FOREWORD BY THE CHAIRMAN OF The International Advisory Council of B-IT THE B-IT FOUNDATION RWTH Aachen University, University of Bonn, Since its inception seven years ago, the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sci- Bonn-Aachen International Center for Infor- ences, have, in cooperation with the Fraun- mation Technology (B-IT) has pioneered hofer Board of Management, established an excellence in international graduate educa- International Advisory Council. Its mission is Helmut Dockter tion for applied information technology. The to ensure the relevance of B-IT’s educational key to this success has been a unique coop- efforts for careers in the business world, eration between two leading universities, a to monitor B-IT’s international competitive- young university of applied sciences, and the ness, and to foster B-IT’s development by Fraunhofer society for applied research. giving recommendations and guidelines. The rectors of the participating universities have The B-IT Master programs excel in many re- appointed Prof. Dr. Gerhard Barth as Found- gards. Due to careful selection and intensive ing President; Barth is well known as founder education, student success rates are among of the German AI research institute DFKI, as the highest in North Rhine-Westphalia, rang- top manager in companies such as Daimler- ing up to over 90%. In 2010, B-IT students Chrysler, Alcatel, and Dresdner Bank, and Prof. Dr. Gerhard Barth have successfully participated in worldwide more recently as partner in a consultancy research competitions, winning e.g. two firm. In addition, the council includes five in- RoboCup robotics championships, as well as ternationally renowned representatives from best student paper awards in several interna- academia and industry: tional conferences. Research contributions of B-IT Professors were demonstrated, among • Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fischer, others, to millions of visitors at the German- University of Colorado, Boulder Chinese Pavilion of the Expo-2010 in Shang- • Prof. Dr. Ossama Khatib, Robotics Lab, hai/China. Stanford University, Palo Alto • Prof. Dr. Thomas Lengauer, Max-Planck B-IT graduates are not just in great demand Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken by industry, but have also been offered pres- • Prof. Dr. Hermann Maurer, Media Lab, tigious doctoral fellowships by institutions University of Graz such as Cambridge University, ETH Zurich, Stanford University, and the University of Oxford. Meanwhile, several early B-IT mas- ter graduates have already completed their doctorates. The new government of North Rhine-Westphalia, now led by Hannelore Kraft as Prime Minister and Svenja Schulze as Minister of Innovation, Science and Research, continues to place great emphasis on activat- ing top talents and high-quality international education. I invite young talents from all over the world to take advantage of B-IT‘s inter- nationally renowned graduate programs, and would like to thank the directors, faculty, and B-IT main building. students of B-IT for their successful work.

Helmut Dockter Vice Minister of Innovation, Science and Research NRW, Chairman, B-IT Foundation Council

2 B-IT Report 2010      [  

The success of the Bonn-Aachen Internation- offers its own Research School for doctoral al Center for Information Technology (B-IT) studies in eight areas of applied IT; in spring has continued in the academic year 2009- 2010, the number of doctoral scholarships 2010, with record numbers of highly qualified awarded by the B-IT Research School grew graduates in Media Informatics, Life Science to 27. In fall 2010, the master programs in Informatics, and Autonomous Systems as well Media Informatics and Life Science Infor- as an excellent placement record, new re- matics underwent a rigorous evaluation as Prof. Dr. Armin B. Cremers search grants and highly visible public events. part of their re-accreditation by the national University of Bonn

ASIIN Agency. This did not stop at formal The international visibility of the B-IT interna- documents, but also included the analysis tional research-integrated master programs of exams and theses as well as interviews has grown further. The Media Informatics with faculty and students. For the first time group of Prof. Jan Borchers co-designed one in Germany, the new European accreditation of the most successful exhibits at the EXPO agency EQANIE joined an ASIIN evaluation 2010 world exhibition in Shanghai; German with international reviewers, such that the president Horst Köhler and Chancellor Angela study programs are now also accredited at Prof. Dr. Matthias Jarke Merkel were just two among the hundred the European level. Reviewers were particu- RWTH Aachen University thousands of visitors attracted by this exhibit. larly impressed with the enthusiasm and and Fraunhofer FIT Major media attention was also gained by quality of the B-IT student group. one of the most downloaded courses in the iTunes University collection, and the opening We would like to extend our cordial thanks to of Germany’s first Fab Lab in his group. B-IT the B-IT Foundation Council led by Chairman student teams from his group as well as the Helmut Dockter, Vice Minister of Innovation, groups of B-IT professors v.z. Gathen and Science and Research NRW and Secretary Bauckhage won best student paper or best Hans Stender, to the B-IT Advisory Board led Prof. Dr. Kurt-Ulrich Witt student demo awards at a number of interna- by Founding President Gerhard Barth, to the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University tional conferences and exhibitions. Continu- B-IT Faculty and especially the study coor- of Applied Sciences ing their success story of the previous year, dinators Martin Hofmann-Apitius, Gerhard the B-IT-Bots team of the Master Program in Kraetzschmar and Otto Spaniol, to our assist- Autonomous Systems mentored by profes- ant directors Alexandra Reitelmann, Jürgen sors Kraetzschmar and Plöger ranked among Rapp, Gertraud Peinel, Christoph Quix, Stefan the top-3 in two major RoboCup tourna- Lüttringhaus-Kappel, Thomas Bode and Iman ments. B-IT also organized a number of in- Awaad, but most of all to the B-IT students for dustry and science events in Bonn itself. Not their enthusiasm and excellent cooperation. surprisingly, B-IT graduates continue to be in high demand by employers in both industry This report intends to inform stakeholders, and research. existing and future students and doctoral candidates, as well as the interested public Many B-IT students do not stop with a Master about the B-IT activities in the academic year degree but follow up with doctoral studies at 2009-2010. Enjoy reading it! well-known universities. By now, early gradu- ates from all three B-IT master programs Armin B. Cremers, University of Bonn have succeeded in finishing doctoral degrees Matthias Jarke, and continue their research careers at the RWTH Aachen University and Fraunhofer FIT post-doctoral level. Since late 2008, B-IT also Kurt-Ulrich Witt, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences

B-IT Report 2010 3  [

The southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia is The B-IT Universities Institute offers English one of the largest, most vibrant locations in language Master of Science (M.Sc.) programs the European media and telecom industry. in Media Informatics and Life Science Infor- It is also one of the most innovative and matics, whereas the University of Applied fast-growing biotech regions in Germany, and Sciences offers a Master Program in Autono- there is much interest in the emerging fields mous Systems. The Master Programs prepare of mechatronics and robotics. To make it the students for successful international careers optimal place to study for professional work that require technical excellence and leader- in these fields, the Bonn-Aachen International ship, creativity and the ability to innovate. Center for Information Technology (B-IT) has B-IT master programs are distinguished by been established as a joint venture of RWTH their international orientation (structured Aachen University, University of Bonn, Bonn- according to the European ECTS standard), Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Science (BRS their focus on IT competence, and the deep U) and the research institutes of the Fraun- integration of teaching and research. hofer Institute Center Birlinghoven Castle. A second goal of B-IT is the optimization B-IT offers highly selective International Mas- and acceleration of existing undergraduate ter Programs in Applied IT, as well as summer computer science curricula at Bonn University / winter schools for qualified undergraduate and RWTH Aachen University for selected top computer science students. Most courses students. B-IT’s International Program of Ex- take place in the beautiful B-IT building next cellence (IPEC) pursues this goal by compact to the former office of the German Chancel- course modules delivered in summer and lor on the banks of the River Rhine in Bonn. winter schools during the semester breaks. Admission to the B-IT Master Programs is The B-IT Research School offers doctoral linked to, and conditional upon, placement training with partial financial support from in research lab courses at the participating NRW state. Fraunhofer institutes. Students in good stand- ing are offered financial support during these For the participating universities, the B-IT lab courses. programs have also helped pave the way towards a smooth transition from the tra- Africa 1% ditional German diploma system to the Germany 7% Bachelor-Master system following the Bo- Rest of Asia 14% logna accord; for example, the B-IT master programs were the first to be accredited Pakistan 10% Rest of Europe 22% within the participating universities in 2004- 2005. The success of the B-IT programs is also demonstrated by a very good placement record, both in science and industry.

