The following describes what I am doing these weeks/months as of 21st June 2026 (What is a “now page”?). It is not a summary of my overall work. For more general information, see About.
Job-related #
CMS Inner Tracker Upgrade #
For the upgrade of the CMS Detector, specifically the Inner Tracker pixel detector, I am currently working on database-related tasks. I have built a new web app that allows storing of (calibration) information in parallel to the central detector construction and assembly database (DCA). Recently, I also learned how to assemble pixel detector modules, i.e. wire-bond a flexible PCB, the so-called high-density interconnect (HDI) to a bare module (consisting of silicon sensors bump-bonded to read-out chips). Whenever a module is glued, assembled, tested, coated etc., we need to keep track of this in the DCA database. To facilitate this, I have built a web application to do this using the browser instead of having to run and manually adjust python scripts.
Open Science #
The work in the Open Research Data Sounding Board Researchers, where I advised various bodies in Switzerland on the implementation of the Action Plan of the Swiss National Strategy Open Research Data has come to an end, at least in its current form. However, I expect that this work will continue directly as part of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. In this way, we will be able to continue to award the National Prize for Open Research Data where I headed the jury last year.
I am currently the chair of the CERN Open Science Practitioners Forum and its representative to the CERN Open Science Steering Board. Together with the CERN Open Science Office, I have already organised four meetings this year that all had a specific topic.
At the end of last year, I obtained some funding through the ETH Domain ORD Programme. With this, I managed to hire a student to work with me on Open Educational Resources for Particle Physics. You can see the current project status on Github.
Physics Analysis #
I am co-supervising PhD students and postdocs at PSI trying to measure the production of a Higgs boson in association with a charm quark. This also involves the reconstruction of charm quark decays using machine-learning methods. In the second half of 2025, together with a PhD student and in collaboration with the particle physics theory group at PSI, I have started to work on feasibility studies for a possible future circular collider (FCC), focussing on rare Higgs boson decays.
Computing #
The project with the Swiss Data Science Centre with the goal of being able to use the Renku platform also on premises and for large-scale computing has come to a conclusion. The main result is that Renku can now directly make use of resources at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre CSCS.
Since the beginning of this year, I am the chair of the Computing Board of the Swiss Institute of Particle Physics CHIPP. As such, I have the oversight over the WLCG Tier-2 running on the Alps Cluster at CSCS.
Detector Operations #
In April and May, I did another two weeks of shifts as CMS Run Field Manager. In this role, I am responsible for the daily organisation and operation of the experiment.
Life-Long Learning #
I recently completed the course on research management at the University of Bern. My thesis, written in German, has the title “Von der Personalauswahl zur Team- und Projektintegration: ein Konzept für Rekrutierung und Einarbeitung in Forschungsgruppen” (From personnel selection to team and project integration: a concept for recruting and getting started in research groups).
Personal #
I play volleyball in the PSI sports club. I recently was appointed co-president of the volleyball section. I am exploring the use of LLMs for programming. One project that I have created with the help of OpenAI’s Codex is called ContextGlide, a macOS program written in Swift that automates Mac computers (e.g. (un)mute speakers), set Mattermost and Slack status etc. based on external signals (context) such as current Wi-Fi, attached USB devices, and calendar entries.