Annual Report Foreword by the Chair of the B-It Foundation

2018 Annual Report Foreword by the Chair of the b-it Foundation

A few days before the end of the Academic In Bonn, the preparations of the 250-year Year 2017-2018, the evaluation committee celebration of Beethoven’s birthday provide a for the German National Excellence Initiative focal point for similar activities. in Research made the final decisions on the proposed large-scale Excellence clusters that Systematically pursuing the recently renewed will define much of the structure of research mission statement, b-it has further strength- for at least the next seven years. In this third ened its Data Science core by electing Prof. round of the Excellence Initiative, North Rhine- Emmanuel Müller, formerly Hasso Plattner Westphalia significantly strengthened its Institute Potsdam, to the b-it Chair for Data relative position among German states, and Science and Engineering. In addition, I would Annette Storsberg made first place with 14 accepted clusters, like to welcome several important new mem- 8 of them just by the b-it universities. While bers of the international b-it Advisory Board, RWTH Aachen defended their co-lead among including former ACM President Dame Prof. the technical universities, University of Bonn Wendy Hall and industrial members Dr. Christian sensationally jumped to the first position lllek, Dr. Thomas Ogilvie, and Dr. Simone Rehm. of all universities – thus, the Bonn-Aachen axis got more clusters than whole “excel- I would like to congratulate the b-it leader- lence regions” such as Munich or Berlin. Four ship – directors, study coordinators, faculty of the clusters involve b-it professors and and study advisors – on the progress in the associated Fraunhofer institutes, addressing past academic years and look forward to the issues around Media lnformatics (Internet of next steps. Production), Life Science lnformatics (lmmu- Annette Storsberg noSensorics), Autonomous Systems (Farming State Secretary, Ministry of Culture and Robots), and their shared Data Science core. Science NRW Chair of the b-it Foundation Council These successes once again strengthen the attractiveness of the Bonn-Aachen Interna- tional Center for Information Technology b-it Mission Statement (b-it) for valuable top international talent joining the b-it Master Programs, but also the b-it is an international center for information Doctoral Schools associated with the excel- technology. It is jointly carried by the lead- lence clusters, expanding the earlier b-it Re- ing universities and research institutes of the search School effort. The Ministry of Culture information technology region Bonn-Aachen. and Science NRW appreciates b-it’s continued At b-it, a team of excellent scientific leaders emphasis on fruitful cultural diversity among attracts the best students from all over the the more than 40 nations of origin, combined world. At the same time, b-it is a strategic with academic excellence through the deep partner of the regional economy. integration between research and teaching in all b-it programs. The investment in a new At b-it, research and teaching form an inte- b-it building will further deepen the university grated unit at the highest level. International linkages. orientation and diversity are a particular asset and strength of our institution. In our teach- Public visibility of b-it has been further ing, we build on the complementary strength improved by providing spectacular media in- of our participating institutions. novations to public events, such as the “Dom leuchtet” lightshow for which over 8,000 Graduates of b-it are sought after as special- admission tickets were completely sold out ists and experts, regionally and internation- every single night at the week-long 40-year ally. They transport know-how and innovation celebration of Aachen Cathedral as the into science and economy. first UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. We are shaping the digital change in a dialog between economy and society. Our focus is 2 b-it Report 2018 Data Science in the application areas Media, Life Sciences and Autonomous Systems. Officers Report by the Scientific Scientific Directors Directors Prof. Dr. Matthias Jarke, RWTH Aachen University, Fraunhofer FIT Prof. Dr. Paul G. Plöger, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg b-it offers highly selective graduate education to University of Applied Sciences top international students in a unique coopera- Prof. Dr. Stefan Wrobel, University of Bonn, tion between leading research universities and Fraunhofer IAIS the Fraunhofer Society of Applied Research. The just completed German Excellence Competi- Coordinators b-it Study Programs tion confirmed once again the leading position Prof. Dr. Ulrike Meyer, RWTH Aachen of the Bonn-Aachen region. b-it directors and University, Media Informatics faculty are directly involved in four excellence Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bajorath, University of Bonn clusters (each funded with up to € 50 million for Prof. Dr. Gerhard K. Kraetzschmar, 7 years): Internet of Production, PhenoRob for Prof. Dr. Matthias Jarke Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, RWTH Aachen University Sustainable Crop Production, ImmunoSensorics, and Fraunhofer FIT Autonomous Systems and Advanced Computational Mathematics. These clusters will also include PhD training Assistant Directors/Study Advisors groups for graduates with ambitions beyond the Iman Awaad, M.Sc., Bonn-Rhein-Sieg master degree. A key event in 2018 was b-it’s University of Applied Sciences relocation into the new b-it building centrally Dr. Thomas Bode, University of Bonn close to other university departments and Bonn Arnab Chakrabarti, RWTH Aachen University Central Station. Many thanks to all helpers in René Röpke, RWTH Aachen University this enormous effort, especially to coordinator Prof. Paul G. Plöger Dr. Alexandra Reitelmann, University of Bonn Thomas Bode. Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences International Advisory Board We are happy to welcome Emmanuel Müller Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fischer, University of Colorado, Boulder as the new b-it Endowed Professor of Data Dame Prof. Wendy Hall PhD, University of Science and Data Engineering, and were glad Southampton, Southampton to keep Prof. Holger Fröhlich as an Adjunct Dr. Christian Illek, Deutsche Telekom, Bonn Professor. Prof. Sven Behnke’s prestigious mil- Prof. Dr. Ossama Khatib, Robotics Lab, lion dollar award in humanoid robotics once Stanford University, Palo Alto more confirmed once again the strength of Prof. Dr. Stefan Wrobel Prof. Dr. Thomas Lengauer, Max-Planck the b-it partner universities in applied robotics. University of Bonn and Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken b-it is a big team effort. We are grateful for the Fraunhofer IAIS Dr. Thomas Ogilvie, Deutsche Post DHL Group continued support by our three mother univer- Dr. Simone Rehm, University of Stuttgart sities through the recent rectorate transitions at RWTH Aachen and Bonn University, and for the b-it Foundation Council intensifying networking with the regional indus- Annette Storsberg (Chair), State Secretary try. Our study advisors assist the international at the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW students from over 40 countries worldwide with Thomas Trännapp (Secretary), Vice Chancellor, many of the questions arising during applications, RWTH Aachen University Prof. Dr. Georg Rosenfeld, Vice President arrival, social networking and of course some- Technology Marketing and Business Models, times unfamiliar study regulations, backed up Fraunhofer Society by the professors of the study coordination and Ashok Sridharan, Mayor, City of Bonn examination boards. Many thanks to all of them. Sebastian Schuster, County Chairman, Rhein-Sieg-Kreis In this report, you find some highlights of b-it Prof. Dr. Aloys Krieg, Vice Rector Education, research and teaching from the academic year, RWTH Aachen University as well as some general information about the Prof. Dr. Michael Hoch, Rector, University b-it study programs. Enjoy the reading! of Bonn Prof. Dr. Hartmut Ihne, Rector, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Matthias Jarke, University of Applied Sciences RWTH Aachen University and Fraunhofer FIT Stefan Hagen, President, Bonn / Rhine-Sieg Paul G. Plöger, Chamber of Commerce Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences Stefan Wrobel, University of Bonn and Fraunhofer IAIS