The Americas 4% B-IT is financially supported by a 56 M€ Foundation initiated through the Bonn-Berlin India 27% program of the German federal government, China 15% as well as by matching NRW state funds. The B-IT Foundation was officially set up in Home Countries of B-IT Students. October 2002, and a cooperation treaty was signed by the Rectors of the participating universities and the Fraunhofer Society.

4 B-IT Report 2010 B-IT WELCOME PARTY which was especially shot for this occasion. The Welcome Party also saw the impressive This year’s incoming students were wel- dance performance of Mr Nagendra Babu comed by Professor Cremers in B-IT lecture Donthi Raju, student of the B-IT Master pro- hall. B-IT Professor Hofmann-Apitius called gram of Autonomous Systems. the incoming Life Science Informatics and Media Informatics students respectively for their presentation within this meanwhile highly acclaimed event. PhD candidate and former speaker of the LSI student council Erfan Younesi showed a welcome presenta- tion and LSI student Ashutosh Malhotra pre- miered a short film entitled “Aude Sapere!”

OFFICERS Founding Scientific Directors International Advisory Board Prof. Dr. Armin B. Cremers, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Barth, University of Bonn Founding President Prof. Dr. Matthias Jarke, RWTH Aachen University, Fraunhofer FIT B-IT Foundation Council Prof. Dr. Kurt-Ulrich Witt, Helmut Dockter (Chairman) Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Vice Minister of Innovation, Science and Sciences Research NRW Chairman, B-IT Foundation Council Coordinators B-IT Study Programs Hans Stender (Secretary) Prof. Dr. Otto Spaniol Chancellor, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of (RWTH Aachen University), Media Informatics Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Martin Hofmann-Apitius MinDir Dr. Hermann Müller-Solger (Fraunhofer SCAI), Life Science Informatics Federal Ministry of Research and Education Prof. Dr. Gerhard K. Kraetzschmar Prof. Dr. Ulrich Buller (Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University), Autonomous Board of Directors, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Systems Jürgen Nimptsch Mayor, City of Bonn Assistant Directors/Study Advisors Frithjof Kühn Iman Awaad, M.Sc., County Chairman, Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ernst Schmachtenberg Dr. Thomas Bode, Rector, RWTH Aachen University Dr. Stefan Lüttringhaus-Kappel, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Fohrmann University of Bonn Rector, University of Bonn Dr. Gertraud Peinel, Prof. Dr. Hartmut Ihne B-IT Research School Rector, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg Dr. Jürgen Rapp, University of Applied Sciences RWTH Aachen University Dr. Ernst Franceschini Dr. Alexandra Reitelmann, President, Bonn / Rhine-Sieg Chamber University of Bonn of Commerce

B-IT Report 2010     

SILHOUETTES: AN INTERACTIVE the complexity of the tests and the number COLLABORATIVE GESTURE-BASED of participating teams. One key factor that EXPERIENCE FOR THE EXPO 2010 accelerates the research and development in SHANGHAI the field of service robotics, and especially in the RoboCup@Home context, is collabo- Silhouettes is an interactive collaborative ration. The goal of the RoboCup@Home Silhouettes: An interactive gesture-based experience for the German- Research Camp is to encourage the collabo- gesture-based installation for Chinese House at the World EXPO 2010 in ration between teams. the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. Shanghai from May 1 – October 31, 2010. It was developed by Prof. Peter Russell’s CAAD The first RoboCup@Home Research Camp group and B-IT Professor Jan Borchers’ Media was organized in March 2010 in the B-IT labs Computing Group at RWTH Aachen Universi- at BRS U, with the perspective to prepare ty together with Chinese artists from Beijing. teams for the World Championships at Robo- Echoing the theme of EXPO 2010 and the Cup-2010 in Singapore. The Camp balanced German-Chinese House, hundred thousands information sharing and experimental runs of EXPO visitors – among them the German within the @Home environment. Five teams and Chinese presidents Horst Köhler and Hu participated and contributed to a very suc- Jintao, and Chancellor Angela Merkel – partic- cessful event, which provides good feedback President of the Federal ipated in jointly creating a virtual city neigh- for the organization of future research camps. Republic of Germany, borhood by interacting with a large-scale Prof. Horst Köhler (left), and display wall using only their body silhouettes. COOPERATION OF MAS PROGRAM Prof. Borchers (right) after the AT BRS U WITH AALTO UNIVERSITY game. Their city neighborhood became part of a growing 3D virtual city that can be seen IN HELSINKI online (http://expo.arch.rwth-aachen.de). After completion of EXPO 2010, the German- A successful cooperation between Bonn- Chinese Pavilion – a showcase example of Rhine-Sieg University and Aalto University sustainable and environment-friendly con- in Helsinki, Finland, was started. Prof. Erwin struction, will be set up in Hangzhou where Prassler stayed as a visiting professor in Hel- one of the traditional partner universities of sinki. Together with Dr. Björn Kahl, who was B-IT resides. in Helsinki for two weeks in August 2010, and representatives of the BRICS research B-IT-BOTS AND MAS PROGRAM project, joint research project proposals in ORGANIZE FIRST ROBOCUP@HOME the areas of ”Ambient Assisted Living“ and RESEARCH CAMP intelligent robotics have been discussed. The Finnish universities Aalto (Helsinki) and The RoboCup@Home league is a young Tampere, together with other universities, league in the international RoboCup com- form the Finnish Centre of Excellence on petition. It aims to encourage research that Generic Intelligent Machines (GIM). Together enables the viable service robots for future with representatives of our department and domestic applications. In order to evaluate other partner universities, the proposal for an the robots’ capabilities, a set of benchmark EU-Project ”Future Worksite“ is being pre- tests is used during the competition in a pared. Its goal is to enable a fully automatic realistic home environment. Since the first and therefore cost effective building site of competition in 2006, the RoboCup@Home the future with remote-controlled and semi- league has seen dramatic increases in both autonomous construction vehicles.

