The Zuse Institute can appoint distinguished scientists from relevant
fields of research as Zuse Junior Fellows and Distinguished
Fellows for
collaboration with the institute’s researchers. Below is a list of
current fellows associated with the work of IOL along with a list of
long-term guests of the research lab from within industry and other
institutions, followed by a complete list of short-term visitors to
the lab.
Prof. Antoine Deza is a leading researcher in combinatorial optimization at McMaster University’s Department of Computing and Software. He earned his Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology. Prof. Deza has held noteworthy positions, such as Canada Research Chair in Combinatorial Optimization (2004-2014) and Digiteo Chair in Combinatorics and Optimization (2013-2017). As a Fields Institute Fellow and Associate Director of the MacDATA Institute, his research focuses on the computational, combinatorial, and geometric aspects of linear optimization. Prof. Deza has an extensive publication record and has contributed significantly to the development of optimization algorithms and software.
Prof. Marc Pfetsch is a leading researcher in discrete optimization at Technische Universität Darmstadt. He completed his mathematics studies at Universität Heidelberg and his Ph.D. at Technische Universität Berlin. Prof. Pfetsch has held various academic positions, including a W3 professorship for Discrete Optimization at Technische Universität Darmstadt since 2012. He has been involved in numerous projects, particularly in the areas of global optimization methods for stationary and non-stationary gas transport, combinatorial network flow methods, and gas market problems. Prof. Pfetsch has been one of the most active developers of the SCIP Optimization Suite and frequently collaborates with members of the IOL research lab.
Prof. Robert Weismantel is a renowned expert in mathematical optimization, being a Professor of Mathematics at ETH Zürich since 2010. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1992 and his Habilitation in 1995, both from TU Berlin. Prof. Weismantel held a previous professorship at OvGU Magdeburg between 1998 and 2010. His research interests lie in discrete mathematics and mathematical optimization, with an emphasis on structural questions and algorithmic consequences in high dimensional integer optimization problems with sparse matrices, mixed integer convex optimization models, and systems of linear inequalities with bounded matrix minors. As a distinguished researcher in his field, Prof. Weismantel has made significant contributions to the development and understanding of mathematical optimization techniques.
Timo Berthold is a Principal Engineer at FICO, where he develops and maintains the Xpress Optimization Suite. He has been a member of various research projects, including Matheon project B20 “Optimization of Gas Transport” and the project “Linear, Integer, and Constraint Programming” at ZIB. Berthold has also contributed to nonconvex mixed-integer nonlinear programming solutions and the development of algorithms for FICO Xpress. He has received numerous academic awards and has an extensive publication record, with his research focusing on heuristic algorithms and global MINLP solvers.
Prof. Ambros Gleixner is an expert in computational aspects of mixed-integer linear and nonlinear programming at HTW Berlin. His research focuses on the algorithmics behind solver software such as SCIP and SoPlex. He is a leading researcher for verified and roundoff-error-free optimization of linear and mixed-integer linear programs and jointly supervises several doctoral students of the IOL research lab. Prof. Gleixner has collaborated closely with SAP, Siemens, and startup felmo to apply his optimization expertise to real-world problems.
Dr. Thomas Kerdreux is the CTO at Geolabe LLC, where he specializes in convex optimization, online learning, InSAR, and computational creativity. He has an extensive publication record, with contributions to restarting Frank-Wolfe algorithms, projection-free optimization, and interactive neural style transfer. Kerdreux has collaborated with numerous co-authors from prestigious institutions and boasts a notable citation record. His research interests span across machine learning, optimization, and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Stefan Vigerske is a researcher in optimization with extensive experience in the development and application of mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) solvers. He is working for GAMS Software GmbH in research and development. Dr. Vigerske has been involved in numerous projects, including Matheon projects B19 and B20, focusing on nonconvex MINLP and optimization of gas transport, respectively. His ongoing work includes contributions to the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), Solving Constraint Integer Programs (SCIP), and the Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR).
Stephan Wäldchen
waeldchen (at) zib.de
Stephan Wäldchen is a young researcher with a focus on AI, machine learning, and quantum information theory. He most notably worked in the field of explainable AI (XAI), for example publishing “Unmasking Clever Hans predictors and assessing what machines really learn” in Nature with Klaus Müller et al.
