Kostas Vlachos

Earth Observation

Personal Website

My story

...in short

I’m Kostas, I was born in Patras, Greece and throughout highschool I was highly passionate about physics with a special interest in astro- and nuclear physics. By the end of my school years I also showed interest in programming which was the reason why I chose to study Informatics at Ionian University, Greece. However, I realized that programming in terms of building applications was not for me, so after two years I switched to Geology at University of Patras, Greece. At the latest years of my BSc I’ve started feeling a thirst for quantification and visualization of data, so after the suggestion of my supervisor I chose a BSc thesis topic related to geospatial ecology.
By the end of my BSc thesis I felt that I needed to get my scientific programming and math skills to the next level and at the same time keep an open line between following a career in industry and academia. Combined with my excitement in spatial analysis and desire to see the general picture – which I discovered during BSc thesis – I chose to study Geoscience & Remote Sensing at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. During the MSc I found out that I’m attracted to discovering patterns by not only exploring but also analyzing them using machine learning. Along with trying to fulfill my need to experience the industrial sector, this was the reason why I did an internship in data science using remote sensing data at Deltares, an Applied Research Institute for Water in the Netherlands.

After graduation and the 2020 CoViD quarantine, I attended a 3-month training programme about web design and relational databases at APOPSI, Greece. I currently work as a research assistant in the M4D group of the MKLab at Information Technologies Institute / Center for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH). Of course, apart from work what I always do is updating my skills. So, here I am with this personal blog trying to exhibit my work, relevant matters that attract my interest and updates about what I do from time to time. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Kostas