6 B-IT Report 2010 SPRING FEAST OF THE RECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN AT B-IT ON ADVANCED ROBOTICS 2009 CHAIRED BY MAS PROFESSORS The rector of the University of Bonn, Prof. Fohrmann, held the spring feast of the Uni- MAS Professor Erwin Prassler organized versity of Bonn in the B-IT building on June the International Conference on Advanced 10, 2010. Prof. Cremers welcomed the guests Robotics (ICAR) in Munich in June 2009 as highlighting the research done, the interna- General Chair, and MAS Professor Gerhard tional master programs and the Research Kraetzschmar served as Workshops and Tu- School run at B-IT. B-IT Prof. von zur Gathen torials Chair. ICAR 2009 was the 14th edition and his co-workers gave an insight into one of this medium-sized, renowned conference, field of research at B-IT. They presented which was the first international academic ro- Dr. Hartanto training Johnny VisKy (Visual Cryptography) as a hands-on botic conference in history. The theme of the Jackanapes, one of the experience to all guests of the event. conference was “able robots” The term “able world‘s best service robots. robot” was supposed to replace the frequent- IDEA CONTEST “AFFORDABLE ly used but still fuzzy term “intelligent robot”. ROBOTICS“ 2009 “able” is not only to be the lexical intersec- tion of “cap-able”, “depend-able”, “measur- For decades the robotics community has able”, “afford-able” it also stands as synonym promised and announced that robots will for four rather fundamental and important pervade our daily lives and serve humans features of robots which are supposed to wherever dirty, dull and dangerous tasks deliver useful and economically competitive need to be done. But how many robots services in everyday environments under providing a reasonable service at a reason- everyday conditions. able price can you buy today in a warehouse? After fifty years of robotics research and 2ND B-IT ECONOMIC FORUM development there is only a handful of such Prof. Fohrmann (right) and robots out there. If robots really shall serve B-IT organized the 2nd B-IT Economic Forum Jürgen Nimptsch, Mayor City humankind at large, then they must become on March 10, 2010. B-IT provided a plat- of Bonn (left), at Spring Feast *affordable*. What we badly need are the “tin form for an intercourse among scientists, of the University of Bonn at lizzies” and the “beetles” of robotics. In May industry and politics. The 2nd B-IT Economic B-IT. Photo: Volker Lannert 2009 B-IT MAS Prof. Erwin Prassler invited Forum serves to highlight the competence the entire robotics community – researchers available in the field of Life Science Science as well as developers and engineers, juniors Informatics in the Aachen-Cologne Bonn as well as seniors – to an idea contest on af- region. A dialogue is essential in promoting fordable robots. He phrased his invitation as the dynamically growing field of Life Science an appeal to the robotics community to leave Informatics and benefiting from its outcomes. at least for a short moment the established These benefits may include innovative re- paths of robotics to think the unthinkable. A search, new products and economic growth. total of 20 research teams submitted ideas The gathering was well attended and very for affordable robots. The winner was select- well received by participants from all partici- ed by the participants of a town-hall debate pating fields. “Affordable Robots or the Volkswagen Beetle in Robotics” taking place during ICAR 2009.

B-IT Report 2010 7     

EU PROJECT “BRICS: BEST PRACTI- incidental damages might cause an episode CE IN ROBOTICS“ IN FULL MOTION with fundamental impact on citizens’ daily operations and personal health. Once power Even after 50 years of robotics development supply is down for an increasing period of and research the process of developing a time problems tend to compound: more infra new robot and its applications has more structure components will start to vanish similarities with ingenious engineering or ranging from communication services over designing a piece of artwork than with a gas supplies up-to missing cash availability. structured and well-defined process. This The question arises, how to prepare counter holds particularly true for advanced service measures as best practices to build upon, robot systems. The prime objective of BRICS and how to communicate to and with the is to structure and formalize the robot devel- citizen? In cooperation with industry partners opment process and to provide development including RWE, SAP, and PSI, InfoStrom con- tools, computational models, and functional tinues our line of projects in the context of libraries, which allow engineers and develop- emergency management that have addressed ers of complex robotic systems to reduce the means for process support, impact assess- development time and effort by an order of ment and simulation of emerging technolo- magnitude. Academic and industrial providers gies for relief and rescue organizations. of robotic components – both hardware and software – identify and document best prac- LEARNING BY EXPERIMENTATION: tices in the development of complex robotics XPERO SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED systems, and refactor existing components to achieve a much higher level of reusability and In November 2009, the EU funded FP6 robustness. BRICS coordinators are Rainer project XPERO coordinated by MAS Prof. Bischoff from KUKA Roboter GmbH and MAS Prassler enjoyed a successful project com- Prof. Prassler from GPS Stuttgart. The group pletion and excellent research results. The at BRS U is led by MAS Prof. Kraetzschmar XPERO cooperation partners comprised the and is responsible for Architectures, Middle- Fraunhofer Institute for Autonomous Intel- ware, and Interfaces as well as the Education ligent Systems, Vienna University of Technol- Showcases. ogy and the Universities of Verona, Ljubljana, and the American University of Paris. The aim PROJECT INFOSTROM of the project was to enable a robot to per- form independent learning of new, qualitative Snow falls, high levels of humidity and heavy knowledge. To this end methods and require- winds may result in broken power lines as ments for machine learning derived from its well as groups of people trapped in iso- own experiences were examined and integrat- lated surroundings due to icy conditions. ed into various well-known learning methods. Highly strained power lines. Since 2009, the project Infostrom at the The distinctive feature of the XPERO approach B-IT research group of Prof. Thomas Rose is that the robot independently explores (i.e. addresses the planning of response and without human teachers) its environment and recovery processes in the event of a break draws conclusions. In April 2009, the project down of power supply. Minor break downs won the first prize for the best technical are rather common due to maintenance exhibit at FET’09 (Future and Emerging Tech- needs or minor incidents such as broken nologies) in Prague, Czech Republic. lines because of storms. However, manifold

8 B-IT Report 2010 B-IT MEDIA COMPUTING RELAUNCHES VIENNA PERSONAL ORCHESTRA EXHIBIT

The House of Music Vienna launched the redesigned Personal Orchestra Exhibit of B-IT

Professor Jan Borchers’ Media Computing Excursion to the Arithmeum: Group in November 2009. Using an infra- The jubilee teaching. Participants of von zur Gathen 60 year party. red baton, visitors can conduct the Vienna Philharmonic by controlling speed, volume, A MODERN COMPUTER ALGEBRA- and the emphasis of different instrument IST: CELEBRATING THE RESEARCH sections. The new system now features our AND INFLUENCE OF JOACHIM VON PhaVoRIT continuous real-time high-quality ZUR GATHEN AT 60 audio stretching, six new recordings of the or- chestra in full HD video, an electronic music The research of Joachim von zur Gathen has stand displaying the score, and helpful hints spanned many areas of mathematics and by maestro Zubin Mehta. The original exhibit computer science, including computational was installed in 2000, and has been used by complexity, cryptography, finite fields, and 1.5 million visitors since, making it the most computer algebra. His influence and contribu- successful station in the house, and a top tions to these fields has been felt through his tourist attraction mentioned in most leading many papers, students, collaborators, tourist guides. colleagues and friends. Many joined in celebrat- ing the rich and ongoing career of our friend, B-IT MEDIA COMPUTING GROUP colleague and teacher at b-it from 27 to 29 WINS CHI 2010 STUDENT RESEARCH May 2010. The conference celebrated the COMPETITION AWARD FOR THIRD jubilee with a variety of scientific and per- TIME IN A ROW sonal talks about various areas connected to Joachim von zur Gathen’s research. As a Yvonne Jansen, a student at Prof. Jan Borchers’ spotlight we quote Michael Barnett, a col- Media Computing Group, a B-IT endowed league and friend: “Congratulations, Joachim, Chair at RWTH Aachen University, won the on your birthday and for your contributions 2nd place in the Undergraduate Student to mathematics and science. To your many Research Competition at ACM CHI 2010 to- friends gathered to celebrate these, I may day. She received the award for her work on mention that my dialogue and joint publica- Mudpad, a new technique to bring localized, tion with Joachim resulted from my seeing active haptic feedback to multitouch tables a mint copy of Modern Computer Algebra in and similar surfaces using magnetorheologi- the display of recently acquired books in the cal fluid. Just for the competition, Yvonne Princeton University Mathematics Library, just created a small “travel” version of her table- after it was published. That book, and the ex- size system, using the prototyping facilities at change of ideas when I visited Paderborn at the group’s new Fab Lab. This is the third year Joachim’s invitation, gave a new impetus to in series for the Media Computing Group to my work in theoretical chemistry. In a world bring home an award in this competition. CHI of ever increasing specialization, the benefits is the premier international conference in Hu- of Joachim’s contribution to interdisciplinary man-Computer Interaction, organized by the communication and collaboration has been Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). valued widely and will continue to be.”