b-it Report 2018 b-it in Profile

The southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia is one of the largest, most vibrant locations in the European media and telecom industry. It is also one of the most innovative and fast-growing biotech regions in Germany, and there is much interest in the emerging fields of mechatronics and robotics. To make it the optimal place to study for professional work in these fields, the Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (b-it) in good standing are offered financial support has been established as a joint venture of during these lab courses. RWTH Aachen University, University of Bonn, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sci- The b-it Universities Institute offers English ence (BRSU) and the research institutes of language Master of Science (M.Sc.) programs the Fraunhofer Institute Center Birlinghoven in Media Informatics and Life Science Infor- Castle. matics, whereas the University of Applied Sciences offers a Master Program in Autono- b-it offers highly selective International Mas- mous Systems. The Master Programs prepare ter Programs in Applied IT, as well as summer students for successful international careers / winter schools for qualified undergraduate that require technical excellence and leader- computer science students. The b-it Research ship, creativity and the ability to innovate. b-it School offers doctoral training. Since 2018, master programs are distinguished by their most courses take place in the newly erected international orientation (structured according b-it building on the Poppelsdorf Campus to the European ECTS standard), their focus for Mathematics and Computer Science of on IT competence, and the deep integration Bonn University. Admission to the b-it Master of teaching and research. Programs is linked to, and conditional upon, placement in research lab courses at the For the participating universities, the b-it participating Fraunhofer institutes. Students programs have also helped pave the way towards a smooth transition from the tradi- tional German diploma system to the Bach- Africa 6% Germany 8% elor-Master system following the Bologna accord; for example, the b-it master programs were the first to be accredited within the Rest of Europe 10% Rest of Asia 19% participating universities in 2004-2005, and The Americas 4% re-accredited in 2010-2011. A comprehensive external evaluation in 2015 confirmed the China 3% very positive developments and stimulated a few new accents. The success of the b-it programs is also demonstrated by a very Pakistan 12% good placement record, both in science and industry.

India 38% b-it is financially supported by a 56 ME

Home countries of new b-it students. Foundation initiated through the Bonn-Berlin program of the German federal government, as well as by matching NRW state funds.

4 b-it Report 2018 Honors and Awards

Award for MI Researchers at Top body of an electrically assisted vehicle known International HCI Conference as the velomobile. The drone autonomously performs a side-by-side tracking and following Christian Corsten, Dr. Simon Voelker, Andreas of the velomobile and captures high quality Link, and Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers received an (HQ) video footage under realistic outdoor Honorable Mention Award for their paper “Use conditions in order to extract airflow models the Force Picker, Luke: Space-Efficient Value which are used to improve the design of the Input on Force-Sensitive Mobile Touchscreens” vehicle and thereby increase its efficiency. at the ACM CHI 2018 Conference in April. Their work presents a new interaction technique that Prof. Jarke Receives Prestigious leverages the “force touch” capability of mod- Fraunhofer Award ern smartphones to shrink down the space taken up by frequently used elements in the user In June 2018, Fraunhofer FIT celebrated 50 interface, like the Date & Time Picker Wheel. years of human-centered computing research ACM CHI is the world’s most prestigious and at the institute and its predecessor groups in impactful conference in Human-Computer Birlinghoven Castle. During this event in which Interaction. The Honorable Mention Award is NRW State Secretary Annette Storsberg also bestowed upon the most highly reviewed 5% spoke about the successful regional coopera- (from left) Prof. Stefan of submitted papers only. tion in the b-it initiative, Fraunhofer President Decker, Prof. Matthias Jarke with “Fraunhofer Coin”, and Prof. Reimund Neugebauer awarded long-term Fraunhofer President Prof. Prof. Jarke Elected Chairman of institute director and b-it founding director Reimund Neugebauer. TH Cologne Governing Board Prof. Matthias Jarke the “Fraunhofer Coin”, the highest award for Fraunhofer institute leaders In its inaugural session on March 2, 2018, the and researchers. new Governing Board (Hochschulrat) of the Cologne Technical University of Applied Sci- B-IT MI Chair Selected for BMBF ences (TH Köln) elected Prof. Matthias Jarke Roadshow as the new Board Chairman. According to NRW law, the Hochschulrat is responsible for giving The TABULA research project at Prof. Jan strategic advice, overseeing major personnel, Borchers’ b-it Endowed Chair for Media financial and structural decisions of the Uni- Informatics and Human Computer Interaction versity Presidency, as well as organizing the has been selected as one of four flagship election of new members of the Presidency. projects in the Tangible Learning Initiative of the German Ministry of Science and Education TABULA touch table display. © www.joergkochfoto.de MAS Alumnus Wins Thesis Prize (BMBF). TABULA uses an original invention of the chair’s – graspable, physical “tangibles” MAS alumnus Ahmad Drak was awarded a that are tracked by a large, modern capacitive prize for his research thesis by the Hochschul touch table display – to help student teams gesellschaft Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. The thesis, learn fundamental computer science concepts supervised by Prof. Alexander Asteroth (H-BRS) more easily together. The BMBF has organized and Dr. Simon Julier (University College a roadshow that travels to four university loca- London), examines the application of drone tions in Germany with TABULA and three other technology to extract airflow models from tufts core research demonstrators. attached to the surface of the aerodynamic

b-it Report 2018 5 Events and Visits

institutes including Fraunhofer attended two- to four-day compact classes in each IDEA League site. The Aachen meeting at the b-it Research School focused on fundamental concepts and practical experiences including process mining (Prof. Wil van der Aalst), knowledge graphs for research information management (Prof. Stefan Decker), social network analytics (PD Ralf Klamma), Indus- try 4.0 integration (Prof. Thomas Gries), and safety and security (Prof. Stefan Kowalewski). This inspired lively debates with the doctoral We Are Vice World Champion! students who represented many disciplines and rich cultural backgrounds from over The RoboCup team b-it bots came in second 15 home countries in Europe, Africa, the at the RoboCup@Work Competition held in Americas, and several parts of Asia. In ad- 2018 in the Palais de Congres in Montreal, dition to the scientific program, participants Canada on June 16-22, 2018, thus continued also took home memories of the hospital- their series of successes in the past years. ity in Aachen’s historic old town, including a The team also scored high in two technical surprise encounter with German President disciplines, the arbitrary surface test (second Walter Steinmeier and NRW Prime Minister place) and the line following test (first place). Armin Laschet in front of Charlemagne’s The Montreal team consisted of four students historic Cathedral. of the international master degree program “Autonomous Systems”. Their coaches b-it is deeply saddened by the Deebul Nair and Santosh Thoduka are both untimely death of Dr. Shilva research associates in European research Kayastha from Nepal. Shilva joined projects and successful alumni of the AS the LSI program in the winter term of program. Prof. Kraetzschmar and Prof. Plöger 2011/2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in support the team with scientific as well as Biotechnology from Koneru College of administrative advice. Engineering, India. For her Master Thesis, she joined Prof. Bajorath’s group in 2013 IDEA League Doctoral School and graduated with a Master’s Degree. ECS-BIT’18 Held at b-it Research Shilva continued PhD studies in Prof. School Bajorath’s group, which involved a close collaboration with the laboratory Prof. The IDEA League is a focused network of Alexandre Varnek at the University of leading European universities of science Strasbourg, France. Shilva brilliantly finished and technology (TU Delft, RWTH Aachen her PhD in 2017 and received a perma- University, ETH Zurich, Chalmers University nent position as a Chemoinformatics Göteborg and Politecnico di Milano). Over Scientist at BASF. Shortly after finishing the spring and summer of 2018, Prof. Bar- her thesis, Shilva was diagnosed with bara Pernici (Politecnico di Milano) together late stage cancer and ultimately lost her with Prof. Matthias Jarke (b-it) organized a brave battle in August of 2018. Shilva distributed Doctoral School on “Engineering will always be remembered as one of us, Complex Systems with IT and Big Data” (ECS- for her academic accomplishments, and BIT’18) in which 32 doctoral candidates from even more so for her gentle and kind per- all member universities and other research sonality, her enthusiasm, and friendship.

