Five skills that define me

  1. Highly adaptable skillset
  2. Ability to become an expert
  3. Not being scared when nothing works
  4. Accepting to be wrong
  5. Being a solid teammate

1. Highly adaptable skillset

I designed my professional path in a way that allowed me to satisfy my curiosity, my passion to learn, and desire to encounter new environments. By doing so, I also proved my ability to quickly adapt and succeed in a broad range of diverse challenging conditions. Here are some examples:

  • Earned my MSc in Electrical Engineering from Télécom Paris (2007).
  • Traveled on my own through remote archipelagos in Indonesia for 7 months to surf some of the best waves in the world (2007).
  • Worked in financial markets for J.P. Morgan in London, selling and buying interest-rate derivative products for hedge funds throughout the 2008 financial crisis (2007-2010).
  • Obtained a scholarship to pursue a thesis-based MSc in Geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines (2011-2013), where I maintained a 4.0 GPA.
  • Was accepted to the Geophysics Ph.D. program at Stanford University (2013).
  • Won the award for Best Student Paper Presented at SEG 2019 Annual Meeting for my Ph.D. thesis work.
  • Developed expertise in Machine Learning and led a Deep Learning project in collaboration with the Stanford School of Medicine focusing on stroke imaging (2020-2021).

2. Ability to become an expert

I enjoy tackling new quantitative and technical problems that have practical applications. To achieve my goals, I fully commit to become the best I can be. My detailed-oriented mindset and competitiveness drive me to go in depth on all topics/activities that I focus on. From research problems to trail-running races, I enjoy the training and preparation that may lead to success.

3. Not being scared when nothing works

From a research perspective, I learned how to deal with uncomfortable and challenging situations where success is not guaranteed. In fact, in research, nothing ever works the first time (unless you are a genius or/and lucky). I believe the key is to (1) accept this fact, and (2) break down the problem into smaller subproblems, fix them with simple solutions, and gradually increase the complexity of the solutions.

4. Accepting to be wrong

This is the only approach to move forward in research (and I guess in life). I am not afraid to admit when I don't know (which occurs most of the time), and I try to find ways to challenge my ideas and detect all the possible flaws in my reasoning. This approach can be mentally exhausting (it hurts to realize you are totally wrong most of the time) but I believe it is very helpful to achieve anything useful.

5. Being a solid teammate

Fitting within an efficient team and contributing to its success is an amazing feeling and a very powerful tool. In fact, most of my professional achievements - especially my Ph.D. - could not have been done without teamwork, as I explain here.