Science Tour 2014 Living in a Digital World: Artificial Intelligence and Visual/Multimodal Computing 19–25 January 2014 DENMARK “Research in Germany” Science Tour 2014 Living in a Digital World: Artificial Intelligence

POLAND and Visual/Multimodal Computing

THE On the occasion of the Year of Science 2014 “Digital Society”, launched by the Federal NETHERLANDS Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has invited international scientists and administrators to learn more about research activities in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Visual/Multimodal Computing at German universities and research institutes. The Science Tour offers German and international researchers the opportu- nity to discuss current developments and to define common areas of interest as starting points for future cooperation.

The Science Tour 2014 is part of the “Research in Germany – Land of Ideas” campaign, initi- ated by the BMBF in 2006 to strengthen and expand R&D collaboration between Germany and international partners.

The DAAD is the largest funding organisation in the world and supports the international exchange of students and scholars. Its primary objectives include encouraging outstanding academics from abroad to study or conduct research in Germany and enabling German re- searchers to gain professional qualification at the best institutions around the world. For more BELGIUM information on “Research in Germany”, the annual Science Tours and the DAAD, please visit:

CZECH www.research-in-germany.de REPUBLIC SAARBRÜCKEN www.research-in-germany.de/sciencetours www.daad.de

KARLSRUHE

FRANCE

FREIBURG

CONSTANCE AUSTRIA

SWITZERLAND 02 | 03 Programme

09:30 Visit to the University of Konstanz Contact: Saturday, 18 January > Department of Computer and Information Julia Wandt Science, Scalable Visual Analytics (+49/7531) 88 53 40 Individual arrivals and arrangements InterCity Hotel Frankfurt Hbf Poststraße 8 09:30–10:00 Welcome and introduction Room C202 60329 Frankfurt a.M. (+49/69) 27 39 10 Prof. Daniel Keim Chair for Data Analysis and Visualization

Sunday, 19 January 10:00–10:30 Powerwall presentation Room C202

11:00 Bus trip from Frankfurt to Constance (4h/360km) Prof. Daniel Keim Chair for Data Analysis and Visualization 17:00 Meeting in the hotel lobby Steigenberger Inselhotel 10:30 Participants will be divided into two groups Auf der Insel 1 78462 Constance (+49/7531) 12 54 67 10:30–11:00 > Group 1 Room C203 Media room

17:15–19:30 Welcome and general introduction Steigenberger Inselhotel Roter Salon (1st floor) Prof. Harald Reiterer Dr. Christian Schäfer Chair for Human-Computer Interaction Head of Section: Internationalisation of Research German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) > Group 2 Room D247 Coffee break Anne Knab Section: Research Marketing 11:00–11:30 > Group 1 Room D247 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Coffee break Room C203 19:30 Welcome dinner Steigenberger Inselhotel > Group 2 Mittleres Seerestaurant Media room (ground floor) Prof. Harald Reiterer Accommodation Steigenberger Inselhotel Chair for Human-Computer Interaction

11:30–11:45 Both groups walk to building Z

Monday, 20 January 11:45–12:15 > Group 1 Room Z748 Powerbike Simulator Check-out Steigenberger Inselhotel Prof. Dietmar Saupe 08:45 Meeting in the hotel lobby Chair for Multimedia Signal Processing

09:00 Transfer to the University of Konstanz Universitätsstraße 10 78464 Constance 04 | 05 Programme

> Group 2 Room Z612 20:30–20:45 Transfer back to hotel e-David Painting Robot Accommodation Mercure Hotel Prof. Oliver Deussen Freiburg am Münster Chair for Computer Graphics and Media Design

12:15–12:45 > Group 2 Room Z748 Tuesday, 21 January Powerbike Simulator

Prof. Dietmar Saupe Check-out Mercure Hotel Chair for Multimedia Signal Processing Freiburg am Münster

> Group 1 Room Z612 08:15 Meeting in the hotel lobby e-David Painting Robot 08:30 Transfer to the University of Freiburg Georges-Köhler-Allee 101 Prof. Oliver Deussen 79110 Freiburg Chair for Computer Graphics and Media Design 09:00 Visit to the University of Freiburg Contact: 12:45–13:00 Walk to Level K7 > Department of Computer Science, Petra Geiger Division D: Artificial Intelligence (+49/681) 30 27 01 50 13:00–14:00 Lunch Level K7 > Department of Computer Science, Division E: Graphics & Image Processing 14:00–14:15 Walk to room V1001 09:00–10:00 Welcome and general introduction Building 101 14:15–16:00 ‘’The University of Konstanz and the Room V1001 Room 016-018 Institutional Strategy ‘Modell Konstanz – Prof. Bernhard Nebel 3rd floor Towards a Culture of Creativity´’’ Head of the research group ‘’Foundations of Artificial Intelligence’’ Julia Wandt Director of Communications and Marketing 10:00–10:15 Coffee break

10:15–11:45 16:15–18:15 Bus trip to Freiburg (2h/125 km) Lab visits Participants will be divided into two groups Hotel check-in Mercure Hotel Freiburg am Münster > Group 1 Auf der Zinnen 1 Computer Vision 79098 Freiburg Computer Graphics (+49/761) 38 51-0 Image Analysis

18:45–19:00 Transfer > Group 2 Research group ‘’Foundations of Artificial 19:00–20:30 Dinner Greiffenegg Schlössle Intelligence’’ Schlossbergring 3 Machine Learning 79098 Freiburg Autonomous Intelligent Systems (+49/761) 327 28 Humanoid Robots 06 | 07 Programme

11:45–12:45 Discussion and exchange with scientists Building 101 14:15–15:15 Visit of the Freiburg Minster (optional) c-punkt Freiburg from the University of Freiburg Room 016-018 Herrenstraße 30 3rd floor 79098 Freiburg Prof. Bernhard Nebel (+49/761) 208 59 63 Head of the research group ‘’Foundations of Artificial Intelligence’’ 15:30–17:30 Bus trip to Karlsruhe and transfer to the hotel (2h/136 km)

