Kilian Wasmer heads the Dynamical Processes group and deputy head at the Laboratory for Advanced Material Processing at Empa. He started his career with an apprenticeship of mechanics in Sion (Switzerland). Then, in 1999, he received two BSc diplomas in mechanical engineering; one from the Applied University of Sion (Switzerland) and one from the Applied University of Soest (Germany). Also in 1999, he joined Imperial College London, in the UK, as a research assistant with a Switzerland-European Mobility Programme (SEMP) scholarship. He stayed in the mechanical engineering department from Imperial College London until he obtained his PhD degree in 2003. In 2014, he received an EMBA from HEC Lausanne of University of Lausanne. He has been a regular lecturer in the ETH domain, University of applied sciences as well as in continuous education courses and PhD Schools since 2007.
He joined Empa in 2004 as postdoc working in the field of nanoindentation and micromechanics. His current research focuses on the fundamental understanding of high dynamical processes. In other words, he is interested to investigate the interaction of any kind of tool with any kind of material but in real-time. His research includes the fields of tribology, fracture mechanics, all kind of laser processing, machining of materials, etc. The strategy adopted to be successful is to combine specific, various but complementary in-situ methods such as optical and acoustic emission sensors, high-speed camera, etc. with high level signal and image processing based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. He is author and co-author of around 100 publications and 4 patents from which 3 in quality control of industrial processes.