6 b-it Report 2018 Research @ b-it b-it involved in four Clusters of Thirdly, b-it is linked to the Cluster of Excel- Excellence lence “Hausdorff Center for Mathematics” via Prof. Michael Griebel (Fraunhofer SCAI The Cluster of Excellence “Internet of Produc- and University of Bonn). It was established tion”, conducted by RWTH Aachen University 2006 at the University of Bonn under the title “Mathematics: Foundations, Models, Applica- in cooperation with several Fraunhofer Insti- Hausdorff Center for tions”. Its work thematically comprises a broad tutes, brings together Aachen’s internationally Mathematics. renowned Production Research community spectrum of mathematics as well as math- with a strong group of eight computer science ematical economics: from topics from the chairs in the domains of data and commu- classical core areas of mathematics through nication management as well as systems mathematical modeling and numerical simu- engineering. It is coordinated by Professors lation in the natural and social sciences to Christian Brecher, Matthias Jarke, and Günther industrial applications in chip design. Schuh from RWTH Aachen and Fraunhofer. Through an elaborate novel infrastructure Finally, b-it cooperates with the “ImmunoSen- concept of multi-layered “Digital Shadows”, sation” Cluster of Excellence that is dedicated model-driven and data-driven approaches to to investigating innate immunity beyond the material science, production technology, pro- boundaries of classical immunology. The duction engineering, agile production manage- University of Bonn, the Max-Planck-associated ment, and novel work and business models, Center of Advanced European Studies and will be enabled to collaborate in a world-wide Research (caesar) and the German Center Lab of Labs. Application domains range from for Neurodegenerative Diseases within the machine tools to steel- and plastics-based Helmholtz Association (DZNE) jointly exploit continuous production processes to large- the new research space. scale innovation. Participation in the Competence Secondly, the “PhenoRob” Cluster of Excel- Center Machine Learning lence at University of Bonn is comprised of researchers from both the agricultural faculty Since autumn of 2018, b-it is the anchor for as well as from computer science. Bonn b-it University of Bonn’s participation in the Na- director Prof. Stefan Wrobel is involved as tional German Competence Center Machine a Principal Investigator, b-it Prof. Christian Learning Rhein-Ruhr ML2R. This center, along Bauckhage is an associated Principal Investi- with only three others, is part of Germany’s gator, both also bringing in their roles at b-it strong push towards furthering excellence partner institution Fraunhofer IAIS. The Phe- and applications in Machine Learning. Its noRob cluster addresses one of today’s central joint speakers are Prof. Katharina Morik (TU challenges for humanity, the production of Dortmund), b-it scientific director Prof. Stefan sufficient food, feed, fiber, and fuel for an Wrobel, and b-it Prof. Christian Bauckhage is ever-growing world population while simulta- the Principal Investigator for b-it and University neously reducing the environmental footprint of Bonn. The goals of the ML2R center are of agricultural production. Its main hypothesis to establish cutting-edge research, support is that a major shift toward sustainable crop young scientists and strengthen technology production can be achieved via a combination transfer in companies. The close integration of of plant monitoring using autonomous robots basic and application-oriented research builds with automated and individualized interven- the ideal foundation for innovation in ML2R. tion and assessing, modeling, and optimizing In this way, the center aims to actively shape the implications of the developed technical Germany’s future and contribute to securing innovations in a systemic manner. the digital sovereignty of the country.

