Modular Design Professors and Supervisors in Germany

Robert ZeimerView profile

Professor

Evangelical University of Applied Sciences DarmstadtGermany

Robert Zeimer is Professor of Interior Design at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences since 2021, specializing in interior construction, spatial typology, and the re-usability of structural elements. Previously, he served as Visiting Professor at the University of Navarra in Pamplona (2019) and was Associate of Management at AFF Architekten in Berlin (2011-2020). His research interests focus on Interior design , Interior construction , Spatial typology and transformation , and Design typology with emphasis on re-usability of structural elements . His work bridges theoretical architectural concepts with practical applications in urban spaces and historical contexts. Professor Zeimer's publication record demonstrates consistent scholarly output with a focus on urban space utilization, historical architectural principles, and innovative interior design approaches. His research trajectory shows a progression from historical building analysis toward contemporary applications in modular design and spatial transformation, particularly evident in his recent work on Berlin infrastructure. Nomination for the Teaching Award 2021 Zeimer has advised numerous students on projects related to modular living solutions and spatial transformation under initiatives like 'Under The Bridge' and 'New Living - Modular + Mobile'. His professional experience spans academic and practical domains, having founded his own architectural office DNR - Der Neue Raum in Berlin (2020) while maintaining his academic position. He has delivered lectures at prestigious institutions worldwide including Politecnico di Milano, Technical University of Berlin, and Waseda University Tokyo.

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Sergej RempelView profile

Professor

Mediadesign UniversityGermany

Professor Sergej Rempel is a distinguished faculty member at Technische Hochschule Augsburg, serving as Chairman of the Examination Board for Civil Engineering and Scientific Director of TTZ Aichach. His institutional affiliations include: Technische Hochschule Augsburg - Architecture and Civil Engineering faculty TTZ Aichach - Scientific Director DIN Standards Committee for Building Construction (NABau) German Committee for Structural Concrete (DAfStb) Advisory Board of 'Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Construction' journal Professor Rempel's research focuses on innovative concrete technologies, particularly textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) and carbon concrete. His work spans structural engineering, safety analysis, probabilistic safety concepts, and practical applications of advanced concrete materials. He has made significant contributions to the development of corrosion-free concrete structures through carbon fiber reinforcement, addressing one of the most persistent challenges in civil engineering - steel corrosion in reinforced concrete. His publication record demonstrates consistent advancement in the field, with recent work focusing on safety concepts for textile-reinforced concrete structures, reliability analysis, bending design models, and environmental life cycle assessments of carbon concrete bridges. His research bridges theoretical analysis with practical implementation, as evidenced by his involvement in landmark projects like the carbon concrete bridge in Albstadt-Ebingen. Member of DIN Standards Committee for Building Construction Member of DAfStb Technical Committee Advisory Board member for 'Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Construction' journal Professor Rempel actively supervises research and academic work in civil engineering, with a focus on developing next-generation concrete technologies that improve structural durability, reduce maintenance requirements, and enhance sustainability in construction. His work on economic analyses of textile-reinforced concrete applications demonstrates his commitment to ensuring practical implementation of advanced materials in the construction industry. His laboratory and research group focus on testing and developing textile-reinforced concrete elements, with particular attention to bending load capacity, long-term durability, and practical construction applications. The research has led to numerous industrial collaborations and practical implementations in bridge construction, building facades, and historical restoration projects.

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Markus QuirmbachView profile

Professor

Hochschule Ruhr WestGermany

Prof. Dr. Markus Quirmbach is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences, specializing in urban water management, hydrology, and hydraulic engineering. He serves as the responsible coordinator (together with Prof. Dr. Mark Oelmann) of the inter-institute research focus 'Water Economics and Water Management' at HRW and is a professoral member of the Doctoral College NRW since 2021. His research interests span urban water management, flood risk management, climate change adaptation in water systems, radar rainfall data applications, and AI-based flood prediction. Prof. Quirmbach leads several major research projects including RAIN-DL (2025-2028, funded by DFG), BoRSiS (2021-2024, funded by BMBF), and KIWaSuS (2021-2024, funded by BMBF), focusing on innovative solutions for climate-adaptive urban drainage and early warning systems. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on integrating artificial intelligence with traditional hydrological modeling, particularly in developing spatiotemporal deep learning approaches for urban flood forecasting and creating dynamic hazard mapping systems. His work increasingly emphasizes blue-green infrastructure solutions, particularly the soil-pipe system ('Boden-Rohr-System') as a multifunctional approach to urban climate adaptation. Prof. Quirmbach has secured significant research funding totaling over €5 million in the past five years and maintains active collaborations with water utilities, municipal authorities, and research institutions across Germany. His research group provides students with opportunities to work on cutting-edge projects that address pressing challenges in urban water management under climate change. As an educator, he teaches courses including Water Engineering I (Hydromechanics, Hydraulic Engineering and Hydrology), Water Management II (Urban Water Management), and specialized modules on canal network calculation and Geographic Information Systems in Water Management for multiple degree programs at HRW.