B-IT Report 2010 9     

scholarship students but also the 150-200 project researchers from the projects of RWTH Aachen, the University of Bonn, the Fraunhofer institutes in Birlinghoven, and the University of Applied Sciences Bonn- Rhine-Sieg. We thus close the gap between our Master Programs and our large research projects such as the UMIC Excellence Clus- ter, the Collaborative Research Centers and Focused Doctoral Programs, the EU- and BMBF-funded cooperation projects and direct RADICALLY IMPROVED DOCTORAL industrial projects. TRAINING THROUGH B-IT The B-IT Research School clusters the doc- The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of In- toral candidates across participating institu- novation, Science, Research and Technology tions in eight key themes where the region (MIWFT-NRW) has approved financial support is highly competitive internationally. Each totaling initially over 1.5 M€ for the Bonn- area is coordinated by one or two interna- Aachen International Research School on tionally known researchers and organizes its Applied Informatics (B-IT Research School) own program of regular research seminars, for the period 2008-2013. The B-IT Re- where the doctoral candidates present their search School is operated by RWTH Aachen research, and of compact courses in which University with the University of Bonn and international visitors join the local faculty to Prof. Dr. Holger Fröhlich. the Fraunhofer Institute Center Birlinghoven train the candidates in latest scientific status Castle. Professors Matthias Jarke (RWTH and methods of their fields, but also in soft Aachen University and Fraunhofer FIT) and skills around project management, writing Armin B. Cremers (University of Bonn) serve and presentation techniques, and general as initial scientific directors. The area of life scientific methodology. The course program science informatics within the B-IT Research is organized such that project researchers are School has been strengthened by a Junior not hindered in their normal duties. Con- Faculty Fellowship held since 2009 by Prof. versely, internship programs offer the more Dr. Holger Fröhlich. The NRW financial sup- theoretically oriented students the opportu- port is matched by funds from the University nity to obtain experience in larger research Rectorates, the B-IT Foundation, and the projects. participating institutes. The B-IT Research School will support scholarships for up to 20 The first six doctoral scholarships were doctoral candidates, plus a program of com- granted in October 2008. Further scholar- pact courses and research seminars within ships were awarded after a tough selection Applied IT. Two junior fellowship positions from over 250 applications in April 2009 and will be filled to support this work. again in April 2010 out of 220 applications, thus reaching now a total of 27 doctoral The B-IT Research School complements the scholars from 11 countries; six of them are successful international B-IT master pro- graduates from the B-IT master programs. grams with a structured doctoral training. A From the start, several of the scholarships key aspect of our approach is that the B-IT have been co-financed by industry or other Research School does not just support the organizations.

10 B-IT Report 2010 STRATEGY WORKSHOP, BEST STUDENT PAPER AWARD SEPTEMBER 1-2, 2010 Deniz Sarier grad- The B-IT Research uated with a M.Sc. School students organ- in the B-IT Media ized a Strategy Work- Informatics pro- shop September 1-2, gram in 2008 and 2010, for getting to currently holds a know each other, discus- scholarship as a sions, and information PhD candidate in exchange. The workshop the B-IT Research School, supervised by B-IT fostered peer learning Professor Joachim von zur Gathen. Her paper Kathrin Ullrich, one of among PhD research “Generic Constructions of Biometric Identity the organizers of the school students across Based Encryption Systems” received the Best Strategy Workshop. research areas. Work Student Paper Award at WISTP2010, the 4th in plenary sessions International Workshop in Information Secu- was complemented by discussions in small rity Theory and Practices. The workshop was groups. The PhD students discussed their devoted to “Security and Privacy of Pervasive final results intensively with the General As- Systems and Smart Devices” and the Award is sembly of B-IT supervisors a few weeks later. sponsored by ISL, the Institute of IT-Security and Security Law, University of Passau.

Geographic origin of B-IT RS scholarship holders.

B-IT Report 2010 11 B-IT Programs

!  " #! $ # 

Computer scientists with an applied focus Information Technology FIT and for Intelligent have been in great demand in the past, and Analysis and Information Systems IAIS. The this is expected to continue for the foresee- degree is conferred by RWTH Aachen Univer- able future. Graduates of the Master Program sity. Cooperation partners from industry and in Media Informatics will be well-prepared for media research contribute to a rich teaching the challenges faced when working in com- program. The course contents are structured Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers, puter systems engineering and for creative according to the ECTS (European Credit Media Computing work with audio-visual media. The Aachen Transfer System) and consist of three main – Bonn – Cologne region is home to many blocks: Computer Science and its math- prospective employers, including global play- ematical foundations, Multimedia Technology, ers such as Philips, Microsoft, Telekom, Vo- Media Science and business aspects. Major dafone, Bertelsmann Group, as well as many topics include: Internet Infrastructures, Data television stations including RTL, WDR etc. Communication, Digital Interactive Media, Management of Information, Computer While a Bachelor degree in Computer Sci- Graphics, Animation, Visualization, Speech/ ence typically qualifies to participate in Image/Video Processing, Game Design, large software projects, the Master degree Security and Cryptography, Designing Inter- Prof. Dr. Thomas Rose, provides the qualifications for project lead- active Systems, Cooperative Work Environ- Media Processes ership. Graduates of the program in Media ments, E-Business, Knowledge Management, Informatics can be expected to be technically Virtual and Augmented Reality, and Software innovative, to work as system architects, and Engineering. to manage large projects. Students who excel during their master program will also have 25 Media Informatics students completed the necessary qualification to pursue a doc- their degree in the academic year 2009-2010. toral degree in Germany or abroad. The DFG The graduates quickly found interesting posi- Research Training Group “Software for Mobile tions either as doctoral students in Germany Communication Systems” and the Excellence and abroad, or in attractive companies. The in- Research Cluster “Ultra-Highspeed Mobile coming classes of fall 2009 and 2010 comprise Information and Communication (UMIC)” 80 students, from a total of 30 countries. offer an exceptional research environment for the students. B-IT students were unusually successful in obtaining competitive prestigious scholar- The Master Program in Media Informatics ships this year. Seven incoming students, educates the students to successfully meet pre-selected from more than 500 applicants, the novel technical and economic challenges were awarded the prestigious Erasmus Mun- at the intersection of computer science, dus scholarship within the European Master software engineering, next-generation com- of Informatics program we are conducting munication systems, and the media. It is jointly with the universities of Edinburgh offered as a joint program of RWTH Aachen (UK) and Trento (Italy). Moreover, Media University and University of Bonn. The pro- Informatics students won all three RWTH gram is characterized by a significant portion master student scholarships awarded within of lab courses embedded in research of the the faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and participating Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Natural Sciences.