b-it Report 2018 7 b-it Programs Master Program in Media Informatics Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers, Media Computing Computer scientists with an applied focus The program is characterized by a significant have been in great demand in the past, and portion of lab courses embedded in research this is expected to continue for the foresee- of the participating Fraunhofer Institutes for able future. Graduates of the Master Program Applied Information Technology FIT and for in Media Informatics will be well-prepared for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems the challenges faced when working in com- IAIS. The degree is conferred by RWTH puter systems engineering and for creative Aachen University. Cooperation partners from work with audio-visual media. The Aachen industry and research contribute to a rich Prof. Dr. Thomas Rose, – Bonn – Cologne region is home to many teaching program. Media Processes prospective employers, including global play- List of employers of MI Alumni ers such as Philips, Microsoft, Telekom, Voda- The course contents are structured according (Universities & Research): fone, Bertelsmann Group, as well as many to the ECTS (European Credit Transfer Airport Research Center GmbH, b-it, b-it Research School, Centro television stations including RTL, WDR etc. System) and consist of three main blocks: Nacional de Investigaciones Computer Science and its mathematical Cardiovasculares, CERTH, Cha- rité Berlin, Chinese Academy of While a Bachelor degree in Computer foundations, Multimedia Technology, and Science, COSBI, Czech Technical, Science typically qualifies to participate in Media Science and business aspects. Major ETH Zurich, Fraunhofer FGAN, FIT, FKIE, FOKUS and IAIS, FSU large software projects, the Master degree topics include: Internet Infrastructures, Data Jena, Hasso-Plattner-Institut, HHI provides the qualifications for project Communication, Digital Interactive Media, Berlin, Imperial College, INRIA, Institute of Molecular Medicine, leadership. Graduates of the program in Management of Information, Computer Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Media Informatics can be expected to be Graphics, Animation, Visualization, Speech (KIT), K. U. Leuven, Max Planck, technically innovative, to work as system / Image / Video Processing, Game Design, Microsoft Research (Cairo), National University of Computer architects, and to manage large projects. Security and Cryptography, Designing & Emerging Sciences, National Students who excel during their master Interactive Systems, Cooperative Work University of Ireland Maynooth, National University of Sciences program will also have the necessary Environments, E-Business, Knowledge and Technology, Research Center qualification to pursue a doctoral degree in Management, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Jülich, Robert Bosch Foundati- on, RWTH Aachen, Suez Canal Germany or abroad. and Software Engineering. University, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Uniklinik Aachen, Uniklinikum Bonn, Universidad The Master Program in Media Informatics Thirty three Media Informatics students have Tecnologica de Panama, Univer- educates the students to successfully meet completed their degree in the academic year sitätsspital Basel, University Clinic the novel technical and economic challenges 2018-2019. The graduates quickly found Carl Gustav Carus; Universities of Agder, Arab American Jenin, at the intersection of computer science, interesting positions either as doctoral stu- Asia and the Pacific, Atma Jaya software engineering, next-generation dents in Germany and abroad, or in attrac- Yogyakarta, Augsburg, Bahria, Bonn, Cambridge, Düsseldorf- communication systems, and the media. It is tive companies. The incoming class of 2018 Essen, Dresden, Duisburg-Essen, offered as a joint program of RWTH Aachen comprises 35 students, selected from 352 Edinburgh, Engineering & Techno- logy Peshawar Pakistan, Ghent, University and University of Bonn. applications. The new students come from Göttingen, Hamburg, Hasselt, 19 countries, and include 42% females and Heidelberg, Houston, Oldenburg, Ireland, Maynooth, lenes Kepler, 58% males. Kiel, Leipzig, Mainz, Münster, Paris, Rotterdam, Sud, Stuttgart, Tilburg, Tirana, Toronto, Trento, Tübingen, Washington, Waterloo, Western Australia, West Indies, Zurich; TU Darmstadt, TU Dres- den, TU Eindhoven, TU Munich 8 b-it Report 2018 List of employers of MI Alumni: (Business): 4tree GmbH, Ableton, Adecco Engineering & IT, Adecco Phaholyothin Recruitment Ltd., Adidas, Agfa Healthcare, Airbus, Alcatel-Lucent, Ancud IT Beratung, Ansaldo STS, ANSR Source, AOL, ARC International, ArcSoft, Avedas, Avid Technology, awato Software GmbH, Bank of Mexico, Bayer Technology Services, BCA Auc- tions, BCA Europe, Bertelsmann, Bertrandt Ingenieurbüro GmbH, BESA GmbH, Blimp.Mx, Bombar- dier Inc., Brainloop, BTC Business Technology Consulting, Capgemini, b-it-chain News from Media Capitaworld Platform Pvt. Ltd., CAS, CBC Cologne Broadcasting Center, Informatics Alumni Cellent AG, CGI, CIGNA, Cloud- The blockchain lab course at b-it has berrytec, CMLabs Simulations, become a regular teaching event and is SIDDARTH MEHROTRA Cognizant Technology Solutions, COMNEON, Contentteam, Crytek, offered each summer term. Hence, block- joined Media Informat- CSC India, Daedalic Entertainment, chain technology as core ingredient for ics in 2017. He showed Daimler, Deloitte AG, Delta Engine, Demax, Deutsche Bank AG, Deut- trust management amid business collabo- his passion for innova- sche Telekom, devolo AG, Dolby ration is taught in a theoretical stance in- tive User Experience De- Laboratories, DP ITServices GmbH, side lectures such as eBusiness & Digitali- Dynevo (Bayer), Ericsson, Euromo- sign already at Siemens ney Institutional Investors, Euro- zation and CSCW as well as in a practical Bangalore, following his pean Computer Telecoms, Evimed stance with experience labs. Online, Exact Software, Facebook, Bachelor degree from Famous Group, Finantix Srl, Forth Galgotias University, corporation, Fox Chase, Game This summer’s topic has been the de- India. He has already published several Analytics ApS, GIVE.sg, Global Crop Diversity Trust, Goodyear, Google, velopment of a modular blockchain. The papers at top HCI conferences, e.g. CHI, Grandcentrix, GTT Technologies, result of this course is b-it-chain, which and won a bronzemedal at 2018 the ACM Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HITS, Huawei, Humance, i22 interneta- is a full-fledged blockchain. It is available ASSETS Competition in Galway, Ireland. gentur, IBM, IdeaObject Softwares, publicly via GitHub (https://github.com/ Also, he filed a patent. In 2018, he was Ilypsys, IMC BV, IMC Financial Mar- putschli/LabChain). Moreover, it serves as kets, Infineon, Inforcept Networks, accepted to the “Heidelberg Laureate Fo- Internet Company, IP Labs, iPharro testbed for further Master topics and oth- rum” among 100 top young computer re- Media, ISRA Surface Vision GmbH, er experiments by students. Its modular ITBrainiacs, IVU Traffic Technolo- searchers worldwide selected for scientific gies, IW-One, Johnson Controls, design allows experiments on the inter- interaction with Nobel Laureates. He was Keynote SIGOS, Kisters, Kuveyt Turk changeability of functional components. also selected for ACM UIST School 2018 Participation Bank, Lakshmi Tech- nology and Engineering Industries, The storage of transactions by a chain of & with his team in the highly competitive LHS Telekommunikation, Ligatus blocks is for instance one questionable UIST 2018 Student Innovation Contest, GmbH, Lufthansa Systems, Lycos, MarAnCon, Merck, Mastercard, decision of the original blockchain propos- with their work on a robot that can help MeVis Medical Solutions AG, als. Graph-like structures might be more physically impaired people to wear socks. Microsoft, Mobilab Solutions, attractive at first sight with regard to par- moneymeets GmbH, Monsanto, The team won the UIST School Hackathon Movilizer, NAVTEQ, Nato Commu- allelism of updates and search efficiency. and was among the top 5 in the UIST Stu- nications and Information Agency, However, our experiments unveiled a tight Nemetschek AG, NeuroSky, Inc., dent Innovation Contest. Nexcom IT Services, Next Level linkage with components for consensus Integration, Novartis, NTT Data, finding. Hence, b-it-chain might furnish a NVIDIA, Oando Plc, Oracle, Pater- sons, PCI Geomatics, Pepsi, Philips, basis for the identification of core ele- Plinga, PricewaterhouseCoopers, ments of blockchain technologies and Qiagen, Qosmotec Software So- lutions, QSC, ReadSoft, Recogizer their implementation Group, Recommind, Roamworks alternatives. Research & Development GmbH, Robert Bosch GmbH, Roche, S&P Capital IQ, Samsung Electronics, A blockchain chooser SAP, SD Inspiring Travel, sd&m, (https://blockchain- SE Consulting, Secat, Shell, SHS VIVEON, siCAT, Siemens, Siemens assistent.fit.fraunhofer. Healthcare, SIGOS, Simfy, Sogou de) is available in Inc., Solnista, Solutions 4 Media, Sony, Steinberg Media Techno- parallel. The chooser is logies, Sytel Reply, T-Systems, based on key attributes TeamViewer, Teleca, Telemotive, Tessella, Texas State - Health and of blockchain projects Human Services (HHSC) Agency, and guides interested Thomson Reuters, TravelTainment, parties through a struc- Turk Telekom, Twitter, Vantage Labs, Viacom, vmware, Vodafone, tured decision process Wacom Europe, Werum Software for the selection of a & Systems, Westwing Home and Living GmbH, Whowish, Widespace specific implementa- AB, Wieden+Kennedy, Workplace tion platform. Systems, World Bank, Xerox Research Centre Europe, Yahoo!, b-it Report 2018 Yieldlab AG, Zalando b-it Programs Master Program in Life Science Informatics Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bajorath, Life Science Informatics The Master Program in Life Science Informat- well in labs of CEMBIO (Center for Molecular ics (LSI) is offered by the University of Bonn Biology) and LIMES (LIfe and MEdical Sci- and RWTH Aachen University in cooperation ences Research Biocenter Bonn). The final six with the Fraunhofer Institutes of Scientific months of the program are dedicated to the Computing (SCAI) and Applied IT (FIT). The master thesis which can be done in coopera- degree is conferred by the University of Bonn. tion with industry. This interdisciplinary program educates the Prof. Dr. Martin participants to successfully master the novel Graduates of the program are well prepared Hofmann-Apitius, Life technical and economic challenges at the for the typical professional tasks in applied Science Informatics crossroads of biotechnology, medicine, phar- data analysis, systems biology and data List of employers of maceutics and computer science. The curricu- modeling, in industrial functional genomics, LSI Alumni (Business): lum consists of three main blocks: Computer drug design and pharmacology. The Aachen- 4GATC Biotech, Accenture, Alcimed, Science and Mathematics for life scientists; Bonn-Cologne-Düsseldorf region is home Arbern GmbH, Asahi Kasei, ASI Basic principles of Life Science Informatics; to many prospective employers, including Data Science, Astra Seneca, BASF SE, Bayer, BenevolentAI, Clariant, Biology of the cell and systems biology. excellent academic institutes and research Ericsson, carpooling.com GmbH, driven companies. The regular and well Clue Points, Comma Soft AG, Coty Major topics include biomedical database attended meetings of the LSI Series “The Germany, Curetis, DFind Science and Engineering, DHL, ecSeq systems, data mining and machine learn- ABC of Life Science Informatics” in the Bioinformatics, Freeletic, Galilleo ing, statistical genetics, drug design, medi- last years have contributed to strengthen Press, Gamomat GmbH, GAMOMAT cal imaging and visualization, computational ties with scientists of the region. Several Development GmbH, GATC Biotech, neuroscience, computational modeling of interesting master thesis have been carried Genestack, Glaxo Smith Kline, Hamilton Medical, HealthCare Global, regulatory and metabolic networks, chem- out in collaboration with them. LSI students Heraeus, Hoffmann-La Roche, Hype informatics, bioinformatics, molecular were also instrumental in this process. This Innovation, IBM, IIT Bangalore, ITTM modeling, molecular biology, pharmaceuti- has increased the visibility of the program S.A., Interpretomics, KWP Inside HR, LabVantage Solutions Inc., Land cal chemistry, biotechnology and systems considerably, also on a larger geographical of Lakes Inc., Leaf Bioscience, LHS biology. The program emphasizes a profound scale. Telecommunications, LinkTechnica, understanding of biological structures (such L‘Oréal, MacKinsey, MarAnCon, Max Dellbrück Center Berlin, Medtronic, as proteins, nucleic acids, genes, metabolic, This year 17 students successfully graduated Miltenyi Biotec, Molecular Devices, neural networks and organisms) as well as from the program. Top students received Molecular Health GmbH, Molecular the appropriate application of methods of excellent placements again. They started Connections Private Limited, Merck, computer science to this field. It also includes PhDs Berlin Institute of Health or became Monsanto, msg systems ag, Nestlé Institute of Health Science, Novartis, training designed to sensitize students to groups leaders at the Helmholtz Zentrum Omnicom Media Group, Pfizer, the ethical implications of emerging biotech- München. Or they started new positions at parlamind GmbH, Postbank, Philips nologies. This combination will enable the BASF or leading positions at Miltenyi Biotec Research North America, ProfileXpert, Protagen AG, quintly Inc., real.digital, successful students to understand biological or GlaxoSmithKline Asia. Sciex, Seassoon Information Tech- or medical problems and to find appropri- nology, Syngene Ltd., United Brands ate and valid solutions that bioinformatics Twenty three new students from countries Marketing, Tubs System LLP can offer. The program is characterized by a ranging from Bosnia to the United States significant share of research lab courses em- will take up their studies in Winter Semes- bedded in both basic and applied research ter 2018/2019 carefully selected from 150 of the participating Fraunhofer Institutes as applications.