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Cătălin HrițcuView profile

Adjunct Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Cătălin Hrițcu is a tenured faculty member and head of the Formally Verified Security group at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP) in Bochum, Germany. He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), where he is affiliated with HGI and the CASA Cluster of Excellence. His educational background includes: PhD from Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany Habilitation from ENS Paris Hrițcu's research focuses on developing rigorous formal techniques for security. His primary interests span three interconnected areas: Formal methods for security: secure compilation, compartmentalization, memory safety, speculative execution defenses, information flow control, and security protocols Programming-languages techniques: program verification, machine-checked proofs, dependent types, formal semantics, and property-based testing Design and verification of security-critical systems: compilation chains, reference monitors, tagged hardware architectures, and high-assurance cryptography His recent publications reveal a strong trajectory toward addressing real-world security challenges through formal methods, with increasing emphasis on hardware security aspects like speculative execution vulnerabilities and memory safety. Hrițcu has received significant scientific recognition: ERC Starting Grant on formally secure compilation Distinguished Paper Award at CSF 2025 for FSLH: Flexible Mechanized Speculative Load Hardening Distinguished Paper Award at CSF 2021 for SSProve As an advisor, Hrițcu has mentored numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers who have gone on to successful academic careers. His group receives substantial funding through projects like ERC SECOMP. He has co-authored volumes of the Software Foundations textbook series and actively teaches courses at RUB. Hrițcu leads the Formally Verified Security research group at MPI-SP, which includes PhD students, postdocs, and research interns working on cutting-edge problems at the intersection of programming languages and security. The group has made significant contributions to verification tools including F* and Coq, with applications in secure compilation and cryptographic verification.

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Mehdi BagherzadehView profile

Assistant Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Mehdi Bagherzadeh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Oakland University. His professional profile shows consistent involvement in major software engineering conferences including ASE, SPLASH, and ICSE, where he has served in various leadership roles such as Workshops Co-Chair for SPLASH (2021-2023) and Late Breaking Results Co-Chair for ASE (2022). Dr. Bagherzadeh's research focuses on the correct construction of concurrent and big data software, situated at the intersection of Software Engineering and Programming Languages. His work particularly addresses challenges in deep learning program optimization, actor concurrency models, and automated refactoring techniques. His research trajectory shows a clear evolution from foundational work on concurrent programming models (Panini, Capsule) to current applications in deep learning systems. Analysis of his publication history reveals a strong focus on practical software engineering challenges in concurrent systems, with recent work concentrating on the migration and optimization of deep learning programs. His research combines empirical studies with formal methods, addressing both theoretical foundations and practical implementation concerns in modern software systems. Through his committee service across multiple top-tier conferences including ASE, SPLASH, ICSE, and ESEC/FSE, Dr. Bagherzadeh has established himself as an active contributor to the software engineering research community. His service roles have ranged from program committee membership to organizational leadership positions.

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Sven ApelView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Professor Sven Apel holds the Chair of Software Engineering at Saarland University's Saarland Informatics Campus in Germany. He is also the Director of the Saarbrücken Graduate School of Computer Science. His work focuses on software engineering with an emphasis on automation, human factors, and interdisciplinary approaches. Prof. Apel received his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2007 from the University of Magdeburg. His academic journey includes: Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Magdeburg (2007) Emmy-Noether Fellowship of the German Research Foundation Heisenberg Professorship of the German Research Foundation Prof. Apel's research centers on empowering software engineering practice to enter an era of intensive automation. His key research areas include software variability and configuration, AI-based program generation and optimization, socio-technical software analysis, and empirical and neurophysiological methods. He pays special attention to the human factor and interdisciplinary research questions, applying his findings to real-world software systems from both open-source projects and industry collaborations with partners like Siemens AG, Bosch Engineering, and Airbus Helicopters. Analysis of Prof. Apel's recent publications reveals a strong focus on configurable software systems, neurophysiological approaches to understanding programming, and the application of AI techniques to software engineering problems. His work often bridges the gap between theoretical foundations and practical applications, with many studies involving industrial collaborations. There's a noticeable trend toward interdisciplinary research combining software engineering with neuroscience, organizational studies, and machine learning. Prof. Apel has received numerous prestigious awards and honors: ERC Advanced Grant "Brains On Code" (2022) ACM Distinguished Member for "Outstanding Scientific Contributions to Computing" (2018) Multiple Most Influential Paper Awards (SPLC'18, ICPC'22, GPCE'23) Multiple Best Paper Awards (SPLC'11, Modularity'15, AOM'18) Heisenberg Professorship and Emmy-Noether Fellowship from the German Research Foundation Prof. Apel has advised numerous Ph.D., Master's, and Bachelor's students throughout his career. His research has been generously funded by multiple grants including an ERC Advanced Grant (2,500,000 Euro, 2022-2027), several DFG projects (CPEC, Congruence, Pervolution), and previous grants like SafeSPL, FeatureFoundation, and Pythia. His work has practical impact through collaborations with industry partners including Siemens AG, Bosch Engineering, and Airbus Helicopters. Prof. Apel leads research in the Chair of Software Engineering at Saarland University, where his team explores the intersection of software engineering, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. His "Brains On Code" ERC project specifically investigates how programmers' brains process code using neuroimaging techniques. The research group maintains strong connections with both academic and industry partners, facilitating the transfer of research findings into practical applications.

