COLLOQUIUM 662
Physics-enhanced machine learning and data-driven nonlinear dynamics

28 April — 30 April 2026, Como, Italy

Early Career Invited Talk award

Excited to announce the Early Career invited Talk award winners (last updated on 9/3/2026):

  • Georgios Kissas, Swiss Data Science Center, ETH Zurich
  • Nicola Rares Franco, MOX Laboratory, Politecnico di Milano

Info about the winners:

Georgios

Georgios Kissas is a Senior Research Data Scientist at the Swiss Data Science Center of ETH Zurich. He holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (2023) and subsequently held a Post Doctoral Fellowship at the ETH AI Center, with joint appointments across Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering. His research focuses on deep learning algorithms for predicting the behavior of complex physical systems (neural operators, neurosymbolic AI) and discovering physics relations using formal languages (differential equations, constitutive models).

Georgios will present a contribution titled:

"Verifiable Scientific Discovery with Formal Grammars"

Nicola

Nicola Rares Franco is a postdoctoral researcher at the MOX Laboratory, in the Department of Mathematics of Politecnico di Milano. He obtained his master degree in Mathematics, at Università degli Studi di Milano, and his Ph.D. in Mathematical Models and Methods in Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. His current research focuses on the development of deep learning models for parameter-dependent partial differential equations, at the interface between artificial intelligence and numerical analysis.

Nicola will present a contribution titled:

"Learning adaptive basis representations for parametrized PDEs with Deep Orthogonal Decomposition"

Info about the award

We had a very strong field of applicants for the Early Career Invited Talk award. An independent committee had to make the very difficult decision of selecting two winners based on

  • The abstract submitted to the event
  • The statement written by each candidate
  • The letter of support submitted by the referee

The Early Career (EC) invited Talk award consists of:

  • 30 minutes invited talk, opening on day 2 or day 3
  • Free registration

Selection criteria

  • Early Career Researchers include: PhD students, Research Assistants and Research Associates
  • Quality of the submitted abstract
  • Supporting statement (500 words) written by the EC highlighting
    • Contributions in terms of research (journal or conference) papers and/or datasets and/or GitHub repository (or equivalent)
    • List of references/links
  • Supporting statement written by current/previous line manager (or supervisor) about:
    • Short description (300 words) of at least 2 significant previous research contributions of the EC to the research areas of the 662 colloquium

Deadline for submitting the early career supporting statements (same as the abstract): 15 February 2026 (now closed)

https://forms.gle/GtznsVojCCT5atLr7

We strongly encourage the Early Career to start drafting their own statement, and inform the person that will support their application.

Timeline:

The nominated referee will be contacted about providing a "Short description (300 words) of at least 2 significant previous research contributions of the EC to the research areas of the 662 colloquium" before the end of February (and after the abstract submission deadline.  So that the people that would be receiving the award will be notified before the registration deadline.