Prof. Martin Riedmiller Hotel check-in Novotel Karlsruhe City Chair of Machine Learning Lab Festplatz 2 76137 Karlsruhe Prof. Wolfram Burgard (+49/721) 352 69 17 Head of the Autonomous Intelligent Systems Lab 19:00–20:30 Dinner Wirtshaus Wolfbräu Prof. Thomas Brox Werderstraße 51 Head of the Computer Vision Group 76137 Karlsruhe (+49/721) 354 57 70 Prof. Matthias Teschner Head of Computer Graphics 20:30–20:45 Transfer back to hotel

Prof. Maren Bennewitz Accommodation Novotel Karlsruhe City Humanoid Robots Lab

Prof. Olaf Ronneberger Image Analysis Group Wednesday, 22 January

Dr. Reiner Mühlsiegl 08:15 Meeting in the hotel lobby Novotel Karlsruhe City Director of the Welcome Center 08:30 Transfer to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Adenauerring 2 12:45–13:00 Closing statement 76131 Karlsruhe

Prof. Bernhard Nebel 09:00 Visit to the Karlsruhe Institute of Contact: Head of the research group ‘’Foundations Technology (KIT) Melina Metzig of Artificial Intelligence’’ (+49/721) 60 84 43 14

13:00–13:15 Walk to the Solarcasino 09:00–09:15 Welcome and introduction to KIT Room 148 Building 50.20 13:15–14:00 Lunch Solarcasino Prof. Wilfried Juling Emmy-Noether Str. 2 CSO/CIO of KIT 79110 Karlsruhe (+49/761) 897 56 80 09:15–09:25 Presentation of KIT International Affairs (INTL) Room 148 Building 50.20 14:00–14:15 Transfer from the University of Freiburg Dr. Irene Huber to the Freiburg Minster Executive Director International Affairs 08 | 09 Programme

09:25–09:50 Anthropomatics & Robotics and Visualization & Room 148 12:50–13:00 Walk back to Room 148 Data Analysis Building 50.20 13:00–14:00 Networking lunch with representatives and Room 148 Prof. Rüdiger Dillmann PhD students from KIT Building 50.20 Head of the Institute for Anthropomatics & Robotics 14:00–14:15 Walk to the FZI Research Center for Information FZI Research Center for Prof. Carsten Dachsbacher Technology Information Technology Head of the Institute for Visualization & Data Analysis Haid-und-Neu-Str. 5A Karlsruhe 09:50–10:05 Coffee break 14:15 Visit to the FZI Research Center for Contact: Helene Darnea 10:05–12:50 Discussion and exchange with KIT scientists Different labs in build- Information Technology including lab visits, poster presentations and ing 50.20 and building (+49/721) 96 54-919 networking breaks 50.21 14:15–14:35 Welcome and introduction to the FZI Participants will be divided into different groups according to their interests Prof. Ralf Reussner Member of the Board of Directors Prof. Tamim Asfour Head of the research group “High Performance 14:35–14:50 Introduction to the FZI House of Living Labs Humanoid Technologies” (H2T) Dr. Stefan Hellfeld Prof. Carsten Dachsbacher Manager of the FZI House of Living Labs Head of the Institute for Visualization and Data Analysis 14:50–16:00 Guided tour through the FZI House of Living Labs Prof. Rüdiger Dillmann Head of the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics Dr. Stefan Hellfeld Manager of the FZI House of Living Labs Prof. Uwe D. Hanebeck Head of the research group “Intelligent Sensor-Actor- 16:00–16:15 Coffee break Systems” (ISAS) 16:15–17:00 Lab visits and discussions with scientists from Prof. Hartmut Prautzsch the FZI Head of the Applied Geometry Research Group The following FZI labs can be visited: Prof. Tanja Schultz Head of the Cognitive Systems Lab (CSL) FZI Living Lab Automotive Developing the vehicles of the future Prof. Rainer Stiefelhagen Director of the Computer Vision for Human-Comput- FZI Living Lab smartAutomation er Interaction Lab (cv:hci) Technologies for the automation and production of tomorrow Prof. Heinz Wörn Head of the Industrial and Medical Robot Laborato- FZI Living Lab smartEnergy ries Research and development of the energy systems of the future 10 | 11 Programme

FZI Living Lab smartHome/AAL Prof. Jürgen Beyerer Innovative living environments for secure and Director of the Fraunhofer IOSB comfortable housing Chair of the “Vision and Fusion Laboratory”

FZI Living Lab mobileIT/mobileBusiness 09:30–10:30 Lab visits and demos Solutions for the efficient use of mobile IT SmartControlRoom FZI Living Lab smartMobility Dr.-Ing. Michael Voit Services, integration concepts and systems for the Group Leader mobility of the future Department of Interactive Analysis and Diagnosis

FZI Living Lab Service Robotics Sorting of Bulk Goods Autonomous mobile robots to assist in industrial Dipl.-Ing Günter Struck and daily routine work Group Leader Department of Visual Inspection Systems 16:15–16:30 Parallel session: Room “Hollywood” “Palladio-based simulation of software systems” ABUL Automatic Aerial Photo Analysis Dipl. GeoDät. Stefan Brüstle Dr. Klaus Krogmann Department of Video Exploitation Systems Division Manager Software Engineering Deflectrometry 17:00–17:15 Transfer to the hotel Dr. Stefan Werling Group Leader Dinner (individual arrangements) Department of Systems for Measurement, Control and Diagnosis Accommodation Novotel Karlsruhe City 10:30–11:30 Get-together and networking lunch