12 B-IT Report 2010 FIRST GERMAN FAB LAB NEWS FROM MEDIA Media Informatics Gradu- IN AACHEN INFORMATICS ALUMNI ates accepted a wide range of positions in research and Elda Paja business: Since Decem- I joined the MI curriculum ber 2009, the as part of EuMI program, Adecco Engineering & IT, first Fab Lab having RWTH Aachen as Arab American University in Germany at main university and the Uni- Jenin, Atma Jaya Yogyakar- ta University, Avedas AG, the B-IT Me- versity of Trento as partner B-IT, Bahria University dia Computing university. I was lucky to Bank of Mexico, Bertels- Group in RWTH have the chance to study in mann AG, Bombardier Inc., Fab Lab Aachen sample project Aachen is part both these universities, as Brainloop AG, BTC Business of a worldwide they are elite universities in the respective Technology Consulting, CAS GmbH, CBC Cologne network, initiated at MIT, open to the gen- countries. While studying in Bonn I had the Broadcasting, Center, eral public every Tuesday at no cost except chance to improve my research skills in the COMNEON GmbH, Deut- for materials. A Fab Lab is a small workshop seminar classes, attend labs at the Fraunhofer sche Telekom AG, Dynevo with tools that enable digital fabrication. The FIT institute, which I consider very valuable. GmbH (Bayer), Ericsson Aachen Fab Lab offers several 3D printers to After finishing my masters I was offered right AG, European Computer create 3D objects, a lasercutter to cut and away a fellowship at the University of Trento. I Telecoms AG, FGAN, Finan- tix Srl, Forth Corporation, mark almost any material, and a CNC mill- will officially start my PhD in November 2010. Fox Chase, Fraunhofer FIT, ing machine to produce high quality printed I will be co-supervised by Prof. John Mylo- Fraunhofer IAIS, Huawei, circuit boards (PCBs) in a few minutes. It is poulos and Prof. Paolo Giorgini, in the field of IdeaObject Softwares (Pvt) also used by students in classes, by pupils, Software Engineering and Formal Methods. Ltd., IP Labs, iPharro Media for research projects and by other institutions GmbH, IW-One AG / QSC at RWTH Aachen University. All Fab Lab projects AG, Kisters AG, Lakshmi Chatchavan Wacharamanotham Technology and Engineer- are documented at http://fablab.rwth-aachen.de. After my graduation in 2009, ing, LHS Telekommunika- I am now a PhD student in tion, Lycos, Mastercard, the B-IT Media Computing Microsoft, NAVTEQ, Next BEST CONTRIBUTION AWARD FOR Group, RWTH Aachen. The Level Integration GmbH, Novartis, Oando Plc, Pri- B-IT STUDENT Media Informatics program cewaterhouseCoopers AG, prepared me in academic Qiagen GmbH, Research B-IT Media Informatics student Zeynep knowledge, professional Center Jülich, RWTH Aa- Akata was awarded the prize for best work network, and soft skills. I had a chance to get chen University, Samsung on image retrieval at this year’s international practical and in-depth knowledge from lab Electronics, SAP AG, sd&m Summer School on Visual Recognition and courses at RWTH Aachen, University of Bonn, AG, Siemens AG, Siemens Healthcare AG, Solutions 4 Machine Learning in Grenoble, France. Ms and Fraunhofer where I explored both image Media, Sytel Reply GmbH, Akata is one of the few master students who processing and human-computer interaction. T-Systems, Technical Uni- were admitted to this prestigious event that That led to my internship in Media Comput- versity Eindhoven, Teleca, took place from July 26-30 and attracted ing and Medical Image Processing. Apart from Tessella plc, The University 120 researchers and PhD students from the knowledge and experiences in the field, of the West Indies, TU Darmstadt, TU Munich, renowned institutions in the US and Europe. Media Informatics program has a diverse University of Agder, Univer- Together with her supervisors Dr. Christian mixture of students from different academic sity of Asia and the Pacific, Thurau and B-IT Professor Christian Bauck- and cultural background. This helps me un- University of Augsburg, Uni- hage, Ms. Akata develops novel algorithms for derstand the cultural differences and surely versity of Bonn, University “Multiview Processing of Images for Segmen- prepared me for intercultural work such as in of Duisburg-Essen, Universi- tation, Retrieval, and Clustering”. the recent project Silhouette, an exhibition for ty of Edinburgh, University of Hamburg, University of Germany-China House in World EXPO 2010. Heidelberg, University of I am glad and proud to have graduated from Stuttgart, University of Tren- this program to, Vodafone AG, Systems, Workplace Systems. B-IT Report 2010 B-IT Programs !  " # %$   $ # 

The Master Program in Life Science Informat- participating Fraunhofer Institutes FIT and ics (LSI) is offered by the University of Bonn SCAI as well in labs of CEMBIO (Center for and RWTH Aachen University in cooperation Molecular Biology) and LIMES (LIfe and MEdi- with the Fraunhofer Institutes of Scientific cal Sciences Research Biocenter Bonn). The Computing (SCAI) and Applied IT (FIT). The final six months of the program are dedicated degree is conferred by the University of to the master thesis which can be done in Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bajorath, Bonn. This interdisciplinary program educates cooperation with industry. Life Science Informatics the participants to successfully master the novel technical and economic challenges at Computer scientists with an applied focus in the crossroads of biotechnology, medicine, biosciences as well as biologists with a strong pharmaceutics and computer science. The background in computer science have been curriculum consists of three main blocks: in great demand in the last few years, and Computer Science and Mathematics for life this is expected to continue in the foreseea- scientists; Basic principles of Life Science ble future. Graduates of the program are well Prof. Dr. Martin Hofmann- Informatics; Biology of the cell and systems prepared for the typical professional tasks in Apitius, Life Science Infor- biology. applied data analysis and data modeling, in matics industrial functional genomics, drug design Major topics include biomedical database and pharmacology. The Aachen – Bonn – Co- systems, data mining and machine learn- logne – Düsseldorf region (ABCD region) is ing, statistical genetics, drug design, medical home to many prospective employers, includ- imaging and visualization, computational neu- ing global players as well as highly specialized roscience, computational modeling of regula- medium-sized companies. tory and metabolic networks, cheminfor- matics, bioinformatics, molecular modeling, In this year, 15 students graduated with mas- molecular biology, pharmaceutical chemistry, ter theses. A study on all LSI alumni revealed biotechnology and systems biology. The pro- that 67% of LSI alumni continue their work gram emphasizes a profound understanding in a PhD thesis, whereas 21% prefer a posi- of biological structures (such as proteins, nu- tion in industry. 13% work in academia and cleic acids, genes, metabolic, neural networks do not pursue a PhD. A new trend became and organisms) as well as the appropriate ap- obvious among those students who went for plication of methods of computer science to a PhD thesis. Excellent students received sev- this field. It also includes training designed to eral outstanding offers, often including two or sensitize students to the ethical implications three offers to Max-Planck graduate schools. of emerging biotechnologies. This combina- tion will enable the successful students to The LSI alumni and their success seem to understand biological or medical problems have had a positive effect on the applications and to find appropriate and valid solutions for the term starting in October: The program that bioinformatics can offer. received 171 applications (2008: 128) for the academic year beginning in October 2010. The program is characterized by a significant 22 incoming students begin their studies in share of research lab courses embedded October 2010. in both basic and applied research of the

