Discover the EPFL Alumni Awards 2025

An EPFL physics graduate, Gaëlle Giesen earned a doctorate in astrophysics at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in Saclay, before joining the French space agency CNES in 2018. She has contributed to major missions such as Dragonfly, aimed at exploring Saturn’s moon Titan, and Ariel, focused on the atmospheric study of exoplanets. Alongside her scientific career, she has pursued high-level training in formation skydiving and technical diving—two passions she discovered during her time at EPFL. She has won several national titles in team skydiving, along with a World Cup and four runner-up finishes at the World Championships. In 2024, she set the women’s world record for deepest open-sea dive using a rebreather, reaching 222 metres. In 2025, she won the gold medal at the Women's 4-way Formation Skydiving World Cup and set the women's world record for deep cave diving with a rebreather, reaching a depth of 230 meters. Her unique path reflects a deep scientific curiosity and a continuous drive to push boundaries.

Steve is the co-founder and President of Qonto, the leading European business finance management solution. Steve studied at EPFL, the University of Tokyo and INSEAD, and started his career at Deloitte and Groupon. In 2013, he founded Smok.io together with Alexandre Prot - acquired by a Fortune 500 company - and experienced the frustrations of business banking. They decided to join forces once again and launched Qonto in 2017 with one objective in mind: make everyday banking easier for SMEs and freelancers thanks to an online business account that's combined with invoicing, bookkeeping, and spend management tools. Qonto has raised €622M from the world's largest investors, and is part of France’s Next40. In 2025, Qonto served 600,000 clients in 8 European markets with 1,600+ employees and 5 offices across Europe.