10 b-it Report 2018 List of employers of LSI Alumni: Berlin Institute of Health, Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), b-it Research School, Boston Children‘s Hospital, Cen- tro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, Charité Berlin, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Czech National Centre for Biomolecular Research, ELI LSI Success Stories Prof. Hofmann-Apitius. He had carried out Beamlines, European Molecular his Master thesis with a focus on a new Biology Laboratory, ETH-Domain, ETH Zürich, European Bioinfor- PAURUSH PRAVEEN approach: “NeuroMMSigDB: a Mechanism Master Program in matics Institute, European Bio- joined LSI in 2007 from Visvesvaraya Enrichment Server for Neurodegenera- informatics Institute, Fraunhofer Life Science Informatics University, India. He graduated with a tive Diseases”. This work was published FIT, Fraunhofer IAIS, Fraunhofer SCAI, Fundación Centro Nacional Master of Science degree in 2009 and was in BIOINFORMATICS. Daniel now carries de Investigaciones Cardiovascu- accepted to b-it Research School where out his PhD and will apply the work of his lares, German Center for Cancer he graduated with a PhD in the group of master thesis on complex patient-level Research (DKFZ), German Prof. Fröhlich in 2013. Paurush then joined data such as the referential Alzheimer Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, German Institute of Study ADNI. Microsoft Research in Italy from 2013- Human Nutrition, Hasso Plattner 2015 and was then hired as researcher by Institute, Heidelberg Institute CluePoints in Belgium. In 2018, he joined ALPHA TOM KODAMULLIL of Theoretical Studies (HITS), obtained a Bachelor’s Helmholtz Centre for Infection Miltenyi Biotec in Bergisch Gladbach, Ger- Research, Helmholtz Zentrum many, as Group Lead Bioinformatics and Degree in Biotechnology München, Hertie Institute for Biostatistics. from Vinayaka Mission’s Clinical Brain Research, Hospital of the University of Bale, IFOM, Research Foundation Imperial College London, Leibniz SHWETA BAGEWADI KAWALIA in Tamil Nadu, India, Institut für Ostseeforschung, Max joined LSI with a Bach- when she joined LSI in Planck Institute for Biophysical elor’s Degree in Bio- 2010. She completed Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Max- the program in 2012 with a Master the- technology from Sir. M. Planck-Institute for Molecular Visvesvaraya Institute sis carried out in Prof. Hofmann-Apitius’ Genetics, Max Planck Institute of Technology, Ban- group. She continued her education in for Neurological Research, Max the same group with a PhD in 2013. Dur- Planck Institute for Plant Bree- galore, India, in 2007. ding Research, Max Planck Insti- After studies she was ing her PhD, she also worked in the EU tute for the Biology of Ageing, offered a position as Programmer Analyst project AETIONOMY from where the data Max Planck Institute Tübingen, Microsoft Research-University of at Coginzant Technologies, Bangalaore, analyzed in a Nature Reviews Drug Dis- Trento Centre for Computational India. In 2009, she came back to LSI and covery paper was taken from. Alpha was and Systems Biology (COSBI), obtained her Master’s Degree in 2012. She first author of this paper. She successfully National Centre for Biological continued her education in the group of obtained her PhD in 2018 and works now Sciences, National Centre for Biomolecular Research, National at Fraunhofer SCAI. Besides her studies, Prof. Hofmann-Apitius. In 2018, she gradu- University of Ireland, National ated with a PhD and joined BASF as a she had her first baby two weeks after her Technical University of Singapo- Knowledge Engineer. During her PhD, she PhD defense and started her own com- re, Philipps University of Marburg, pany in India. She is a prime example for a Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman had her first baby and she did not only University, Radboudumc – manage her PhD thesis but she is doing truly “translational” and “entrepreneurial” University Clinic Centre of the an impressive career in industry alongside young researcher. Fraunhofer is support- University of Nijmegen, Research Center Jülich, RWTH Aachen, with her family. Shweta is an example, ing her with a TALENTA fellowship. South University of Science and that a career in science as a women and Technology of China, Swiss Fe- young mother is possible. CHARLES TAPLEY HOYT deral Institute of Aquatic Science joined LSI in autumn 2015. Before, he and Technology, TU München, Twincore – Centre for Experimen- studied Chemistry at Northeastern Univer- DANIEL DOMINGO FERNANDEZ tal and Clinical Research, Univer- started his studies in sity and did internships at Novartis, Pfizer sity Clinic Gustav Carus Dresden, LSI 2014. He obtained a and GlaxoSmithKline. He was accepted University College London (UCL), into the group of Prof. Hofmann-Apitius Western University, ZBMed, and Bachelor’s Degree in Bio- the universities of Amsterdam, technology of the Univer- in 2016 and completed his Master Thesis Bonn, Bern, Cambridge, Cologne, sity of Leon, Spain. In his in 2017. Now, he continues his education Copenhagen, Dresden, Düssel- dorf, Ghent, Kiel, Leipzig, Leon, time as an undergraduate working on his PhD. After one year of his Luxemburg, Macquerie, Mainz, student he spent an ex- PhD thesis work, he is already author of Münster, Oxford, Sheffield, Tübin- change year at the Univer- four different papers, including an appli- gen, Utrecht, Western Australia, sity of Wisconsin-Green Bay, USA. During cation note in BIOINFORMATICS and a full Vienna, Wageningen, Western Onatario, Würzburg, Zürich. paper in the Database Journal. his studies at b-it he joined the group of b-it Report 2018 11 b-it Programs Master Program

