Biography

Experience

SOFTWARE ENGINEER, BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS: ETH (Zurich, CH), 2019 - present

Created a "Google of DNA" - indexed all publicly available DNA sequences. Worked on algorithms for efficient processing and compression of DNA.

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: Daedalean AG (Zurich, CH), 2017 – 2019

Leading a team of physicists, mathematicians, roboticists and software engineers who aim to build the world’s first certified robotic pilot. Significant individual contributions to Daedalean’s vision-based localization system.

SENIOR STAFF ENGINEER: Google (Zurich, CH), 2005 – 2017

Initiated and led several significant projects: YouTube syndication, YouTube on TV/Chromecast, YouTube Live Streaming, Travel Intelligence.

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: Delsyne Software (Brasov, RO), 2002 – 2004

Co-founded the company, built and led the engineering team. Developed an online management system for ThyssenKrupp.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR: Transylvania University (Brasov, RO), 1997 – 2003

Taught numerous programming, algorithm and data structure courses.

Education

PhD in Computer Science: Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca, RO), 2000 – 2005

Cum Laude. Developed a genetic algorithm and new genetic operators to solve constrained scheduling problems.

MSc in Applied Mathematics : Transylvania University (Brasov, RO), 1997-1998

10.00 GPA (out of 10).

BSc in Computer Science : Transilvania University (Brasov, RO), 1993-1997

9.93 GPA (out of 10), Valedictorian.

Awards

Numerous awards in national computer science competitions.

Books

D. Danciu, G. Mardale: THE ART OF JAVA PROGRAMMING Vol I and II, 2005 (ISBN 9736501221, 9789736501227)

Languages

English (fluent, C2), German (fluent, C1), Romanian (native), Hungarian (native), French (rusty)

Selected Projects

Metagraph - ETH (2020) A search engine that indexed all the publicly available DNA.

VPS - Daedalean AG (2017-19) A visual positioning system for guiding an aircraft in GPS-denied environments. Combines direct and indirect SLAM, sensor fusion and global localization methods to create a fast, reliable, visual replacement for GPS.

YouTube Cast - Google (2010-15) Created the first prototype that demonstrated the ability to “project” YouTube videos on a TV. After persuading stakeholders of the project’s viability, I built the team, wrote significant parts of both the server-side pairing and routing and client-side control. Defined the protocol for client-server communication which became a de-facto standard in the industry (http://www.dial-multiscreen.org/), used by all major TV manufacturers and Chromecast. Defined and implemented an innovative protocol for authentication transfer between mobile devices and TVs. Four patents granted for this project.

YouTube Syndication - Google (2006-2009) Initiated and led the team responsible for syndicating YouTube to other devices (e.g. TVs, mobile phones). Worked with Apple on the first YouTube App for iPhone. Defined and implemented the APIs that 3rd parties use to access YouTube’s content.