We have already published part of our mentor team on our web pages, but this is not the entire group of these genius people with whom you would have had a chance to collaborate at the Games. Alongside with the mentors from the academic community, mentors from various companies would have joined us and enriched problem-solving arenas with their industry knowledge. Who are they, where do they come from and what are their main projects, find out below!
Nikola Matulić
Nikola Matulić graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split, where he continued to work as an assistant in the courses Thermodynamics and Internal Combustion Engines. It was there that he began his doctoral studies, with focus on the development of digital twins, which he is now bringing to an end. During his studies, he was the head of the engine department in the Formula Student team for 3 years. After his studies, he continued his career in Graz, Austria, at AVL List Gmbh, where he worked for 6 years on the development of Hardware in the Loop technology for the purpose of calibrating control units for powertrain in cars. After the technology achieved success on the international market, he decided to transfer its share in the AVL-AST branch in Zagreb, where he has been based since October 2019. He leads a team that deals with calibration of real-time semi-physical models, development and parameterization of electronic components which in synergy with in-car control units form a virtual environment capable of, to a significant degree, migrating development and calibration work packages from real cars to Hardware in the Loop test stations. This allows car manufacturers to significantly accelerate development cycles accompanied by a reduction in operating costs.
"The biggest expectation of STEM Games is to meet young potentials and, given the technologically dynamic time, to learn in which development direction their energy is focused. With that knowledge, I hope to guide them with advice and, if possible, bring them closer to the area we are currently working on for the purpose of possible future employment. Either way, I expect a lot of fun in the Engineering Arena."
Matej Štambuk
Matej Štambuk was born in 1995 in Zagreb. He finished his secondary education in the XV gymnasium (MIOC) and in 2018 he obtained his master's degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. At the graduate studies, he decided to study Electrical Systems and Technologies. Even before he officially graduated, he got a job at Vertiv, where he still works today. He is a multiple state champion in orientation running in the younger age categories. With two colleagues, he participated in the SIM(P)ATIC PLC+ Challenge 2018, where they won a regional victory. As part of his master’s thesis, he converted his bicycle into an electric one, which he is very proud of and enjoys riding it even now.
"I am very sorry that this year's edition of the STEM Games was postponed due to the situation, because I find them extremely useful and interesting for students. In addition to the opportunity to learn and get to know better the current situation in our industry, I think that the Games are a very useful experience from which you can gain many new friendships and experiences that are remembered for a lifetime. I hope that next year Vertiv will once again have the opportunity to send a mentor to the STEM Games, and until then I wish everyone good health and a lot of success!"
Oliver Bleisinger
Oliver Bleisinger is a Researcher and Business Area Manager Automotive at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering. His research is focused on Virtual Validation in Model-Based Systems Engineering via Simulation and Machine Learning approaches. Specific application fields are Autonomous Driving and Industry 4.0 scenarios. He is also responsible for industrial partnerships in the automotive field and acts as management consultant for the division and department heads of the institute. He studied Automotive Engineering at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern and brings his knowledge about Virtual Product Development with him.
„The STEM Games connect what belongs together. Research and application belong together – that’s why young people with ambition for change belong to Fraunhofer! People like you!”
Currently working on:
"Individual production via Industry 4.0-solutions. We are focusing on solutions to make production more adaptable to the current needs of the customers (also important with regard to Corona, as a change in production could really save lives if it is for the purpose of medicine-production or the production of ventilators to support breathing). "
Ema Šimon
Ema Šimon is currently working as a Chief Analyst in the ISBD CRM Interaction team. She graduated from the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, majoring in Mathematical Statistics, and started working in the current team during her studies. She and her team are in charge of the business implementation of CRM processes and tools in ISBD banks, which includes all international banks (those outside Italy) in the Intesa Sanpaolo Group. In practice, this means working on the development of various complex processes in banks, which are basically all based on data, and using that data to predict and distribute the best offer for a given client at a given time. For example, she worked on the definition and implementation of processes and models related to the use of AI systems in bank branches, as an auxiliary tool for employees in offering the best product to customers. She is currently working on the business definition of a bank's analytical system based on Data Lake and the use of this data for the purpose of the Business Intelligence process and supervised and unsupervised learning.