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kraetzschmar, in Autonomous Systems Autonomous Systems The Master’s program in Autonomous In the academic year 2018, 34 students Systems is an international program, taught joined the MAS program from an applicant entirely in English, offering multi-faceted pool of 609 candidates. The MAS program training in the fields of robotics and artifi- has always attracted the interest of students cial intelligence. Various robot platforms are all over the globe. The 10 different nation- used for educational and research purposes, alities of the 34 students who joined the including the Care-O-Bot 3, and the youBot. program in the 2018 academic year is proof Prof. Dr. Paul Plöger, The focus is on enabling and integrating the of this fact. Autonomous Systems necessary intelligence behind the autonomous behavior of artificial agents rather than The program is offered by the b-it Applied on the hardware-related aspects of robotics. Science Institute (b-itAS) in the Department Students get a solid theoretical background in of Computer Science at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg autonomous mobile robots, advanced control University of Applied Sciences (BRSU). b-itAS methods, robot manipulation, learning and cooperates closely with the Fraunhofer IAIS in adaptivity, hardware-software co-design of implementing the program, which started in Prof. Dr. Erwin Prassler, embedded systems, probabilistic reasoning, the winter of 2002. Two dual degree pro- Autonomous Systems and planning and scheduling. The courses are grams exist with both the University of New combined with research work conducted at Brunswick in Canada and the German-Jorda- the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analy- nian University in Amman, Jordan. sis and Information Systems (IAIS) and other partner institutions. The program is managed by three professors (Gerhard Kraetzschmar, Paul G. Ploeger and Students take a number of core courses in Erwin Prassler), three research associates the first semester as well as compulsory (Iman Awaad, Anastassia Kuestenmacher and seminars, and practical courses throughout Sven Schneider) as well as researchers who their studies. The Winter Semester 2012 saw have been recruited through the SciRoc, RO- the first students study under the new cur- POD and RoboLand projects (Alex Mitrevski, riculum, which received ASIIN accreditation Argentina Ortega, Santosh Thoduka, Maximil- in April 2012. In addition to the accreditation ian Schoebel, Deebul Nair, Patrick Nagel, and certificate from the German Accreditation Djordje Vukcevic). Board, the program got the special ASIIN accreditation label and the Euro Inf Label from The faculty and staff are actively involved in the European Quality Assurance Network for many scientific activities, including member- Information Education (EQANIE). Students ships in technical committees of IEEE or in now choose one of two tracks to specialize in the RoboCup Federation trustee board, the at the end of their first semester: the Intel- euRobotics aisbl board, numerous program ligent Robots track and the Robot Systems committees of workshops and scientific Design track. conferences such as IROS, ICRA, ICAR, ICMA, and AAMAS.

12 b-it Report 2018 MAS Success Stories DIEGO ENRIQUE RAMOS AVILA List of employers of MAS Fellow Researcher Alumni (Business):

Fraunhofer FKIE, AHMAD DRAK Ableton, ASIMOV Robotics, Research Associate and PhD Wachtberg, Germany Banksoft, BMW cyber:con Candidate GmbH, Delphi, Exciera Hochschule Bonn-Rhein- Being part of the MAS Technologies, Faro GmbH, Sieg, Sankt Augustin, program was a great Fetch Robotics, Gade Autonomous Systems Germany experience that not only Private Limited, Google/ gave me the opportu- Alphabet, GPS, IBM , Ingen I joined MAS in 2014 as a nity of finally building a Robotics, Kuka Robotics, naive robotics enthusiast with an Electri- career in robotics, but also allowed me to M2P Consulting, Magazino, cal Engineering degree. A blink of an eye meet a lot of interesting and fun charac- MesaX, Rapyuta Robotics, RBOT, Recogizer, Robots later, the adversity faced in the program ters. Since robotics is such an interdiscipli- Alive Consulting, Shadow nary field, MAS ends up bringing together coupled with the challenges of RoboCup Robot Company, Siemens, propelled me several steps further in my people from several different academic Systemantics, TBA Group, career pursuits. The MAS program also and cultural backgrounds. From this, one The MathWorks, Trivago, served as a portal to the next stage of can only learn and grow and become a VMware academic achievements, where I received much more adaptive person and profes- the Förderpreis der Hochschulgesellschaft sional. I got my master’s degree in 2016 prior to graduating. The cultivated efforts of and I have been working as a Fellow Re- the master’s thesis resulted in a Research searcher at the Cognitive Mobile Systems List of employers of MAS Associate position at H-BRS and a collabo- Department of Fraunhofer FKIE ever since. Alumni (Universities & rative PhD project with University College Research): London (UCL). My current doctoral research YOUSSEF MAHMOUD YOUSSEF DFKI, DLR, Fraunhofer FGAN, Fraunhofer IAIS, Research Associate and is concerned with deployment and control Freie Universität Berlin, of aerial robots. PhD Candidate Heriot-Watt University, Fraunhofer FKIE, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein- SHEHZAD AHMED Wachtberg, Germany Sieg, Hochschule Bonn- Software Developer Rhein-Sieg (Graduate Institute), Hochschule TBA – Software Solutions & Completing my master’s Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (Institut in MAS has given me a Services for Ports, Terminals für Sicherheitsforschung), & Warehouses, Rawalpindi, good overview of robot- Instituto Superior Técnico Pakistan ics from a computer sci- (IST) - Universidade de ence / artificial intelligence point of view. Lisboa, Jacobs University LAAS-CNRS, Norwegian Studying AS at b-it was During my studies, I attended the class University of Life Sciences, fault detection and diagnosis (FDD). In my a dream come true. Örebro University, Aside from learning theoretical concepts R&D project, I applied FDD methods to Osnabrück University, of robotics, hands-on experience on cool robotic platforms and was able to publish Rhine-Waal University of robots was most exciting and motivating. papers at the “DX-Principals of Diagnosis” Applied Sciences, RWTH I feel very fortunate to have worked in the workshop. This led me to take a position Aachen, TU Wien, TUBITAK- UZAY Space Technologies EmoRobot project that aimed to investigate at Fraunhofer FKIE, where I completed my Research Institute, Univer- master’s thesis on a project also focused an technical system using robots as care- sidad Anáhuac Mayab in takers of Alzheimer’s patients. As a mem- on fault diagnosis for robots. My work at Mérida, University Jaume I, ber of the “b-it-bots” team, I participated Fraunhofer led to a paper at an IEEE con- University of Bonn, Univer- in RoboCup and RoCKIn competitions and ference. Having gained all this experience, sity of Erlangen, University practically realized the learned concepts to I was able to start my current position as a of Hertfordshire, University of Louvain, University of research associate. I am now developing a strengthen my professional skills. The mul- Western Australia ticultural environment of the program also lab for FDD for distributed robotic systems helped me to improve my personal skills. and preparing to start my PhD. b-it Report 2018 b-it Programs International Program of Excellence in Computer Science

