 2010 and 2011 and the Balsells Fellowship in 2012 to pursue her Ph.D. studies. She has authored more than 10 publications in journals and international conferences and received a honorable mention for Propagation and Antenna Measurements at the 4th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, Barcelona, April 2010. She enjoys travelling, reading and nature related activities.
Lluís Soler Segura was bor
n in Terrassa in 1986. In June 2009, he graduated from the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeria Industrial i Aeronàutica de Terrassa (ETSEIAT) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), obtaining the degree of Aeronautical Engineer. In 2009, he conducted his final degree thesis at Indra Systems, where he continued his career until 2011. During this period, he has been involved in the Single European Sky Program by collaborating on different projects related with the future European Air Traffic Management systems. He has also been working in the aerospace consulting division of Advanced Logistics Group, by participating in airport infrastructure planning projects. In 2011 Lluís was awarded a Balsells Fellowship to pursue an MS degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. His research interest is flight dynamics and aircraft systems engineering. He enjoys playing the bass guitar, practicing all kind of sports, travelling and meeting new cultures.