New appointments for 2024-25: six new professors have been appointed at USI

Six new professors have been appointed at USI during the 2024-25 academic year. These appointments span the Faculties of Biomedical Sciences, Informatics, and Economics, introducing new expertise to their respective research and teaching fields.

The inclusion of new faculty members demonstrates the Università della Svizzera italiana's dedication to improving the quality of scientific research and excellence in teaching. These six new appointments will enhance the educational offerings and support the development of innovative projects, aligning with the growth of the faculties. The profiles of the new faculty members are as follows:

Mattia Arrigo – Full Professor, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences

Currently serving as the Deputy Head Physician at the Internal Medicine Clinic of Stadtspital Zürich Triemli, he will assume the role of Head Physician of the Internal Medicine Department at Ospedale Regionale di Lugano on 1 November 2025, succeeding Prof. Marco Pons. A graduate in Medicine from Zurich, with a PhD and specialisation in General Internal Medicine and Cardiology, he has gained experience in France and Switzerland, holding positions of increasing responsibility at Stadtspital Zürich Triemli. Since 2020, he has also been a lecturer at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). An accomplished author, he has published over one hundred scientific papers and possesses significant expertise in acute cardiology and heart failure. Additionally, he currently serves as the president of the European Society of Cardiology's European Working Group on Acute Heart Failure.

Thomas Greuter – Associate Professor, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences

He is the Head of the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Department at Ospedale Regionale di Lugano (EOC). He has gained clinical and academic experience at various institutions, including the CHUV in Lausanne, the Stadtspital in Zurich, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, where he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. As an FMH specialist in general internal medicine and gastroenterology with a focus on hepatology, he obtained his teaching qualification from the University of Zurich, where he taught and supervised theses. He has also held teaching positions at the University of Lausanne and is the author of numerous scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

Daniela Lenggenhager – Associate Professor, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences

She graduated in medicine from the University of Zurich, where she also obtained her doctorate, and is an FMH specialist in pathology with in-depth training in cytopathology. Throughout her career, she has conducted clinical and research work in St. Gallen, Baden, Bellinzona, and the University Hospital of Zurich. Since 2022, she has served as the head of the Cytopathology Unit and department head at the University Hospital of Zurich. To further enhance her expertise, she has completed training stints in the USA and Norway. In 2022, she also obtained her qualification as a lecturer in Zurich. She is actively involved in teaching at the Faculties of Medicine at both the University and ETH Zurich and is responsible for the specialised training of resident doctors. In May 2026, she will succeed Prof. Dr. med. Luca Mazzucchelli as the Head of Pathology at the EOC Cantonal Institute of Pathology. She has authored over 40 peer-reviewed articles, has spoken at national and international conferences, and is a member of various scientific societies. Her research primarily focuses on translational pathology.

Theresa Langenmayr – Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics

She earned her doctorate from the University of Zurich, where she later conducted postdoctoral research. She enhanced her training by spending time as an Academic Visitor at Bayes Business School in London and Saïd Business School in Oxford. Additionally, she gained professional experience at BMW and the World Health Organisation. Her research focuses on open strategy, inter-organisational collaboration, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion, utilising approaches grounded in sensemaking and discourse theory. She has authored articles in leading journals, including the Strategic Management Journal and Organization Theory, and has spoken at international conferences. Furthermore, she has received several academic awards and honours, including the Academy of Management's Community Service Award in 2024.

Francis Engelmann – Assistant Professor, Faculty of Informatics

He holds a PhD in Computer Vision from RWTH Aachen University, with research stays at Google X, Google Research Zurich and Apple. He was a postdoc at Stanford University, and previously a postdoctoral fellow at the ETH Zurich AI Center, as well as a visiting researcher at Google AR Zurich. His interests include computer vision, machine learning and advanced understanding of 3D scenes. Author of numerous articles in leading conferences (CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICRA, SIGGRAPH Asia), he has received awards such as outstanding reviewer and best paper award. He is area chair at international computer vision conferences.

Heather Miller – Associate Professor, Faculty of Informatics

With a PhD in informatics from EPFL under the supervision of Martin Odersky, she has developed her career in both academic research and industry. After gaining experience at the Scala Center in Lausanne and Northeastern University, she has been serving as Vice President and Research Scientist at Two Sigma Investments in New York since 2022, in addition to her role as an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Her work focuses on programming languages, distributed systems and, more recently, the programming of composite artificial intelligence systems. She co-founded the Web Assembly Research Centre, has published numerous papers in international conferences and journals. Additionally, she has played a prominent role in the Scala open source community. In 2023, she received the Dahl-Nygaard Junior Prize for her scientific contributions. In the 2024-2025 academic year, she will become the second individual to hold a chair at USI, funded by the Aldo and Cele Daccò Foundation, following Professor Lonneke van der Plas, who specialises in Natural Language Processing.

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USI is also pleased to congratulate and officially welcome thirteen new adjunct professors. Their names are listed below:

• Marcel Bergmann - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Marco Bongiovanni - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Anna Castelnovo - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Bernhard Gerber - Adjunct professor at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Francesco Marchi - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Barbara Muoio - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Tardu Özkartal - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Anna Giulia Pavon - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Federico Pedersoli - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Ricardo Pereira Mestre - Private lecturer at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Roger Arthur Zwahlen - Adjunct professor at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
• Luca Crivelli - Adjunct professor at the Faculty of Economics
• Rolf Krause - Adjunct professor at the Faculty of Informatics

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Finally, USI also congratulates the seven professors who are already members of the academic staff on their respective promotions. Their new positions are as follows:

• Muck Petzet - Full professor at the Academy of Architecture
• Sara Greco - Full professor at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
• Annegret Hannawa - Full professor at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
• Colin Porlezza - Associate professor at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
• Jean-Patrick Villeneuve - Full professor at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society
• Fabrizio Colella - Senior Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics
• Gabriele Bavota - Full Professor at the Faculty of Informatics