The International Program of Excellence in Excellence in Big Data Analytics Computer Science (IPEC) at b-it offers compact courses primarily during the semester The b-it partner universities are among the break and at the highest educational level. leading German, even European, organiza- This results in faster studies and advanced tions in the field of Data Science, Data Engi- quality in selected subject areas. These neering, and Machine Learning. For example, courses apply to a limited number of highly the three Fraunhofer institutes at Birlinghoven Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Müller qualified students of the University of Bonn, Castle coordinate the Fraunhofer Big Data Al- the RWTH Aachen University and, in the liance, have started the international Indus- future, other German or foreign universities. trial Data Space Initiative aiming at more data Undergraduate IPEC courses are planned in sovereignty in business, and lead numerous a way that the time required for the bachelor national and European projects in this rapidly degree will be reduced up to one year. expanding field.

Additionally there are cross-cutting courses One of the key results of the b-it Evaluation Prof. Dr. Christian Bauckhage that accelerate the master studies at the b-it in 2015-2016 was the decision to strengthen as well as regular summer and winter schools this aspect also in the b-it teaching offers. that are designated for selected topics of While the b-it mission statement already computer science. These courses are held in rightly emphasizes the role of data science cooperation with international guest scien- and AI aspects in all three existing b-it Master tists. Applications of foreign students are Programs, we also consider the introduction welcome. of a dedicated joint b-it master program.

The expected impact of the Program of Excel- In preparation for this move, it was decided lence is not limited to a significant accelera- to dedicate the currently vacant b-it full tion of undergraduate and graduate studies professorships formerly filled by Prof. v.z. in conjunction with an international visibility. Gathen explicitly to the field of Data Science. It also brings together outstanding students In 2017, an intense faculty search resulted in with internationally noted scientists and with several excellent candidates. We are happy to fellow students from abroad and activates report that we were able to attract the inter- new forms of encouraging competition nationally renowned data mining researcher among students. The IPEC courses usually Emmanuel Müller to accept this position. comprise a mix of lecture classes, seminars, and lab courses, such that students can make The new colleague, as well as future b-it best use of the compressed time schedule. students, can expect an even more excit- Currently, this part of the program is being ing research context than now, as the rather restructured as to provide an „honors class“ small team of b-it faculty has become one supplement to the top 10% bachelor stu- of the most successful groups in the present dents in Aachen and Bonn, loosely linked to German Excellence Competition. Four of their the NRW public-private scholarship programs excellence clusters – all topically related to the Ministry of Innovation has initiated for b-it study programs – are among the 57 out this group of students. of originally 195 proposals that were selected for seven-year funding from 2019-2026.

14 b-it Report 2018 Professor Emmanuel Müller nitty-gritty. Everybody was asked to take joins b-it up the role of James Bond and program RSA on the laptop built-in to Bond’s BMW Z8. We used Sage on it, a free open- Prof. Müller is head of the new chair for source computer algebra system which Data Science and Data Engineering at b-it among many other things is capable of Bond’s Thursday crew. and lead scientist for data science at the calculating with arbitrarily large numbers. Fraunhofer Institute IAIS. Before he was The students sent emails to Moneypenny full professor for computer science at the and decrypted answers from her, set up a Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam (2015- public-key infrastructure and exchanged 2018), he was independent research group encrypted messages with each other. As leader at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technol- a sidetrack, in a game-like setting the ogy (2010-2015), and Postdoctoral Fellow students could experimentally find out at the University of Antwerp (2012-2015). how the main step in the encryption and He received his Diploma (2007) and his decryption of RSA, namely the modular PhD (2010) both with distinction from exponentiation, can be executed in a jiffy. RWTH Aachen University. His research interests cover knowledge discovery, data In the outro Bastian Hafer, Postbank, and mining, big data systems, and data explora- Christian Berghoff, BSI, presented facets tion for high dimensional data, graph data, of security from different real world per- On Bond’s tracks. time series, and data streams. He is leading spectives. On the one hand side, Bastian the open-source initiative OpenSubspace Hafer represents the view of a bank that enabling repeatability and comparability aims at profit and tries to balance risks for the research community. Prof. Müller and costs. On the other hand side, Chis- has organized several tutorials and work- tian Berghoff presented ways to protect all shops at major data mining, database, and our privacy. machine learning conferences, and edited a special issue for the Machine Learn- ing Journal. In the past few years, he has crypt@b-it 2018 coordinated multiple education programs for “Data Science” and “Data Engineering”: b-it hosted the summer school crypt@b-it One on the level of university education 2018. In its pleasant atmosphere students (M.Sc. program), two graduate schools and researchers from all over the country (PhD programs) and multiple executive and beyond took the opportunity to crypt education programs for industry. a bit. The summer school was organized jointly with the Ruhr-Universität Bochum Schüler-Krypto 2018 and the Technische Universität Darmstadt, in cooperation with the IACR (Internation- al Association for Cryptologic Research) On two days in March 2018, 123 high and the GI (Gesellschaft für Informatik). The Enigma machine. school students as well as six teachers It took place on 23 – 27 July 2018 in met for the seventeenth Schüler-Krypto to the new rooms of the b-it and invited to learn@bit on secret messages, encryption exploration of some fundamental areas of and decryption. They came from Eitorf, cryptography: Proof techniques for sym- Hennef, Königswinter, Morsbach, metric cryptography by Stefano Tessaro, Neustadt, Oppenheim and Bonn. Practical Techniques for Secure 2-party

Computation by Mike Rosulek, and the After an introduction to the topic by Enigma machine by Max Gebhardt. Michael Nüsken the students got to the

b-it Report 2018 b-it Partners

b-it Universities Institute

ABC – three letters that stand for a verita- RWTH Aachen University ble “magic triangle“: the region between Aachen, Bonn and Cologne, which is not RWTH Aachen University was founded as a only economically strong, but also a leader Polytechnic in 1870 with considerable sup- in science, education and research. The large port from local industry. In 1948 it was estab- number of research establishments based lished as Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische here make the area one of Europe’s biggest Hochschule Aachen (RWTH), the Institute and most important science landscapes. of Technology of the State of North Rhine- Almost 10 percent of all German students – Westphalia. Today, RWTH is one of the most around 130,000 people – are studying at the renowned technical universities in Europe Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch- with around 45,400 students. RWTH offers schule in Aachen, the Rheinische Friedrich- 157 courses of study (undergraduate and Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and the Universität postgraduate). The RWTH master programs zu Köln, which together constitute one of the educate engineers who are keen to engage most important higher education locations in R & D, innovation, and entrepreneurship. In in Europe. The three ABC institutions are 2007, RWTH Aachen was elected as one of closely linked and collaborate in many fields nine “elite universities” within the German ex- of teaching and research. cellence program. In the current Times Higher Education Ranking, RWTH Aachen University University of Bonn is placed 87th among the several thousand evaluated universities. The University of Bonn is a research-oriented university with currently about 38,000 students. Its research tradition of 200 years is closely linked to the names of Hermann von Helm- holtz, Heinrich Hertz and Friedrich August Kekulé who carried out seminal work at the University of Bonn. This strong academic tradition has been continued until present with the more recent Nobel laureates Wolfgang Paul and Reinhard Selten. Bonn cooperates with numerous other universities and research institutions around the globe. The speciali- zations it has developed enjoy worldwide The spacious Hofgartenwiese is a major summer attraction on the University of Bonn campus. recognition. More than 5,000 students from 130 countries are enrolled in Bonn. Their pres- ence underlines the international character of the university and enriches both academic and social life in Bonn. Living up to its long tradition as a classical university with a full range of academic disciplines, the University of Bonn offers 200 different subjects and degrees. Students can choose from a wide and modern spectrum of subjects that allows a multiplicity of combinations.

