Katja Zeume

Prof. Dr. Katja Zeume serves as Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Communication at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Her academic leadership spans theoretical and applied database systems research with emphasis on semi-structured data management.

Her educational foundation includes a PhD from the University of Bayreuth (2015), where she completed her thesis "Foundations of Regular Languages for Processing RDF and XML" under the name Katja Losemann.

Dr. Zeume's research centers on the theoretical underpinnings of database query languages, particularly investigating regular expressions in SPARQL for RDF and XML data models. Her work bridges formal language theory with practical database applications, addressing challenges in query complexity, data federation, and schema design for unstructured information. Key contributions include foundational analyses of deterministic regular expressions and their computational properties in semantic web contexts.

Her publication trajectory reveals consistent focus on theoretical database foundations, evolving from XML schema research toward SPARQL complexity analysis. The body of work demonstrates deep integration of automata theory, complexity analysis, and practical query language design for modern data ecosystems.

As Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Communication, she oversees academic strategy while maintaining active research engagement. Her teaching portfolio includes core database systems courses covering traditional SQL, NoSQL architectures, web-scale data management, and theoretical database principles.