11:30–13:30 (2.5h/150 km) Thursday, 23 January Bus trip to Saarbrücken 15:00 Visit to the Max Planck Institute for Entrance East Campus/ Check-out Novotel Karlsruhe City Informatics (MPI-INF) Stuhlsatzenhausweg 66123 Saarbrücken 08:15 Meeting in the hotel lobby Contact : 08:30 Transfer to the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, Fraunhoferstraße 1 Bertram Somieski System Technologies and Image Exploitation 76131 Karlsruhe (+49/681) 93 25 57 10 (Fraunhofer IOSB) 15:00–15:20 Welcome and introduction to Max Planck Building E1.4 09:00 Visit to the Fraunhofer Institute of Contact: Institute for Informatics Room 0.24 Optronics, System Technologies and Marion Staub Image Exploitation (Fraunhofer IOSB) (+49/721) 609 13 33 Prof. Thomas Lengauer Managing Director of the MPI for Informatics 09:00–09:30 Welcome and introduction Head of the Department “Computational Biology and Applied Algorithmics” 12 | 13 Programme

15:20–15:40 “Capturing Reality” 17:50–18:00 Summary and Discussion

Prof. Christian Theobalt 18:00 Transfer to the hotel Head of the research group “Graphics, Vision & Video at the MPI for Informatics” Hotel check-in Mercure Hotel Saarbrücken City 15:40–16:00 “Combinatorial Image Analysis” Hafenstraße 8 66111 Saarbrücken Dr. Björn Andres (+49/681) 389 00 Junior Research Group Leader at the MPI for Informatics 18:45–19:00 Walk to the restaurant

16:00–16:20 “Scalable Learning and Perception” 19:00– 20:30 Dinner Trattoria Toscana Fröschengasse 18–22 Dr. Mario Fritz 66111 Saarbrücken Group leader, senior scientist at the MPI (+49/681) 93 81 56 25 for Informatics 20:30–20:45 Walk back to the hotel 16:20–16:45 Coffee break Accommodation Mercure Hotel 16:45–16:50 Walk to the cluster building Building E1.7 Saarbrücken City Room 001

16:50 Visit to the Cluster of Excellence on “Multi- modal Computing and Interaction” Friday, 24 January 16:50–17:10 Contact : “MMCI – Idea, Structure and Success” 08:45 Meeting in the hotel lobby Mercure Hotel Mona Linn Saarbrücken City Prof. Hans-Peter Seidel (+49/681) 30 27 01 57 Director of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics 09:00 Transfer to Saarland University Saarland University Head of the Department “Computer Graphics” Department of Scientific Coordinator for the Cluster of Excellence Computer Science MMCI Campus 66123 Saarbrücken 17:10–17:30 “Computational User Interface Design” 09:30 Visit to Saarland University Contact: Dr. Antti Oulasvirta > Department of Computer Science Dr.-Ing. Kristina Scherbaum Head of the independent research group “Human- Saarbrücken Graduate School of Computer (+49/681) 30 27 01 50 Computer Interaction” at the Cluster of Excellence Science MMCI 09:30–09:45 Welcome and introduction Building E1.1 17:30–17:50 “Non-Rigid Shape Analysis” Room 407 Prof. Markus Bläser Dr. Stefanie Wuhrer Vice Dean and Head of the Department of Head of the independent research group Computer Science “Non-Rigid Shape Analysis” at the Cluster of Excellence MMCI 14 | 15 Programme

09:45–10:05 “The Graduate School of Computer Science” 13:45–14:15 “DFKI – Innovation in a Public-Private Partner- Building D3.2 ship, Visual Computing and the European Foyer & room 1.63 Prof. Raimund Seidel Program on Future Internet (FI-PPP)” Director of the Graduate School of Computer Science Prof. Philipp Slusallek Site Director at DFKI Saarbrücken 10:05–10:35 “The Master’s Programme in Visual Computing” 14:15–15:00 Lectures and presentations: Building D3.2 Prof. Joachim Weickert Foyer & room 1.63 Chair of Mathematical Image Analysis “Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Living Lab” 10:35–11:05 “Renewable Power Grid Stability” Dr. Christian Müller Prof. Holger Hermanns Head of DFKI’s Automotive Group Chair of Dependable Systems and Software “Artificial Intelligence in Retail – Smart 11:05–11:20 Coffee break and discussion Technology for Future Precision Retailing”

11:20–11:30 Walk to building C6.3 Prof. Dr Antonio Krüger Scientific Director of Innovative Retail Laboratory 11:30–12:10 Lab visit (Telecommunications Lab) and Building C6.3 demonstrations 10th floor “Software Campus – The Federal Programme to Train the IT-Leaders of Tomorrow – Supported Dr. Jochen Miroll by Partners from Academia and Industry” Researcher at the Telecommunications Lab Erik Neumann Michael Karl Project Manager of Software Campus Researcher at the Telecommunications Lab 15:00–16:15 Parallel Live Demos Building D3.2 12:10–12:30 Closing discussion and exchange Building C6.3 Room 1.62 Room 9.08 “Peer Energy Cloud (PEC) – Cloud-Enabled Smart Energy Micro Grids” 12:30–12:45 Walk to the campus dining hall Dr. Boris Brandherm 12:45–13:30 Lunch Building D4.1 Senior Researcher in Energy Innovation

13:30–13:45 Walk to the German Research Center for Building D3.2 “Open DS Simulator – Multitask Training Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) 66123 Saarbrücken Environment” (+49/681) 85 77 50 Rafael Math 13:45 Visit to the German Research Center for (Participation of DAAD Software Engineer in Automative User Interfaces Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Alumni) “SiAM – Situation-adaptive Multimodal Contact: Interaction for Future Mobility Concepts” Reinhard Karger (+49/681) 857 75 52 53 Mohammad Mehdi Moniri Researcher in Augmented User Interfaces 16 | 17 Programme