"The main reason why I personally was really looking forward to STEM Games 2020 is to show students of technical and natural sciences that there is place for them in the bank to be creative, to use models, methodologies and technologies that are industry standards and to solve real business problems that have an impact on the entire organization. With the STEM background one can also work in the bank in business departments, which define processes and model, without the need to sacrifice technical skills and competencies."
Currently working on:
"An interesting project we are currently working on is finding the right set of technical tools that can be used to model the CRM process in ISBD banks, based on unstructured data. This system must work in real time and use incremental learning techniques, but at the same time it must not be too complex and should use transparent modeling methods, so that it can be easily explained to different stakeholders in the bank."
Marko Ivić
Marko Ivić is from Zagreb and he graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb (Department of Computing - Computer Science module). As a student, he started working on the maintenance and development of web applications in Metronet telecommunications, where he continued to work after graduation. After working as a web developer in Metronet, he became part of the Research and Development team in Privredna Banka Zagreb that worked on building a unique data platform that would be used for all areas of banking. His day-to-day work in his team includes working with the Hadoop stack components of the Clouder distribution that they use for the Fraud Management project, real-time storage of application logs and other data warehouse offload projects. In addition to his day-to-day work on establishing various data pipelines, he has participated in projects such as Data science in the field of credit risk assessment, blockchain applications in the field of banking and integration of various enterprise tools with the Hadoop ecosystem.
"[We want to] get closer to young, motivated and capable people and present PBZ to them as an employer that keeps pace with the latest technologies. Through mentoring in the Technology Arena and informal communication, we could motivate young people to start their careers right here with us."
Josip Vuger
Josip Vuger, after completing his studies in mathematics, began his professional career in Hanfa, in the part dealing with investment and pension funds. After that he went abroad, where he spent a total of 3 years. The first stop was New York, the Global Markets division of HSBC Bank, where he worked for one year. After that, back on the Old Continent, he worked in the treasury department in Dublin, in the companies Aon and LeasePlan. Eventually, nostalgia brought him back to Croatia, and now he works as a risk manager at Raiffeisen Bank.
"I was really looking forward to participating in the STEM Games, which were unfortunately cancelled. I hope to see you all next year! In the meantime, STEM students, we pin our hopes on your innovations ☺"
Iva Radočaj
Iva Radočaj was born and raised in Dalmatia, and the Engineering department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb brought her to the capital for the long term. Attracted by abstractions, but not by academic career, she completed a theoretical course after which she got a job at the Centre for Research, Development and Technology Transfer, University of Zagreb, where she learned a lot about the colorful world of innovations, that in a deficit of material resources can be the foundation for growth in every country. In 2015, she started working at RBA as an MIS (Management Information Systems) analyst - a job she didn't know existed until she saw the ad, and now she knows that it was a perfect fit. Today she is the chief of the MIS team, and their specialty is that in addition to the MIS process for RBA, through the Business Support Center they also provide MIS services for Raiffeisen Bank International (Austrian owner of RBA) and its branches in Austria.
"Dear students, coronavirus will pass, and knowledge and curiosity will remain. I am looking forward to meet you on another occasion. Now it's easy to drown in a sea of graphs and analysis of the epidemic, to feel a little superior because we knew about the exponential function "before it was cool" ;), but our colleagues from humanic fields have a lot of interesting things to say - what isolation does to us, how to deal with it more easily, what long-term impact could this pandemic have on the human psyche, and also on social freedoms. Don't forget them!"
Currently working on:
"As part of the MIS (Management Information System), which is used to calculate the profitability of the business, the unit price of the product is calculated - standard unit cost (SUC). SUC is an important indicator of product profitability, but also the productivity of individual departments in the bank. The MIS department regularly conducts analyzes and prepares reports for business departments, adjusts SUC parameters and conducts simulations as needed."