In 2007, I developed a web-based energy-monitoring device that then morphed into eGauge Systems LLC, where I continue to be president.
From Sep. 1997 to July 2005 , I was a member of the technical staff in HP Research Labs.
I hold a professional degree as an Electronics Engineer, an HTL Diploma (BSc degree) in Computer Science from HTL Brugg-Windisch (now called Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz), Switzerland and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from University of Arizona. I used to be a voting member of ACM, IEEE Computer Society, and USENIX.
I grew up in a tiny Swiss town called Niederweningen. My wife wrote a short article on Niederweningen based on our 1993 trip to Switzerland. A reprint of this article can be found here.
After going through elementary and secondary school in Niederweningen, I entered a four year apprenticeship with Brown-Boveri Company (now, Asea Brown-Boveri) in Baden. During that time, I was also an active boy scout and spent a lot of time skiing, climbing, and hiking in the Swiss Alps. Here is a picture of two of my friends and me on the summit of Piz Buin (I'm the guy in the middle, in case you can't tell ;-). This enjoyable life took a brisk turn when I entered the compulsory Swiss military service in the year of 1986. After that "interesting" experience ended, I was really glad to enroll at the HTL in Brugg-Windisch with the hope of obtaining a Computer Science degree. The HTL experience went really well and I liked it enough that I started to consider continuing higher education in the US. After graduating from the HTL, I worked at Glance Ltd both to gain some practical experience and to save money for my planned studies. In late 1990, I applied to several US universities and, among others, got admitted to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rice University, and University of Arizona in Tucson. Weighing all the factors, I eventually decided for Tucson. At the end of July 1991, I thus boarded a plane to Arizona, looking forward to an exciting life in a new country.
The first semester at the UofA was rather stressful with all the new things, new language, and new culture to cope with. But despite being hellishly busy, I enjoyed my time there and also had the great fortune of meeting a lovely lady called Ning, who later became my wife. As time went on, I graduated with a Masters degree in 1993 and, finally, a PhD in 1997.
Job search in the early 1997 turned out to be a rather interesting excercise. The market was hot and thus I soon travelled the US North and South and East and West in search of the next grand challenge. I considered both startup companies and research labs, but, in the end, HP Labs in the Silicon Valley edged out over its competitors and I soon found myself moving to a new home in Fremont, California.
[Back]