14 B-IT Report 2010 THE ABC OF LIFE SCIENCE LSI SUCCESS STORIES INFORMATICS Albina Asadulina The Master Program in Life Science Infor- joined the Master program of Life Science matics (LSI) program has been made well Informatics with a Bachelors Degree of En- known through a yearly one-day symposium gineering in Computer Science from Kyrgyz the “The ABC of Life Science Informatics”. Russian Slavic University in Winter Semester The successful event from the previous years 2008/2009. She joined the LSI curriculum will be held again on December 17, 2010. with a DAAD fellowship and was additionally Professor Dr. Tony Solo- The gathering is aimed a bringing together accepted into B-IT work study program. Ms monides. research groups from academia and industry Asadulina joined the group of B-IT Profes- working in the fields of bioinformatics and sor Hofmann-Apitius where she is about to chemoinformatics in the Aachen-Bonn- Co- graduate with her master thesis. She has List of employers of LSI logne region (the ABC-region). The Master received several offers for graduate schools Alumni: Program of Life Science Informatics subse- and considers now joining the Max-Planck B-IT Research School, quently faced this year far more requests for Institute in Tübingen to start her PhD thesis. Cambridge University, UK, internships and offers for master theses than European Bioinformatics they could be satisfied with students from Vytautas Gapsys Institute, Cambridge, UK, the program. Most were from the ABC region. held a Bachelor’s Degree in Biophysics of Fraunhofer Institute SCAI, Galilleo Press, German the University of Vilnius in Lithuania when Center for Cancer Re- LSI LECTURE SERIES 2010 he joined the Master Program of Life Science search (DKFZ) Heidel- Informatics. He joined the group of Dr. Chris- berg, Leaf Bioscience LSI Lecture Series in Summer Semester 2010 tian Kandt and graduated with a thesis in the s.r.l., Italy, Max Dellbrück focused on the Virtual Physiological Human field of structural computational biology. Mr Center Berlin, Max Planck (VPH). A blend of lecturers elucidated the Gapsys has then joined the group of Dr. Bert Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Max Planck In- topic such as Prof. Tony Solomonides, Faculty de Groot at Max Planck Institute for Physical stitute for Plant Breeding Director of Postgraduate Research, Bristol Chemistry in Göttingen as a PhD student. Research, Max Planck Institute of Technology, who discussed the Institute for the Biology use of grids, Prof. Rod Hose, Computational Kathrin Heikamp of Ageing, Max Planck Biomechanics, Department of Cardiovascu- earned a Master in Institute Tübingen, Nati- onal Technical University lar Science, School of Medicine, University in Biomathematics at of Singapore, Singapore, of Sheffield who centered on: “Towards the RheinAhrCampus of Philips, Research Center Virtual Physiological Human: The Challenges the University of Ap- Jülich, RWTH Aachen, Uni- of Embedding Simulation Processes into plied Sciences Koblenz. versity of Bonn, University Clinical Workflows” or Prof. Dr. Aljeandro She joined the Master of Cologne, University of Luxemburg, University of Frangi, Director Computational Imaging Lab, Program of Life Science Oxford, UK, University of Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, who Informatics in WS 2008/2009 and completed Tübingen, University of gave an “Overview on @neurIST: Integrated her master thesis in the group of B-IT Profes- Utrecht. Biomedical Informatics for the Management sor Jürgen Bajorath in Summer Semester of Cerebral Aneurysm”. Prof. Wiro Niessen, 2010. Ms Heikamp is currently working on Head of the Biomedical Imaging Group De- her PhD thesis in the same group. partment, Medical Center Rotterdam Erasmus University, looked into the quantitative imag- ing of biomarkers whereas Prof. Peter Sloot, University of Amsterdam, presented a com- prehensive lecture on the topic of “Modeling HIV from Molecule to Man”.

B-IT Report 2010 B-IT Programs     " # $ &   ' #   

The International Program of Excellence in Ringvorlesung Datenschutz Computer Science (IPEC) at B-IT offers com- pact courses primarily during the semester This lecture series was dedicated to privacy, break and at the highest educational level. a highly critical, but relatively young topic. In This results in faster studies and advanced fact, the political discourse is limited almost Prof. Dr. Joachim von zur quality in selected subject areas. These entirely to the second half of the twentieth Gathen, Computer Security courses apply to a limited number of highly century. Germany has been a leader with qualified students of the University of Bonn, the world’s first data protection law, and in the RWTH Aachen University and, in the fu- no other country the topic is discussed as ture, other German or foreign universities. vehemently. After Rasterfahndung (dragnet investigation), Volkszählung (census) and Undergraduate IPEC courses are planned in Großer Lauschangriff (eavesdropping law), a way that the time required for the bachelor the debate seems to have subsided consider- degree will be reduced up to one year. Ad- ably. Only in recent years, privacy is put back ditionally there are cross-cutting courses that into the center of attention. First, the German Prof. Dr. Stefan Kowalewski, accelerate the master studies at the B-IT as Embedded Systems State has collected more data than ever be- well as regular summer and winter schools fore (eg. by Toll Collect), and in the “War on that are designated for selected topics of Terror” forwarded it to foreign governments computer science. These courses are held in (such as flight and bank data). Second, sev- cooperation with international guest scien- eral large companies have rudely abused the tists. Applications of foreign students are privacy of their customers and employees. welcome. The public response was clear, but relatively restrained. Comparing to the 1980s we might The expected impact of the Program of Excel- have expected a much bigger outcry. This is Prof. Dr. Christian Bauckhage lence is not limited to a significant accelera- all the more surprising as the current pos- tion of undergraduate and graduate studies sibilities of automated monitoring outperform in conjunction with an international visibility. those of past decades by far. In this lecture It also brings together outstanding students series we took the liberty to withdraw from with internationally noted scientists and with daily business and to ignore the scandals of fellow students from abroad and activates recent years. Instead, an attempt was made new forms of encouraging competition to construct a draft of a worthy life, from among students. The IPEC courses usually which we can derive guidelines about how to comprise a mix of lecture classes, seminars, deal with our neighbor, especially with their and lab courses, such that students can make data. Ultimately, we head for a vision of a best use of the compressed time schedule. comprehensive data protection as a kind of Currently, this part of the program is being social environment. The lecture series com- restructured as to provide an “honors class” prised five lectures. The speakers were Prof. supplement to the top 10% bachelor stu- Dr. Klaus Brunnstein, Universität Hamburg; dents in Aachen and Bonn, loosely linked to Gerhart Baum, Bundesminister a.D.; pade- the NRW public-private scholarship programs luun, Künstler und Netzaktivist; Peter Schaar, the Ministry of Innovation has initiated for Bundesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und this group of students. die Informationsfreiheit; Prof. Dr. Knut Wen- zel, Goethe Universität Frankfurt.

16 B-IT Report 2010 CRYPT@B-IT 2010 SCHÜLER-KRYPTO 2010

On two days in February 2010, 252 high school students, as well as 15 teachers met for the ninth Schüler-Krypto to learn @ bit on Ringvorlesung Daten- secret messages, encryption and decryption. schutz: The end of privacy? After a one hour introduction to the topic by Prof. von zur Gathen; Prof. von zur Gathen and Michael Nüsken the Peter Schaar, Bundes- students got to the nitty-gritty. Everybody beauftragter für den was asked to take up the role of James Bond Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit; and program RSA on the laptop built-in to Prof. Markovetz (from left). Bond’s BMW Z8. We used MuPAD on it, a computer algebra system which among many other things is capable of calculating with ar- bitrarily large numbers. After lunch everybody decrypted answers from Moneypenny, set up a public-key infrastructure and exchanged encrypted messages with each other. As a sidetrack, in a game-like setting the students could experimentally find out how the main step in the encryption and decryption of RSA, namely the modular exponentiation, can be executed in a jiffy. And finally everybody could The Enigma crypto machine. take home her personal visual cryptogram.

This summer school on cryptography offered undergraduate and graduate students, post- docs and researchers the opportunity to crypt a bit. It provided acquaintance and interaction in an intellectually stimulating and informal atmosphere in pleasant surroundings. It took place 2-6 August 2010 in the b-it build- ing and invited to the exploration of some fundamental areas of cryptography: pairing- based cryptography; lattice-based cryptanaly- sis; the Enigma crypto machine. In addition, there were tutorials and hands-on exercises Having fun with RSA. on topics related to the lectures, including an exhibit of an actual Enigma machine. The permanent presence of world-class research- ers and teachers was much appreciated by the audience, and in fact some research col- laborations were started during the summer school. Lecturers: Joachim von zur Gathen, b-it Bonn; Max Gebhardt, BSI Bonn; Alexan- der May, Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Kenny Pa- terson, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK; and the members of the cosec group.