16 b-it Report 2018 TopoScan microscope of Fraunhofer FIT: TopoScan is a modular hardware-software platform for the automated high content analysis of biological samples. Its unique software-driven architecture combines two properties within one system: Stream- lined workflows with minimal intervention for the reprodu- cible acquisition and analysis of high content assays. Entrance of Birlinghoven Castle.

The Birlinghoven Castle campus is one of the largest and most influential computer science research sites in Germany. About 500 researchers work in the IZB institutes. That Fraunhofer SCAI represents a quarter of the Fraunhofer ICT Group, Europe‘s largest IT research organiza- The Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and tion. The institutes collaborate closely with Scientific Computing SCAI conducts research the European ERCIM network of national in the area of computational science and IT research centers as well as with leading is a valued corporate partner for industry research establishments in the USA, Eastern and academia. SCAI designs and optimizes Europe and Asia. Three IZB institutes con- industrial applications, implements custom tribute to the b-it master programs Media solutions for production and logistics, and Informatics and Life Science Informatics: employs high-performance computers. The Fraunhofer SCAI: A hormonal Department of Bioinformatics at Fraunhofer network underlying dementia and Alzheimer‘s disease. Fraunhofer FIT SCAI carries out applied research and development in three areas: FIT, the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Infor- 1. Techniques for information extraction in mation Technology, investigates human-cen- the life sciences, including recognition of tered computing in a business or engineering named entities and relationships in text as process context. The usability and usefulness well as large-scale, automated information of information and cooperation systems is extraction. optimized in their interplay between human 2. Integrative biology, with a particular focus on work practice, organization and process. In modeling neurodegenerative diseases. Life Science Informatics the institute focuses 3. eScience, Grid and Cloud Computing as well on protein analysis, visual support for naviga- as technologies for the operation of HPC tion in micro surgery, and assistive informa- (Clusters) with a focus on SLA, security, and tion technology. In Media Informatics innova- license management. tive information visualization systems, mixed The Department of Bioinformatics is partner and augmented reality environments for in major funded projects at national and industrial planning, pervasive gaming applica- EU level. Software tools for information tions, and value chains for public-sector infor- extraction developed at SCAI BIO are used mation services are main research topics. in the vast majority of pharmaceutical companies worldwide.

b-it Report 2018 17 b-it Partners

b-it Applied Science Institute

Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University Fraunhofer IAIS of Applied Sciences (BRSU) The Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analy- Founded in 1995, the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg sis and Information Systems IAIS develops University of Applied Sciences significantly tailor-made IT solutions to support compa- extends the range of applied research and nies and organizations optimize products, teaching in the greater Bonn area. It spe- services and processes, as well as to imple- cializes in business administration, natural ment intelligent information management. sciences, engineering and computer science, There is a particular focus on the analysis, strongly encouraging cooperation with indus- access and targeted use of Big Data, new trial partners and a focus on use-driven and media technologies and solutions for innova- interdisciplinary research and teaching. tive business and security processes.

The three campuses at Sankt Augustin, In order to support customers in their infor- Rheinbach and Hennef are well equipped mation management and decision-making with modern laboratories, studios, workshops processes, the scientists use innovative and facilities for cooperative research. By technologies such as knowledge extraction, 2018, the different departments accommo- visual analytics and data mining to provide date more than 9,000 students. them with holistic analyses of large amounts of data. Semantic and adaptive media ap- The Department of Computer Science offers plications open up new possibilities for a Bachelor and a Master program in Com- linking data and knowledge and for making puter Science and in cooperation with the them accessible via the Internet. By utilizing Departments of Business Administration a business intelligence solutions the Fraunhofer Bachelor program in Business Information IAIS team is able to optimize its customers’ Systems. The Master program Autonomous business, IT and security processes and so Systems is offered by the b-it Applied Sci- improve their business success. The insti- ence Institute, a cooperation between the tute’s research and development activities Department of Computer Science and the are defined by the business areas Big Data Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis Analytics, Business Modeling & Analytics, and Information Systems IAIS. Content Technologies & Services, Enterprise Information Integration, Image Processing, In- telligent Media & Learning, Marketing, Market Research & Media Analysis and Preventive Security. Fraunhofer IAIS and its 230 strong team combine in-depth industry knowledge with expertise in a full range of technical disciplines, most notably computer science but also mathematics, natural sciences, business management, geo sciences and social sciences.

Campus of the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences.

18 b-it Report 2018 General Information

General Admission Fees and Finances Requirements As of 2018, a student union fee of ca. 275 € • A first university-level degree (B.Sc., B.Eng.), per semester covers student activities, subsi- as specified for the individual programs, dized meals, and free public transportation in with grades well above average is required. the whole state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is strongly recommended; A student‘s monthly expenses, including € • All courses are held in English, thus flu- study material, will be about 800 . b-it does ency in English in vital. It is evaluated on not offer formal scholarships but several the basis of TOEFL 550 paper-based, 213 student assistantships are available on a computer-based, or IELTS 6.0; competitive basis. For information on funding • Working knowledge of German is necessary from German sources please contact the to take up some of culture that the Aachen DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service – Bonn – Cologne region has developed www.daad.de. over the last 2,000 years. Therefore, a basic German language course is offered before Studying in Bonn start of the program and during the first year. • Admission is coupled to placement in the Most of the teaching in b-it is concentrated in Fraunhofer lab courses and therefore strictly Bonn and its eastern neighbor, Sankt Augus- limited. Application deadline has been tin. Newcomers to Bonn soon grow very fond March 1 for Fall admission but may change of the city – a fact confirmed by thousands from year to year; check www.b-it-center.de of students and academics, German and for current admission details. foreign, who have come here to learn, teach or research. Since the German Bundestag moved its seat and parts of the Federal Government to Berlin in 1999, Bonn attracted a number of international organiza-tions, especially United Nations bodies, and some major corporations. Among others, Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Post have their headquarters there. Now Bonn is evolving into an internationally recognized science region – with the university as one of the dynamic forces driving this change. In addition, Bonn offers a wide variety of attractions and amenities. The city’s most famous son, Ludwig van Beethoven, is the Bonn Aachen star attraction of a lively and varied arts and culture scene. The city boasts an opera house, several theatres, concert halls and other venues, as well as a range of fascinat- ing museums.

b-it Report 2018 19 Endenicher Allee 19 C 53115 Bonn Germany

Scientific Directors

Prof. Dr. Matthias Jarke, RWTH Aachen University Fraunhofer FIT

Prof. Dr. Paul G. Plöger, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences

Prof. Dr. Stefan Wrobel, University of Bonn Fraunhofer IAIS

Programs

Media Informatics [email protected]

Life Science Informatics [email protected]

Autonomous Systems [email protected]

Imprint

Editors b-it Scientific Directors

Design Luzia Sassen

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