“Intelligent & User-Centered Shopping 20:58–23:04 Group 2 > Saarbrücken Hbf (20:58) Mannheim Saarbrücken main train Assistance” (22:17) – ICE 9559 station Mannheim (22:32) Frankfurt airport (23:04) – Prof. Dr Antonio Krüger ICE 1010 Scientific Director of Innovative Retail Laboratory 23:30–23:45 Group 2 > Shuttle from Frankfurt airport train Frankfurt airport train “Towards an Intuitive Sign Language Animation station to hotel, check-in station Authoring Environment for the Deaf” Group 2 > Accommodation InterCity Hotel Dr. Alexis Heloir Frankfurt Airport Head of the junior research group “Sign Language Am Luftbrückendenkmal 1 Synthesis and Interaction” 60549 Frankfurt (+49/69) 69 70 99 Dr. Fabrizio Nunnari Researcher Saturday, 25 January “Software Campus – Opportunities for International Researchers” Departure according to individual arrangements Saarbrücken Maren Lesche 06:15 Meeting in the hotel lobby For all participants Head of Marketing and Communications Software taking the 6:30 shuttle Campus to Frankfurt Airport 16:15–16:50 Discussion and exchange with scientists from Building D3.2 06:30 Departure of the DAAD shuttle bus from Saar- the DFKI Room 1.63 brücken to Frankfurt Airport 16:50–17:00 Closing statement Building D3.2 Room 1.62 Reinhard Karger DFKI Spokesperson

17:00–17:30 Transfer to the hotel

18:00 Optional: meetings between Science Tour partici- Mercure Hotel pants and German scientists (individual arrange- Saarbrücken City ment, refreshments will be provided)

19:00 Farewell dinner (together with DAAD alumni) Mercure Hotel Saarbrücken City Restaurant

Group 1 > Accommodation Mercure Hotel Saarbrücken City

20:30–20:45 Group 2 > Walk to the train station 18 | 19 Participants

List of Participants Dr. Qaisar Abbas Name Country Institution Page Pakistan Dr. Qaisar Abbas Pakistan COMSATS Institute of Information 19 Assistant Professor at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Dr. Julie A. Adams USA Vanderbilt University, Nashville 19 Technology, Sahiwal campus, Islamabad USA Harvard Medical School/Mass. 20 Dr. Iman Aganj Motivation: I am participating in the Science Tour 2014 to General Hospital collaborate with German professors on the latest research in Dr. Fernando Arambula Cosio Mexico National Autonomous University 20 the fields of artificial intelligence and form strong contacts for of México finding PhD and postdoc scholarship positions. Prof. Nelson Baloian Chile Universidad de Chile 21 Dr. Dante Augusto Couto Barone Brazil Federal University of Rio Grande 21 Research interests: I work in all areas of AI including machine do Sul learning, data mining, computer vision, multiagent systems, Dr. Gerald Friedland USA University of Berkeley 22 evolutionary computation and fuzzy logic. Prof. Victor M. Gonzalez Mexico Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo 22 de Mexico [email protected] Prof. Byung-Woo Hong South Korea Chung-Ang University, Korea 23 Prof. Syed Waqar ul-Qounain Jaffry Pakistan University of the Punjab 23 Prof. Martin Jägersand Canada University of Alberta 24 Prof. Alark Joshi USA University of San Francisco 24 Dr. Michal Kawulok Poland Silesian University of Technology 25 Prof. Karunakar Kotegar India Manipal Institute of Technology 25 Prof. Kittichai Lavangnananda Thailand King Mongkut’s University of Tech- 26 Dr. Julie A. Adams nology Prof. Jyh-Ming Lien USA George Mason University 26 United States Prof. Jiri Matas Czech Czech Technical University 27 Republic Associate Professor of Computer Science and Computer Prof. Frank Maurer Canada University of Calgary, Alberta 27 Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee Prof. Joseph Onderi Orero Kenya Strathmore University 28 Prof. Nicolas F. Polys USA Virginia Polytechnic Institute and 28 Motivation: I seek to develop research collaborations with my State University European counterparts in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomous intelligent systems, human-computer interaction Dr. Helmut Prendinger Japan National Institute of Informatics 29 and multimodal computing. Dr. Sumam David Sarah India National Institute of Technology 29 Karnataka Research interests: My research focuses on human-robot 30 Dr. Joan Serra-Sagristà Spain Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona interaction for 1-on-1 and large teams of ground and aerial Prof. Mohd Shahrizal Sunar Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 30 robots, multimodal human-computer interaction, autonomous Prof. Karim Tahboub Palestine Palestine Polytechnic University 31 robot algorithms, and autonomous, intelligent task allocation Dr. Jaime Valls Miro Australia University of Technology Sydney 31 for human-robot teams. Prof. Guoili Wang China Sun Yat-sen University 32 [email protected] Prof. Ching-Wei Wang Taiwan National Taiwan University of 32 Science and Technology 20 | 21 Participants

Dr. Iman Aganj Prof. Nelson Baloian United States Chile Instructor in radiology, Harvard Medical School Head of the Department of Computer Sciences, Mass. General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Universidad de Chile, Santiago

Motivation: I look forward to meeting with world-class re- Motivation: I wish to identify common research topics and op- searchers in Germany to broaden my scientific perspective, portunities for collaboration between researchers in Chile and set the stage for productive collaborations and exchange of Germany in order to secure joint research funding and promote knowledge and skills, and keep myself updated on state-of-the- faculty member exchange. art research in Europe. Research interests: My current research is focused on comput- Research interests: My research strives to develop new medi- er-supported learning, intelligent tutoring, distributed systems, cal image analysis techniques, namely for MRI, diffusion MRI, recommender systems and decision support systems. and fMRI reconstruction and analysis, image fusion, and image alignment to help researchers and clinicians make the best of [email protected] the acquired images. [email protected]

Dr. Fernando Arambula Cosio Dr. Dante Augusto Couto Barone Mexico Brazil Full-time lecturer, Centre of Applied Science and Techno- Informatics Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande logical Development, National Autonomous University of do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre

México (UNAM), Mexico City Motivation: Having collaborated for years with researchers in Grenoble and Los Angeles, I am now looking to enlarge the Motivation: I wish to explore the possibilities of collaboration possibilities of scientific cooperation and student exchange, in research projects, focused on medical image analysis and mainly at the PhD level. computer-assisted surgery. I also hope to facilitate collabora- tions between various IT departments at German universities My main research areas are artificial and the postgrad programme in computer science and engi- Research interests: intelligence, evolutionary computation, image processing, web neering at UNAM in Mexico. science, computational neuroscience, intelligent robotics and speech processing. Research interests: My research interests lie in the areas of medical image analysis (particularly ultrasound) and computer- assisted surgery, including surgical navigation systems and [email protected] fernando.arambula@ccadet. computer simulation of surgical procedures. unam.mx 22 | 23 Participants