B-IT Report 2010 B-IT Programs !  " #   #  #

The Master Program in Autonomous Systems The MAS program started cooperations with is offered by the B-IT Applied Science Insti- Aalto University in Finland and German- tute (b-itAS) in the Department of Computer Jordan University (GJU) in Amman, Jordan. Science at the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of The cooperation with Aalto includes a visiting Applied Sciences. b-itAS cooperates closely professorship of Prof. Prassler in Finland with the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent and research cooperations. Our MAS stu- Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kraetzschmar, Autonomous Systems Analysis and Information Systems IAIS in dent Matthias Füller, will be studying at the implementing the program, which started in Department of Autonomous Systems at Aalto winter 2002. The program is managed by University for one semester and carry out an three professors (Gerhard Kraetzschmar, Paul R&D work there. The cooperation with GJU G. Plöger, Erwin Prassler), four teaching and is the first phase of a project that aims at research assistants (Iman Awaard, Ronny Har- installing a dual-degree Master program on tanto, Timo Henne, Anastassia Küstenmach- Autonomous Systems between B-IT/BRS U er) and researchers, who have been recruited and GJU. Prof. Dr. Paul-Gerhard Plöger, in due course of the two European research Autonomous Systems projects XPERO and BRICS, namely Shahzad The three professors of the program are Cheema, Nico Hochgeschwender, Björn Kahl, actively involved in many scientific activities, Uwe Köckemann, Jan Paulus, Michael Reck- including memberships in technical commit- haus, and Azamat Shakhimardanov. tees of IEEE or in the RoboCup Federation trustee board, numerous program commit- Students get a solid theoretical background in tees of workshops and scientific conferences Autonomous Systems. Examples of lectures like IROS, ICRA, ICMA, A AMAS. are Autonomous Mobile Robots, Control and Prof. Dr. Erwin Prassler, Systems Theory, Robot Manipulation, Learn- Prof. Plöger conducted a sabbatical in the Autonomous Systems ing and Adaptivity, Hardware-Software Co- winter semester 2009/10. The sabbatical design of Embedded Systems, and Probabilis- started with a visit to Canadian research and tic Reasoning, Computer Vision, and Planning exchange partners of BRS U (Greg Dudek, and Scheduling. The students may specialize University of Montreal; Ken Kent, University in fields like System Design, Navigation, of New Brunswick; and Evangelos Milios, Sensors and Modeling, Computer Vision or Dalhousie University), followed by a stay at Manipulation. The courses are combined with Jacobs University in Bremen, where Prof. research projects conducted at IAIS or other Plöger was hosted by Prof Herbert Jaeger, approved institutions. The b-itAS program has inventor of Echo State Networks. The sab- been accredited by ASIIN in 2006. batical concluded with a stay at the Moscow State Institute of Radio-engineering Electron- In the academic year 2009-2010, 17 students ics and Automation (MIREA) on the behalf of were admitted from 176 applications. 16 Dr. Tatiana Demenkova, where Prof. Plöger students completed their degree; more than conducted an invited course on HW/SW half of them continued with doctoral studies Co-Design. The main purpose was to attract or other research positions. diploma students from MIREA to pursue a Master’s degree in Autonomous Systems at BRS U. The program is welcoming three Rus- sian students to the winter semester 2010.

18 B-IT Report 2010 THE B-IT-BOTS TEAM CONTINUES B-IT ALUMNI: RONNY HARTANTO ITS SUCCESS STORY COMPLETES PH.D. AND STARTS WORK AT DFKI BREMEN Johnny and the gang have successfully defended their German Open title in Magde- Ronny Hartanto from burg in April 2010. Five German teams and Indonesia is the first one Dutch team showed their robots. Johnny international student is able to navigate and interact autono- of the Master Pro- mously in a home environment. Johnny can gram Autonomous recognize the inhabitants of the home and Systems. After his guests, and can even detect some emotional excellent master’s states of people. Johnny is able to learn their degree in 2004, he was immediately hired names, remember objects and their positions as a research assistant for B-IT. Among other and function despite the background noise, things, he was a team member of the Euro- which is a major problem at such competi- pean research project XPERO. After joining tions as it cannot be realistically simulated our RoboCup teams since the very begin- in the lab. In the Demo Challenge scenario, nings, he took over the leadership of the Johnny received the restaurant’s guests at b-it-bots, the University’s RoboCup@Home the entrance, delivered their orders from the team, with great success and led the team to kitchen, chose music according to the guests’ win six cups in three years. emotional state and helped evacuate the res- taurant when there was a (simulated) fire. In November 2009, he defended with excellent success (1,0) his Ph.D. thesis on In June 2010, for the third time in as many “Fusing DL Reasoning with HTN Planning as years, the b-it-bots have successfully taken a Deliberative Layer in Mobile Robotics” at their place as one of the ‘top 3’ teams in the the Department of Computer Science at the world and brought home the sixth trophy University of Osnabrück. Doing postdoctoral from the sixth competition that Johnny has research at a different place is the next im- competed in! The team took third place at portant step on Dr. Hartanto’s career ladder. the RoboCup World Championship 2010 in For his new start in Bremen, where he is a Singapore in the RoboCup@Home league. project manager in the team of Prof. Frank The b-it-bots could once again demonstrate Kirchner at the Robotics Innovation Center their strength on an international level in an DFKI Bremen, we wish him all the best! exciting competition with 24 teams from four continents.

The b-it-bots team consists of eight students of the international Master’s Programme in Autonomous Systems – Thomas Breuer, Geovanny Giorgana, Zha Jin, Christian Müller, Frederik Hegger, Shashank Sharma, Shahmi Junoh, and Jose Ruiz, and six research as- sistants – Dr. Ronny Hartanto, Jan Paulus, Michael Reckhaus, Nico Hochgeschwender, Azamat Shakhimardanov and Iman Awaad. The supervising professors are Paul G. Plöger and Gerhard K. Kraetzschmar. The team receives support by b-it Bonn-Aachen Inter- national Center of Information Technology, B-it-bots team. the President of BRS U, the Department of Computer Science at BRS U, the Association of Friends and Sponsors of BRS U, PMD Tech- nologies Siegen, and DAAD. Congratulations to Johnny and his team!

