desto
Web dashboard & CLI for managing scripts in tmux sessions. Full-stack with real-time system monitoring, live log viewing, and script scheduling.
View on GitHub ↗About
Multidisciplinary computational scientist and software engineer at the intersection of Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Bioscience Engineering — with 10+ years of combined experience across academia, industry, and R&D. Passionate about building systems that turn complex data into actionable insight, from insect optical sensors to planetary-scale satellite imagery.
Experience
R&D Engineer · VITO Remote Sensing — AGES Team
Optimizing CORSA (VQVAE2) for satellite image compression on edge devices. Designing custom MLOps tooling for experiment tracking and GPU cluster job management.
R&D Engineer · VITO Remote Sensing — RSA Team
AI models for the EU Copernicus LCFM project (€11M). Global land cover maps at 10 m resolution. Cloud segmentation for quality-signal identification at planetary scale.
PhD Researcher & Postdoc · KU Leuven, Bioscience Engineering
Optical insect identification using AI and edge devices. Built a production AWS API and web dashboard. 5 publications in high-impact journals.
Data Scientist · Faktion (Industry)
Computer vision & signal processing for industry clients including Bridgestone, Aliaxis, and Vinci Energies. Won company hackathon on Activity Recognition.
Deep Learning Researcher · KU Leuven (Neurophysiology)
Modelling neurophysiological data using deep convolutional networks. 4 publications in top neuroscience journals.
Current focus — VITO Remote Sensing, AGES Team
Optimizing VITO's CORSA model — a lightweight VQVAE2 architecture for satellite image compression on edge devices.
🛰️ Satellite Images → 🔄 CORSA (Edge Compression) → 🖥️ On-Prem GPU Cluster
Also building internal MLOps tools for experiment tracking and GPU job scheduling.
Previously: EU Copernicus LCFM — global land cover at 10 m, updated annually.
🛰️ Sentinel Data → ☁️ AI Cloud Detection → 📊 Quality Composites → 🗺️ Global Land Cover
Projects
vresto
Python interface for Copernicus Sentinel data discovery. Interactive map search, dual OData/STAC backends, professional CLI and API.
View on GitHub ↗filoma
File organisation & management automation for ML datasets. Categorises and cleans large-scale research datasets, optimising pre-processing workflows.
View on GitHub ↗plakakia
High-performance Python image tiling for computer vision. Object detection/segmentation preprocessing with multiprocessing and NumPy.
View on GitHub ↗Home_Surveillance_with_Python
Edge AI motion detection surveillance system on Raspberry Pi with cloud-notified alerts.
View on GitHub ↗Publications
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2023
Towards automatic insect monitoring on witloof chicory fields using sticky plate image analysis
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2023
An introduction to artificial intelligence in machine vision for postharvest detection of disorders in horticultural products
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2022
Optical identification of fruitfly species based on their wingbeats using convolutional neural networks
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2022
A fresh look at computer vision for industrial quality control
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2021
Towards in-field insect monitoring based on wingbeat signals: The importance of practice oriented validation strategies
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2019
The ventral visual pathway represents animal appearance over animacy, unlike human behavior and deep neural networks
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2018
Representations of regular and irregular shapes by deep Convolutional Neural Networks, monkey inferotemporal neurons and human judgments
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2017
Shape selectivity of middle superior temporal sulcus body patch neurons
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2017
Representation of semantic similarity in the left intraparietal sulcus: functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence
PhD thesis (KU Leuven): View thesis ↗
Education
2018 – 2022
PhD in Bioscience Engineering · KU Leuven, Belgium 🇧🇪
Focus: optical insect identification using signal processing, computer vision, and AI/ML/DL.
2015 – 2017
PhD Research (Neurophysiology) · KU Leuven, Belgium 🇧🇪
Requirements fulfilled early; exited programme. Deep learning models of biological neural responses.
2013 – 2015
MSc Machine Learning · KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden 🇸🇪
Specialisation: Computational Neuroscience & Spiking Neural Networks. Thesis ↗
2009 – 2013
BSc Computer Science · Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 🇬🇷
Tech Stack
AI / ML / DL
Web & APIs
DevOps & Cloud
Data & Sensing