Dr. Gerald Friedland Prof. Byung-Woo Hong United States South Korea Director of Audio and Multimedia Research, International Associate Professor, Computer Science Department, Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, California Chung-Ang University, Seoul

Motivation: I am participating in the Science Tour because Motivation: Germany is one of the most advanced countries I am interested in exploring possibilities to collaborate in the in my research field and the Science Tour is an outstanding areas of multimedia, audio analysis and computer vision, programme that provides academic network opportunities for especially through the exchange of postdocs or as part of an world-class scientists. EU project. Research interests: My research in computer vision, image Research interests: My research deals with large-scale (“big processing and medical image analysis aims to understand how data”) social media analysis. I focus mostly on audio analysis, the human visual system works and develop computer algo- but also on systems where the combination of different modali- rithms which assist humans to interpret images. ties (acoustic, visual) results in synergistic effects. I also work on [email protected] the privacy implications of multimedia retrieval and crowd- [email protected] sourcing.

Prof. Victor M. Gonzalez Prof. Syed Waqar ul-Qounain Jaffry Mexico Pakistan Head of the Department of Computer Science, Instituto Assistant Professor, College of Information Technology, Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), Mexico City University of the Punjab, Lahore

Motivation: The computer science research at ITAM is centred Motivation: I am interested in forming valuable contacts with on artificial intelligence and distributed computing. I wish to fellow German researchers in the areas of artificial intelligence, form contacts with German colleagues to promote collabora- autonomous systems and human-machine interaction for pro- tive research, student exchange and applied research with spective collaboration in the areas of student exchange, joint industry. research proposals and collaborative research.

Research interests: Our research focuses on information Research interests: My research interests lie in the areas of presentation and visualisations, analytics, intelligent distributed computational modeling, social simulations, data mining and systems, data analysis and mining, ubiquitous and mobile information retrieval, collective intelligence, social networks, computing. and interdisciplinary research. [email protected] [email protected] 24 | 25 Participants

Prof. Martin Jägersand Dr. Michal Kawulok Canada Poland Associate Professor of Computing Science, University of Assistant Professor, Institute of Informatics, Silesian Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta University of Technology, Gliwice

Motivation: In the past decade, German intelligent robotics Motivation: I am looking forward to sharing ideas with re- research has distinguished itself in terms of useful, practical searchers who work in the fields of computer vision and pattern outcomes. Perhaps Germany has a better balance of HW and recognition. I hope the Science Tour will provide opportunities SW research than in North America and Japan. I’m curious for future cooperation with German colleagues. how German schools, though rumoured to be hierarchical and static, can produce so many young bright minds. (I have my Research interests: My research interests are pattern recogni- own pet theory to test). tion, image processing, and facial and gesture recognition. Specifically, my work focuses on human skin detection and Research interests: Intelligent robotics, visual human-robot in- segmentation in color images. teraction, handicap assistance robotics, computer vision, visual [email protected] servoing motion control and medical imaging. [email protected]

Prof. Alark Joshi Prof. Karunakar Kotegar United States India Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Applications, University of San Francisco, California Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University, Manipal

Motivation: I look forward to establishing contacts with re- Motivation: I look forward to engaging in collaborative searchers in the fields of visual analytics and visual computing. international research projects in the field of computer science. I would like to see examples that highlight collaborations with My aim is to establish a centre of excellence at our university in domain scientists. the area of multimedia, computing, communication, security, forensics, etc., in collaboration with international partners. Research interests: My research interests lie in the field of data visualisation with an emphasis on medical imaging, in Research interests: My main area of research focuses on scal- particular, neurosurgical visualisation and developing tools for able video coding and communication. application in neurosurgery. [email protected] [email protected] 26 | 27 Participants

Prof. Kittichai Lavangnananda Prof. Jiri Matas Thailand Czech Republic Associate Professor, Head of the Software Technology Divi- Professor, Department of Cybernetics, Czech Technical sion, School of Information Technology (SIT), King Mong- University, Prague kut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Bangkok Motivation: I know many German researchers in Visual Com- Motivation: I look forward to setting up research collabora- puting, but I am much less familiar with cutting-edge research tions, drafting joint research proposals for funding and initiating in Artificial Intelligence. The Tour offers the opportunity to fill the student/staff exchange between my school and other German gap and initiate interdisciplinary collaborations. institutes. Research interests: Computer vision – image matching, large Research interests: My current research focuses on com- scale image retrieval, visual tracking, pattern recognition, text putational intelligence/soft computing, knowledge discovery detection and recognition. and data mining. I am also interested in utilising evolutionary computation in classification and clustering with regard to spatial economics for determining the optimum (or favourable) [email protected] [email protected] emergence of cities.

Prof. Jyh-Ming Lien Prof. Frank Maurer United States Canada Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Professor of Computer Science, Associate Vice-President George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (Research), University of Calgary, Alberta

Motivation: My main objective for participating in the Science Motivation: I hope to explore opportunities for collaboration Tour is to establish research collaborations which advance between the University of Calgary and partner institutions in the cross-disciplinary robotics and visualisation research, particu- areas of analytics, simulation and visualisation with a particu- larly in the context of urban-focused issues. lar emphasis on applications in the energy sector, life sciences, health and near-earth space technologies. Research interests: My research focuses on developing funda- mental theories for representing, manipulating, analysing and Research interests: My research work focuses on the areas of visualising massive geometric data and identifying applications visual analytics, application engineering and cloud computing. in the areas of computational geometry, computer graphics, GIS, visualisation and robotics. [email protected] [email protected] 28 | 29 Participants

Prof. Joseph Onderi Orero Dr. Helmut Prendinger Kenya Japan Lecturer, Faculty of Information Technology, Strathmore Professor, National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo

University, Nairobi Motivation: My purpose in participating is to investigate the potential for collaborations in the fields of artificial intelligence, Motivation: I wish to establish a computer science research simulation and interactive visualisation, and to better under- centre at my university, and therefore, look forward to learning stand joint Germany-Japan funding possibilities. from successful institutions in Germany, form collaborations and share my expertise with other researchers. Research interests: My scientific interests are in the fields of ar- tificial intelligence, intelligent user interfaces, massive multiuser- Research interests: My current main interest revolves around networked 3D virtual environments, multimodal interaction, and machine learning, in particular fuzzy logic and its application in recent data mining of large-scale user driving behaviour data affective computing and natural language processing for senti- in virtual environments. ment analysis. [email protected] [email protected]

Prof. Nicolas F. Polys Dr. Sumam David Sarah United States India Director of Visual Computing, Virginia Polytechnic Institute Professor of Electronics & Communication, National and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore

Motivation: I hope to forge new connections and partnerships Motivation: I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet for collaborative research, personnel exchange and the de- and learn from outstanding researchers in the area of Visual/ velopment of innovative, web-enabled virtual and augmented Multimodal Computing and to develop academic linkages reality applications with a broad, global impact. that would lead to student exchanges, joint programmes and research partnerships. Research interests: My scientific and artistic interests are focused on increasing the information throughput between a Research interests: My research interests lie in the areas of computer display and the human mind and probing human multimedia and biomedical signal processing, signal compres- perception and cognition by means of virtual reality and 3D sion, video analytics, human computer interaction, real-time graphics. implementation of signal processing algorithms and engineer- [email protected] [email protected] ing education. 30 | 31 Participants

Dr. Joan Serra-Sagristà Prof. Karim Tahboub Spain Palestine Associate Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Palestine Department of Information and Communications Engineering Polytechnic University, Hebron

Motivation: My purpose in participating is to explore the Motivation: I wish to explore the potential for collaborations potential for research collaborations in the field of visual signal with our newly-established interdisciplinary Intelligent Systems compression and transmission. Research Center. As a member of the steering committee of the German-Palestinian scientific cooperation, I also look forward Research interests: My areas of interest span all aspects of sig- to gathering first-hand knowledge about German research nal processing and coding for digital communication and data institutes and universities. storage systems, especially the compression of visible, infrared, remote sensing and medical imagery, as well as interactive data Research interests: My current research interests focus on transmission. human-machine interaction and co-adaptation, intention recognition, human postural control, and physiological control [email protected] [email protected] systems.

Prof. Mohd Shahrizal Sunar Dr. Jaime Valls Miro Malaysia Australia Director of the Media and Game Innovation Center of Associate Professor, Centre for Autonomous Systems, Fac- Excellence, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai ulty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney

Motivation: I am keen to gain valuable experience by visiting Motivation: I am keen to experience how the translation of leading scientists in visual and multimodal research in Ger- science operates in a country at the forefront of technology many. I would like to explore potential collaboration to initiate development, and to seize the chance to establish potential major projects in cutting-edge research and educational collaborations which can raise intelligent robot interactions to cooperation. the next level.

Research interests: My research focuses on computer graphic Research interests: I am interested in capturing ‘intelligence’ modelling, rendering and interaction techniques which can from the integration and fusion of data streams generated by directly contribute to Game, Edutainment and Simulation. multimodal robotic sensors, i.e. to develop smart, assistive machines which intelligently collaborate with humans. [email protected] [email protected] 32 | 33 Index of Institutions

Prof. Guoili Wang Visited Institutions China University of Konstanz – Department of Computer and Information Science p. 34

Professor, School of Information Science and Technology, University of Freiburg – Department of Computer Science (IIF) p. 35 Sun Yat-sen University, Haizhu, Guangzhou Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – Department of Informatics p. 36 Motivation: I intend to explore collaborative opportunities FZI Research Center for Information Technology p. 37 for research and education on new ubiquitous sensing para- digms for creating smart environments or developing intelligent Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation p. 38 human-centric systems. I also hope to develop a collaborative PhD training programme. (Fraunhofer IOSB)

Research interests: My current research focuses on developing Cluster of Excellence “Multimodal Computing and Interaction” (MMCI) p. 39 compressed sensory-based data acquisition techniques, com- Max Planck Institute for Informatics (MPI-INF) p. 40 putational imaging with binary sensor networks, and ubiquitous sensing paradigms to create easy-to-use smart environments Saarland University – Department of Computer Science p. 41 [email protected] and intelligent human-centric systems. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) p. 42

Prof. Ching-Wei Wang Taiwan Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei

Motivation: I am greatly looking forward to exploring the potential for international collaboration.

Research interests: My research is mainly focused on devel- oping systems and methods in artificial intelligence, computer vision and medical imaging, involving automatic detection, segmentation and registration for 2D/3D/4D medical images and breathing behaviour analysis from video data. [email protected] 34 | 35 Institutions University of Konstanz – Department University of Freiburg – Department of Computer and Information Science of Computer Science (IIF)

The Department of Computer and Information Science is one of six departments in the Faculty of The Department of Computer Science (IIF) is one of the newest teaching and research facili- Sciences at the University of Konstanz. Eleven working groups conduct research in the area of Ex- ties at the University of Freiburg. plorative Analysis and Visualisation of Large Information Spaces. About 500 students are enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s and PhD programmes in the department. Some 80 junior researchers We currently have 14 professors and some 110 research assistants working in 17 research support the 14 professors, junior professors and lecturers in teaching. Graduates have outstand- groups at the IIF. Our instruction and research activities focus on a broad range of topics such ing career opportunities on the German and international labour market. as computer graphics, artificial intelligence, algorithmics, software technology and commu- nication systems. The IIF also participates in large interdisciplinary research projects and is The department operates a variety of laboratories including the Media Room and the Powerwall. active in specialised research on both a national and international level. The Media Room is fitted with all the research equipment required for designing, developing and evaluating new interaction technologies and input devices. The Powerwall is one of the most In 2006, after only a ten-year development phase, the CHE University Ranking distinguished modern large projection display systems in Europe with a display area of 5.20 m x 2.15 m that the IIF as one of the fastest growing computer science research institutions in the country. The provides unique possibilities for visual data exploration. Furthermore, there is a Powerbike Simu- department received top marks for its teaching, technical equipment and success in attracting lator for developing methods for data acquisition, analysis, modeling, optimisation and visualisa- external funding. tion of performance parameters in endurance sports and the Painting Robot e-David. www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/department www.vis.uni-konstanz.de/en www.informatik.uni-konstanz.de/en

Prof. Daniel Keim Prof. Harald Reiterer Prof. Bernhard Nebel Chair for Data Analysis and Visualization Chair for Human-Computer Interaction Head of the research group [email protected] [email protected] “Foundations of Artificial Intelligence” [email protected]

Prof. Oliver Deussen Prof. Dietmar Saupe Chair for Computer Graphics and Chair for Multimedia Signal Processing Media Informatics [email protected] [email protected] 36 | 37 Institutions Karlsruhe Institute of Technology FZI Research Center for Information (KIT) – Department of Informatics Technology

Founded in 2009, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) serves as both a university with The FZI Research Center for Information Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology teaching and research tasks and a large-scale research institute of the Helmholtz Association (KIT) is a non-profit institution for applied research in information technology and technology conducting programme-oriented provident research. transfer. Its task is to provide businesses and public institutions with the latest research findings in information technology. It also qualifies young scientists for their career in academics or The Department of Informatics at KIT was founded in 1972 as the first IT department in Ger- business as well as self-employment. many. Around 45 research groups in seven different institutes within the department form the basis for a broad spectrum of research activities in information technology. Led by professors from different faculties, interdisciplinary research teams at FZI develop Two institutes of the department are involved in the Science Tour 2013. prototype concepts, software, hardware and system solutions for their clients. Consequently scientific excellence and interdisciplinary practice are well established at FZI. The research at the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics includes multimodal human interaction with technical systems, humanoid robots, language comprehension, image per- FZI is the innovation hub in information technology in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Its ception, learning, recognising and understanding situations, generating knowledge through core business and area of expertise is application-based research with reliable knowledge experience, formulating memory, emotions, processing biosignals and data processing in and technology transfer. The FZI House of Living Labs is a unique research environment for sensor networks. The research groups of the newly founded Institute for Visualization and applied research at FZI. With its infrastructures and different living labs, the FZI House of Liv- Data Analysis specialise in the fields of computer graphics and visual computing, geometric ing Labs allows researchers to develop and test innovative solutions in real-life scenarios, thus processing, and visualisation. supporting participatory research and the development of experimental technologies.

Prof. Michael Beigl Prof. Wilfried Juling Prof. Ralf Reussner Dr. Stefan Hellfeld Dean CSO/CIO of KIT Member of the Board of Directors Manager of the FZI House of Living Labs Head of the Department of Informatics [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Prof. Rüdiger Dillmann Prof. Carsten Dachsbacher Head of the Institute for Anthropomatics Head of the Institute for Visualization and Robotics and Data Analysis [email protected] [email protected] 38 | 39 Institutions Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, Cluster of Excellence “Multimodal System Technologies and Image Computing and Interaction” Exploitation (Fraunhofer IOSB) (MMCI), Saarbrücken

We research and develop multi-sensory systems which help people interact with their en- The Cluster of Excellence “Multimodal Computing and Interaction” in Saarbrücken is a col- vironment. This ranges from the generation and automated analysis of aerial and satellite laboration between Saarland University and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, the Max images – of a disaster area, for example – to sorting and quality control of bulk goods like Planck Institute for Software Systems and the German Research Center for Artificial Intel- coffee beans or minerals. ligence (DFKI).

Whenever things are too fast, too dangerous or inaccessible for humans, e.g. underwater or What was once science fiction is becoming reality in the Cluster of Excellence “Multimodal contaminated areas, mobile robots act as sensor carriers and provide support for assessing Computing and Interaction”. Our engineers are designing intelligent computer systems that the situation on location. Transparent and interactive video systems guarantee a higher level learn to communicate and respond interactively like humans do, perceiving and understand- of protection and safety. All these systems are linked using the latest information technolo- ing speech, body language, and gesture. gies, for which we also develop and offer cyber security solutions. In highly interdisciplinary projects, researchers develop intelligent computer systems mod- In addition to developing software for planning, controlling and operating industrial produc- eled after the human senses. These systems learn to identify and interpret acoustic and visual tion processes, we have web technologies at our disposal for information management in information and to react appropriately. There are millions of application scenarios for such complex database systems, e.g. for gathering environmental data or for intelligently linking technology – from in-car driver assistance systems to intelligent music libraries. The future and analysing such data for energy management purposes. has just begun.

Prof. Jürgen Beyerer Prof. Hans-Peter Seidel Director of the Fraunhofer IOSB Scientific Coordinator Chair of the “Vision and Fusion Laboratory” Cluster of Excellence on “Multimodal [email protected] Computing and Interaction” [email protected] 40 | 41 Institutions Max Planck Institute for Saarland University – Department Informatics, Saarbrücken of Computer Science

The Max Planck Institute for Informatics is devoted to cutting-edge research in informatics Informatics is a core discipline in Saarland University’s profile. From its beginnings in with a focus on algorithms and their diverse applications. Our research ranges from founda- 1969, the endeavour has been interdisciplinary, with strong links from computer science tions (algorithms and complexity, programming logics) to a variety of application domains to computational linguistics, psychology, biology and medicine, business and engineering. (computer graphics, geometric computation, constraint solving, program verification, The Department of Computer Science soon gained wide recognition and received substan- databases and information systems, and computational biology/bioinformatics).We regard tial funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for large collaborative research informatics as a field that strives towards anchoring the use of computational resources in a projects. The quality of the ongoing research has attracted other players to the university thorough understanding of the underlying principles of computational methods. campus: the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems. All institutions col- We provide a stimulating environment for junior researchers, where they can develop their laborate closely with one another. They joined forces and, in Germany’s Excellence Initiative own research programmes and build their own groups. The institute runs an active fellowship for supporting cutting-edge research and doctoral education, they were designated as both programme on both the PhD and postdoc level. Since our institute was established, a large a Cluster of Excellence (Multimodal Computing and Interaction) and a Graduate School in number of researchers have assumed posts at other institutions, many of them taking tenured 2007. Since then, the establishment of the Intel Visual Computing Institute and of the Center positions. for IT-Security, Privacy, and Accountability have further strengthened our research portfolio. Saarbrücken computer science has reached a uniquely prominent position in the German and European computer science research and academic landscape.

Saarland University’s computer science department remains the driving force behind this de- velopment. Most of the founding directors at the various institutes came from the department and continue to be faculty members. All this provides a foundation for exceptional teaching. Over 1,700 students are enrolled in several bachelor’s and master’s degree at the university and some 375 students are pursuing a doctorate in computer science. They can draw on the expertise of almost 200 researchers at the professorial and post-doc level. With this remark- able student-faculty ratio and the overall research and academic quality of the location, Saarbrücken is the place to be for a budding computer scientist.

Prof. Bernt Schiele Director Max Planck Institute for Informatics [email protected]

Prof. Markus Bläser Prof. Raimund Seidel Vice Dean and Head of the Director of the Saarbrücken Graduate Department of Computer Science School of Computer Science Chair of Computational Complexity Chair of Theoretical Computer Science [email protected] [email protected] 42 | 43 Contacts

German Research Center Useful Contacts for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Saarbrücken German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

The DFKI was founded in 1988 and has research facilities in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen and a project office in Berlin. DFKI is the leading research center in Germany in the field of innovative commercial software technology using artificial intelligence.

Based on application-oriented basic research, the DFKI develops product functions, proto- types and patentable solutions in the field of information and communication technology. Research and development projects are conducted in 14 research departments and research groups, ten competence centers and five living labs.

The DFKI is a non-profit public-private partnership (ppp) and is nationally and internation- Dr. Christian Schäfer Anne Knab ally regarded as a model for corporate structure in the field of top-level research. At present, Head of Section: Project Officer 413 highly qualified researchers and 272 graduate students from more than 60 countries Internationalisation of Research Section: Research Marketing are contributing to more than 232 DFKI research projects. DFKI serves as a stepping stone Tel: (+49/151) 14 62 88 62 Tel: (+49/160) 90 53 37 78 to management positions in industry and successful careers as business entrepeneurs. Over [email protected] [email protected] the years, more than 60 staff members have been appointed professors at universities in Germany and abroad.

Travel Guides

Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster CEO and Scientific Director of the DFKI [email protected] Friedrich Frhr. von Maltzahn Rebecka Michel Tel: (+49/177) 561 16 84 Tel: (+49/163) 260 92 60 [email protected]

Transport Driver HVB Wiest + Schürmann Eberhard Scheu Brunnenstraße 11 72379 Hechingen Tel: (+49/7471) 93 50 0 44 | 45 Accommodation & Numbers

Accommodation Important Numbers

Emergency 19–20 January 20–21 January 110 Police 112 Fire brigade and ambulance 11880 (additional fees apply) Telephone enquiry services

Other important numbers

Steigenberger Inselhotel Mercure Hotel Freiburg am Münster (+49/1805) 599 66 33 (additional fees apply) German Railway (Deutsche Bahn) Auf der Insel 1 Auf der Zinnen 1 (+49/800) 33 44 33 55 Western Union Bank 78462 Constance 79098 Freiburg (+49/180) 53 72 46 36 Frankfurt Airport Tel: (+49/7531) 12 54 67 Tel: (+49/761) 38 51-0

Taxicab services

21–23 January 23–25 January (+49/69) 23 00 01 Frankfurt (+49/7531) 222 22 Constance (+49/761) 55 55 55 Freiburg (+49/721) 94 41 44 Karlsruhe (+49/681) 550 00 Saarbrücken (+49/900) 112 24 56 Nationwide taxicab service (additional fees apply)

Novotel Karlsruhe City Mercure Hotel Saarbrücken City Festplatz 2 Hafenstraße 8 76137 Karlsruhe 66111 Saarbrücken Tel: (+49/721) 352 69 17 Tel: (+49/681) 389 00 46 | 47 Content & Notes

Table of Contents Notes

Preface Page 01

Programme Page 02–17

List of Participants Page 18

Profiles of Participants Page 19– 32

List of Institutions Page 33

Profiles of Institutions Page 34–42

Useful Contacts Page 43

Accommodation Page 44

Important Numbers Page 45

Table of Contents Page 46

Notes Page 47

Imprint Page 48 Imprint

Coordination of the Science Tour and Publisher Photo Credits German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) ramcreations/Shutterstock (Cover) Section 523 – Marketing for Research p. 44: Kennedyallee 50, 53175 Bonn Steigenberger Inselhotel, Konstanz www.daad.de Mercure Hotel Freiburg am Münster www.research-in-germany.de Novotel Karlsruhe City Mercure Hotel Saarbrücken City Dr. Christian Schäfer Head of Section Layout and typesetting Internationalisation of Research Nicole Rabe [email protected] [email protected] www.grafikrabe.de Anne Knab Project Officer Printed by Section: Research Marketing Gronenberg GmbH & Co. KG [email protected] 51674 Wiehl/Bomig-Ost [email protected] Organisation www.gronenberg.de MICHEL International Relations & Services Friedrichstraße 191, 10117 Berlin Print run: 200 – January 2014 Rebecka Michel [email protected] www.michel-irs.com

© DAAD Any reproduction, even of extracts, only with appropriate source details. This publication was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.