B-IT Report 2010 B-IT Partners

(     

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 only economically strong, but also a leader as a Polytechnic in 1870 with consider- in science, education and research. The large able support from local industry. In 1948 it number of research establishments based was established as Rheinisch-Westfälische here make the area one of Europe’s biggest Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH), the and most important science landscapes. Institute of Technology of the State of North Almost 10 per cent of all German students – Rhine-Westphalia. Today, RWTH is one of around 130,000 people – are studying at the the most renowned technical universities in Rhineisch-Westfälische Technische Hochs- Europe with around 30,000 students. RWTH chule in Aachen, the Rhineische Friedrich-Wil- offers more than 65 first degree programs helms-Universität Bonn and the Universität in Science, Engineering, Economics, Medi- zu Köln, which together constitute one of the cine and Arts and more than 20 graduate most important higher education locations programs in Science and Engineering. The in Europe. The three ABC institutions are specific strength of RWTH’s engineering closely linked and collaborate in many fields education is the combination of education of teaching and research. and advanced research. RWTH’s engineering departments closely cooperate with national UNIVERSITY OF BONN and international industries. Most of the en- gineering professors at RWTH held positions The University of Bonn is a research-oriented in industry before they became RWTH faculty university with currently 30.000 students. members. The RWTH master programs Its research tradition of 200 years is closely educate engineers who are keen to engage linked to the names of Hermann von Helm- in R & D, innovation, and entrepreneurship. holtz, Heinrich Hertz and Friedrich August In 2007, RWTH Aachen was elected as one Kekulé who carried out seminal work at the of nine “elite universities“ within the German University of Bonn. This strong academic tra- excellence program. Under this program, dition has been continued until present with RWTH receives a total of ca. 180 Mio.  for the more recent Nobel laureates Wolfgang its strategic development, three excellence Paul and Reinhard Selten. Bonn cooper- clusters, and a Graduate School. B-IT faculty ates with numerous other universities and are involved in two excellence clusters and research institutions around the globe. The the graduate school as well as the central specializations it has developed enjoy world- strategy proposal. wide recognition. More than 5,000 students from 130 countries are enrolled in Bonn. Their presence 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 nearly a hundred different first degree programs. Students can choose from a wide and modern spectrum of subjects that allows a multiplicity of combina- tions. The spacious Hofgartenwiese is a major summer attraction on the University of Bonn campus.

20 B-IT Report 2010 Entrance of Birlinghoven Castle. Underwater treasure quest: As a demonstrator Fraun- hofer FIT created the world’s first mobile underwater The Birlinghoven Castle campus is one of AR game. Its main component is a waterproof display the largest and most influential computer sci- in front of a diver’s mask. The display lets the diver see ence research sites in Germany. About 500 his or her real underwater environment plus additional researchers work in the IZB institutes. That virtual objects. represents a quarter of the Fraunhofer ICT FRAUNHOFER SCAI Group, Europe‘s largest IT research organiza- tion. The institutes collaborate closely with The Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and the European ERCIM network of national Scientific Computing (SCAI) engages in com- IT research centers as well as with leading puter simulations in product and process de- research establishments in the USA, Eastern velopment and is a strong partner in industry. Europe and Asia. Three IZB institutes con- The Department of Bioinformatics is doing tribute to the B-IT master programs Media applied research and development in the field Informatics and Life Science Informatics: of: Information Extraction / Semantic Text Analysis, Applied Chemoinformatics and Data- FRAUNHOFER FIT grid / Grid Infrastructure. Complementary to the data- and knowledge-driven approaches FIT, the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Infor- taken in the Department of mation Technology, investigates human-cen- Bioinformatics, the Department tered computing in a business or engineering of Simulation Engineering fo- process context. The usability and usefulness cuses on chemical engineering of information and cooperation systems is by means of multi-scale simula- optimized in their interplay between human tions. Through gaining a deep work practice, organization and process. In understanding of the micro- Life Science Informatics the institute focuses scopic behaviour and mecha- on protein analysis, visual support for naviga- nism of chemical systems, tion in micro surgery, and assistive informa- material and drug development tion technology. In Media Informatics innova- is improved. tive information visualization systems, mixed and augmented reality environments for industrial planning, pervasive gaming applica- Fraunhofer SCAI: Membrane-embedded tions, and value chains for public-sector infor- receptors, like the prototypic rhodopsin mation services are main research topics. shown above, are pharmaceutically most interesting. The aim is to gain control over cellular response by designing new drugs.

B-IT Report 2010 21 B-IT Partners

      

BONN-RHINE-SIEG UNIVERSITY FRAUNHOFER IAIS OF APPLIED SCIENCES (BRS U) At Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analy- Founded in 1995, the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg sis and Information Systems IAIS, research University of Applied Sciences significantly experts explore and develop innovative sys- extends the range of applied research and tems designed to analyze data and to make teaching in the greater Bonn area. It spe- information available. On the one hand, the cializes in business administration, natural IAIS teams realize application solutions in the sciences, engineering and computer science, fields of data mining, business intelligence strongly encouraging cooperation with indus- or high-resolution management for optimiz- trial partners and a focus on use-driven and ing products, services and processes. On the interdisciplinary research and teaching. other hand, the institute’s scientists develop systems that use innovative forms of media The three campuses at Sankt Augustin, presentation to help make large amounts of Rheinbach and Hennef are well equipped data accessible (knowledge extraction, inter- with modern laboratories, studios, workshops active exploration, knowledge management, and facilities for cooperative research. By media analysis and visualization). 2010, the six departments accommodate more than 5.500 students and about 125 The institute’s research and development faculty members. activities are defined by the business areas Marketing, Market Research & Media Analysis, The Department of Computer Science offers Business Planning & Controlling, Digital Media a Bachelor and a Master program in Com- Asset Management, Process Intelligence, puter Science and in cooperation with the Preventive Security, Spaces for High-Tech Departments of Business Administration a Experience, Media Production and Adaptive Bachelor program in Business Information Robotics. Within these business areas, the Systems. The Master program Autonomous IAIS experts develop innovative and service- Systems is offered by the b-it Applied Sci- oriented IT solutions for customers from ence Institute, a cooperation between the commerce and industry, e.g. trade, media, Department of Computer Science and the telecommunications or energy industries as Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis well as for partners from the public sectors. and Information Systems IAIS. The Institute’s scientific research focuses on Machine Learning, Multimedia Pattern Recognition, Visual Analytics, Process Intelli- gence and Adaptive Robotics. Fraunhofer IAIS and its staff of approximately 250 combine to create a comprehensive industry sector knowledge database encompassing all of the engineering sciences, in particular IT, but also Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Business Studies, Geo Sciences and Social Sciences.

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

22 B-IT Report 2010 )  $ #  

GENERAL ADMISSION FEES AND FINANCES REQUIREMENTS Tuition fee is 500 Euro per semester. In addi- • A first university-level degree (B.Sc., B.Eng.), tion, a student union fee of ca. 200 Euro as specified for the individual programs, per semester covers student activites, subsi- with grades well above average is required. dized meals, and free public transportation in The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is the whole state of North Rhine-Westphalia. strongly recommended; • All courses are held in English, thus flu- A student‘s monthly expenses, including ency in English in vital. It is evaluated on study material, will be about 650 Euro. B-IT the basis of TOEFL 550 paper-based, 213 does not offer formal scholarships but sev- computer-based, or IELTS 6.0; eral student assistantships are avaible on a • Working knowledge of German is necessary competitive basis. For information on fund- to take up some of culture that the Aachen ing from German sources please contact the – Bonn – Cologne region has developed DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service over the last 2,000 years. Therefore, a basic www.daad.de. German language course is offered before start of the program and during the first year. STUDYING IN BONN • Admission is coupled to placement in the Fraunhofer lab courses and therefore strictly Most of the teaching in B-IT is concentrated limited. Application deadline has been in Bonn and its eastern neighbor, Sankt March 1 for Fall admission but may change Augustin. Newcomers to Bonn soon grow from year to year; check www.b-it-center.de very fond of the city – a fact confirmed by for current admission details. thousands of students and academics, German and 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 Bonn famous son, Ludwig van Beethoven, is the 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 2010 23 Dahlmannstr. 2 53113 Bonn Germany

FOUNDING DIRECTORS

Prof. Dr. Armin B. Cremers University of Bonn

Prof. Dr. Matthias Jarke RWTH Aachen University Fraunhofer FIT

Prof. Dr. Kurt-Ulrich Witt, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences

PROGRAMS

Media Informatics [email protected]

Life Science Informatics [email protected]

Autonomous Systems [email protected]

IMPRINT

Editors B-IT Founding Directors

Design Simone Pollak

Printing ditges print+more gmbh, Siegburg

© 2010 Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology