Barbara Solenthaler is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich, where she leads research on simulation and animation within the Computer Graphics Laboratory. Her research focuses on digital humans, AI characters, and physics-based simulation, with an emphasis on modeling, simulation, animation, and interaction.
She received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Zurich (2009) and was a Hans Fischer Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich (2019–2022). She has served as Associate Editor of Computer Graphics Forum (2019–2022) and on technical program and organization committees of leading conferences such as SIGGRAPH, Eurographics, SCA (Conference Co-Chair 2016), and MIG (Conference Co-Chair 2023).
Her research advances computational methods for modeling, simulating, animating, and interacting with digital humans and AI characters. Early work on fluid simulation and artistic controllability established methods for combining physics and AI to achieve creative flexibility and interactivity. Building on these foundations, her group develops AI-driven and physics-based approaches for modeling human faces and bodies, learning person-specific geometry and anatomy, simulating physical behavior, generating and controlling animation, and creating intelligent and interactive virtual characters. A central goal of this research is to explore how digital humans and AI characters can be modeled, simulated, animated, and made interactive for applications across different domains. These range from entertainment and content creation to medicine, health, and sports. Through this work, her group investigates how advances in computer graphics, simulation, and AI can translate into technologies that support both creative applications and human health.
Barbara’s contributions have been recognized with multiple awards, including the ICBS Frontiers of Science Award (2024), the IPCAI Bench to Bedside Award (2023) for rapid clinical translation, and the Eurographics Günter Enderle Award (2021), among others. She also received the Fritz Kutter Best Dissertation Award (2009) for her PhD thesis on fluid simulation. Beyond her scientific achievements, she serves on the Board of Trustees of the Fritz-Kutter Prize and actively engages in outreach activities (such as in 2025 at Science City, Informatiktage, and the SIGGRAPH Frontiers Workshop on Graphics and Health), fostering dialogue between research and society.

Department of Computer Science
Computer Graphics Laboratory
CNB G 102.1
Universitätstrasse 6
ETH Zentrum
CH - 8092 Zürich

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