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Thomas DegueuleView profile

Researcher

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Thomas Degueule is a researcher at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in France, actively contributing to software engineering research since 2015. He serves on program committees for major conferences including ASE, ICSE, and SLE, with primary research interests in Software Evolution, Empirical Software Engineering, and Domain-Specific Languages. His work focuses on breaking change analysis in APIs and libraries, client-library compatibility testing, and dependency management. He develops practical tools like Roseau for source-based breaking change detection and investigates semantic versioning impacts in ecosystems like Maven Central. His empirical approach leverages large-scale repository analysis to address real-world software maintenance challenges, particularly in Java ecosystems. Recent publications (2023-2025) show consistent contributions to breaking change analysis and compatibility testing, appearing in top venues like ASE, ICSE, and ISSTA. His research bridges theoretical insights with practical tooling for software evolution challenges, demonstrating strong empirical methodology and tool-oriented contributions. No scientific awards are documented in the available information. Degueule has advised no publicly listed students and holds no mentioned research grants. His organizational roles include Program Co-Chair for SLE 2023 and committee positions across multiple conferences, reflecting significant service to the software engineering community.

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Hongyu ZhangView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Hongyu Zhang is a Professor and Dean of the School of Big Data and Software Engineering at Chongqing University, China, and an Honorary Professor at The University of Newcastle, Australia. Previously, he served as a Lead Researcher at Microsoft Research Asia and an Associate Professor at Tsinghua University, China. He received his PhD from the National University of Singapore in 2003. His academic journey spans prestigious institutions, combining industry research experience with academic leadership. Dr. Zhang's research interests focus on intelligent software engineering, software analytics, data-driven software engineering, software fault management, testing and debugging, and software maintenance and reuse. His work centers on improving software quality and productivity by mining and analyzing vast amounts of software data. Over the years, he has developed innovative methods that apply data mining, machine learning (including deep learning), and information retrieval techniques to extract knowledge from software data and solve complex software engineering problems. His research spans three major areas: intelligent programming (code search, code summarization, code generation), intelligent quality prediction (defect prediction, cloud failure prediction, performance prediction), and intelligent fault detection and diagnosis (log-based fault detection, crash-based fault localization, bug report analytics). His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward integrating large language models and deep learning techniques with traditional software engineering practices. The research spans intelligent programming assistance, code security, UI automation, distributed systems optimization, and performance analysis. His work increasingly focuses on practical applications of AI in software engineering, with emphasis on real-world impact in industrial settings, particularly in microservices, cloud systems, and large-scale software development environments. 8 ACM Distinguished Paper Awards Best Paper Award: How Long Will it Take to Mitigate this Incident for Online Service Systems? David Lorge Parnis Fellowship Senior Member of IEEE Distinguished Member of ACM Distinguished Member of CCF Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust) Recognized in The Australian's Top Researchers special edition as leading researcher in Software Systems World's Top 2% Scientists (career-long) Dr. Zhang has successfully advised numerous PhD and Master's students who have gone on to prominent positions at leading technology companies and academic institutions worldwide. His research has been supported by significant grants including Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (as Lead CI) and multiple National Science Foundation of China projects. His work has made tangible impacts in industry, most notably through the Microsoft Developer Assistant project which received over 450K downloads in 2016. He leads research groups focused on intelligent software engineering and software analytics, with strong collaborations between Chongqing University, The University of Newcastle, and Microsoft Research. His teams develop practical tools for code intelligence, log analysis, and fault diagnosis that are deployed in real-world online service systems.

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Jutta AlbusView profile

Professor

Bochum University of Applied SciencesGermany

Prof. Jutta Albus serves as Professor in the Department of Sustainable Construction and Design at Bochum University of Applied Sciences. She teaches the Building Construction 3 module and leads multiple research initiatives focused on sustainable building practices, with office hours held every Tuesday from 11:30 to 12:00 during semester in room H 2-12 at Central Campus Bochum. Her research centers on holistic planning approaches that combine traditional manufacturing with digital fabrication technologies to create resource-efficient building solutions. Key interests include life cycle analysis, embodied energy considerations, passive energy systems, and standardized assembly principles that reduce environmental impact while maintaining functionality. She investigates how minimally invasive approaches can transform urban living spaces and building renovations. Prof. Albus leads significant research projects including 'Modular | Zirkulär | Digital' (2022-2024), 'ECO+' (2022-2024), 'Einfach (Um)bauen' (2023-2025), 'LEGO' (2023-2025), and 'UrbanID' (2025-2027), funded by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and Zukunft Bau Forschungsförderung. These projects address critical challenges in sustainable construction from developing alternative building materials to creating frameworks for positive environmental impacts in urban development. Her research team includes assistants Elisa Berker, Leonie Meiings, and Andrea Stachelhaus, along with lecturers Gavin Hope, Matthäus Nowak, and Carl Obst. She collaborates extensively with institutions including Technical University of Munich and Technical University of Dortmund, as well as industry partners like Solid.Modulbau GmbH and Design-to-Production GmbH.

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