Laura Schmid Receives ISTA Alumni Award

Laura Schmid lives and works in Seoul, South Korea, and is the Launch Chief Editor of the upcoming journal Nature Reviews Computing. She will receive the award in recognition of her impressive career path after earning her PhD at ISTA and in honor of her ongoing commitment to interdisciplinary science. She is the fifth recipient of the award, which will be presented as part of the ISTA Alumni Reunion in October.

Laura Schmid is the recipient of the 2026 ISTA Alumni Award. The award is presented each year to an ISTA alum to honor their outstanding success, leadership, and impact in their professional, academic, or personal ventures.

“It is clear that Laura approaches each career opportunity with the same level of determination, passion, and creativity as she had while completing her PhD. We are exceptionally proud to have her as an ISTA alum,” said ISTA President Martin Hetzer.

Schmid’s colleagues are similarly impressed by her commitment to science, including her nominator and former ISTA groupmate, Christian Hilbe. “What makes Laura’s career particularly remarkable is not only the excellence of her work in each role but also her ability to reinvent herself successfully across disciplines—from evolutionary game theory to machine learning and from academic research to shaping the future of scientific publishing.”

Interdisciplinary science in action

Schmid joined ISTA as a PhD student in 2016 after completing her studies at TU Wien in engineering physics. Originally from Austria, she had explored opportunities abroad for her PhD, but she instead decided to explore possible paths from physics to life sciences at ISTA while still being part of an international community conducting world-class research. At ISTA, she could ‘experiment’ with what kind of research she was interested in and ultimately joined the Chatterjee group, where she engaged in computer science and evolutionary game theory-inspired modeling.

“Coming from her background, it was quite amazing that she so easily picked up two different areas with computer science and evolutionary game theory,” said former supervisor and ISTA group leader Krishnendu Chatterjee. He notes that her list of publications as well as her career trajectory after ISTA reinforce the type of scientist she is. “Besides being brilliant, she is broad-minded, can quickly grasp interdisciplinary topics, and can contribute to research in really significant ways.”

Looking back, Schmid sees her time at the Institute as an important step in her journey. “It gave me a good foundation for my future career, especially in terms of project management overall, which is so important; to really learn to manage your time, manage your energy, and know your priorities.” Not only did she flex into new areas of research, but with support from Hilbe and Chatterjee, she also developed skills to communicate more effectively about her research. “They really helped me with how to formulate ideas clearly, to show my work, and with my scientific writing, which I was able to practice in that safe setting with a lot of feedback.”

Heart and Seoul

Schmid knew that she wanted exposure to different academic systems and the post-PhD path seemed very clear: “Go to the US, do a postdoc there, get a faculty position.” Things shifted in 2022 when she received a postdoc offer in South Korea at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Though she spent time weighing her offers, she soon found herself in Seoul using her mathematical modeling expertise to work on AI and optimization research, in particular generative AI and distributed learning.

“Korea is a great place to live and the culture shock was somehow less intense than I feared. I had a great lab and an amazing advisor and colleagues that I’m still in touch with. I really believe everything worked out for the best.”

After two years, she found herself at another crossroads. With offers in both academia and industry, she chose to join Nature Communications as an Associate Editor. She was part of the Translational & Clinical Research team working with submissions in digital medicine, medical imaging, and epidemiology, and tapping into her interest in biology and science communication skills she developed at ISTA. She found some mentors at the company who eventually encouraged her to apply for the chief editor position of a new journal in its planning stage. Though she credits being in the right place at the right time, her background in interdisciplinary research and experience as an editor made her a strong candidate. She therefore was promoted to Launch Chief Editor of the upcoming Nature Reviews Computing, which launches in January 2027.

Prepare for launch

Schmid’s goal for the journal is for it to become a flagship publication in computer science. “I think a reviews journal like Nature Reviews Computing has this unique advantage that it gets to be a platform that unifies the field. I really want to establish a dialogue between different fields in computer science and give a resource to the community that includes foundations as well as emerging trends.”

Along with foundational and applied topics, she is also particularly excited to include societal topics in the journal. This can include the impact of AI in our daily lives, legal considerations of AI deployment, the ethical aspects of AI in different cases, and more. “There is just so much to say about how computer science is shaping our lives now.”

For those interested in a career in science publishing and communications, Schmid has some advice: With broad responsibilities that often cross disciplines, an excitement for science and translating that into real-world connections is necessary. “It is really fulfilling to be a steward for good science.”