Probabilistic Machine Learning Professors and Supervisors in Germany

Yasutaka KameiView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Yasutaka Kamei is a Full Professor at Kyushu University's Graduate School and Faculty of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, where he leads the POSL Lab (Process-Oriented Software Laboratory). He was promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor in January 2024 after serving as Associate Professor from March 2015 to December 2023. He is also an InaRIS Fellow (2023-2033), receiving 10 million yen annually for his research on 'New paradigm for software development styles based on machine-human interaction.' Dr. Kamei's research focuses on Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) and Open Source Software Engineering (OSSE), with particular expertise in software reliability, testing, defect prediction, code review analysis, and mining software repositories. His work bridges empirical methods with practical software engineering challenges, emphasizing how data-driven approaches can improve software quality assurance processes. His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward understanding human factors in software development processes, analyzing modern code review practices, investigating technical debt, and exploring the application of large language models in software engineering tasks. His research spans both traditional software engineering challenges and emerging AI-driven approaches to software development. IPSJ/ACM Award for Early Career Contribution to Global Research (2019) Best industry paper award at ESEM 2018 Distinguished Paper Award at MSR 2014 InaRIS Fellow (2023-2033) Dr. Kamei actively serves the software engineering community as Tutorials Chair for ASE 2025 and has been a program committee member for numerous top-tier conferences including ICSE, FSE, ASE, ESEC/FSE, SANER, and MSR. He has secured multiple competitive grants from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) to support his research on test case generation, automated software testing for deep learning systems, technical debt engineering, and mining software repositories. His POSL Lab at Kyushu University serves as a hub for empirical software engineering research, focusing on data-driven approaches to improve software development processes and outcomes through rigorous analysis of software repositories and developer activities.

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Matteo CamilliView profile

Associate Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Matteo Camilli is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB) at Politecnico di Milano, Italy, where he leads research in software engineering and verification. His academic journey includes positions as Assistant Professor at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and postdoctoral research at the University of Milan and University of Bergamo. His educational background includes a PhD in Computer Science (2015), MSc in Computer Science (2012), and BSc in Computer Science (2009), all from the University of Milan. His doctoral research focused on combining advanced abstraction techniques and big data approaches to address state explosion problems in formal verification. Camilli's research primarily centers on software verification, testing, and methods to improve dependability of autonomous, cyber-physical, service-based, and ML-enabled critical systems. His work spans formal methods, model-based testing, uncertainty quantification, and design-time/runtime verification with applications to complex distributed systems. His recent publications reflect a growing focus on explainable self-adaptation, quality assurance for LLM-based systems, and managing uncertainty in adaptive systems. His publication record includes papers in top journals (TOSEM, TAAS, JSS, EMSE) and conferences (ICSE, ISSRE, ICST, ICSA). He serves on program committees for prestigious conferences including ICSE, ICSA, ICST, and ECSA, and is on the steering committee for the International Workshop on Formal Approaches for Advanced Computing Systems (FAACS). Camilli actively contributes to the academic community through conference organization, including serving as Program Committee Member for numerous conferences and as Program Co-Chair for the Software Architecture track at ACM SAC. He also serves as guest editor for special issues on automated testing and dependable AI systems. His teaching portfolio at Politecnico di Milano includes Software Engineering 2, Software Engineering for Automation, and Distributed Software Development. Previously at Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, he taught Systems Engineering and Verification and Reliability for Dependable Systems.

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Antonio FilieriView profile

Visiting Associate Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Antonio Filieri is a Senior Applied Scientist at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and holds a Visiting Associate Professor position at the Department of Computing, Imperial College London. Previously, he was a tenured Associate Professor at Imperial College London (2022-2024) and Assistant Professor (2016-2022), and served as Assistant Professor at the University of Stuttgart between 2013 and 2015. His academic career spans over a decade with significant contributions to software engineering research. Dr. Filieri's research focuses on formal mathematical methods for software design, verification, self-adaptation, and security. His primary research areas include static analysis, privacy, and automated test generation for security; exact and approximate methods for probabilistic program analysis; control theory for adaptive software; quantitative verification and model checking; and runtime-efficient and incremental verification. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in industry settings, particularly in cloud computing and security domains. His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on probabilistic methods for software analysis, security testing, and performance modeling. The research trends show increasing integration of formal methods with machine learning techniques, particularly in test oracle generation and neural network analysis. There's also a clear emphasis on scalability and practical applicability of verification techniques to real-world systems like serverless computing and microservices architectures. Dr. Filieri has received numerous prestigious awards for his contributions: Best Student Paper Award (2025) for 'Robust Probabilistic Model Checking with Continuous Reward Domains' ACM Distinguished Paper Award (2023) for 'Sibyl: Improving Software Engineering Tools with SMT Selection' Best Paper Award (2022) for 'Enhancing Performance Modeling of Serverless Functions via Static Analysis' Best Artifact Award (2017) for 'Self-adaptive video encoder: comparison of multiple adaptation strategies made simple' Most Influential Paper Award (awarded at SEAMS 2025) for 'Software Engineering Meets Control Theory' ACM SigSoft Distinguished Paper Award (2011) for 'Run-time Efficient Probabilistic Model Checking' Dr. Filieri has advised several PhD students including Donato Clun (2024), Runan Wang (2024), and Xiaotong Ji (expected 2025). His advising focuses on probabilistic program analysis, automated testing, and security verification. His research has been supported by significant grants from both academic and industry sources, enabling collaborations across multiple institutions and contributing to advancements in software engineering practices. While specific lab information isn't prominently featured in the provided materials, Dr. Filieri's work suggests strong connections with research groups focused on formal methods, software verification, and adaptive systems at both Imperial College London and AWS. His research often involves interdisciplinary collaboration between theoretical computer science and practical software engineering challenges.

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Xiang GaoView profile

Associate Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Xiang Gao is a Pre-tenure Associate Professor in the School of Software at Beihang University, China. His research focuses on applying program analysis, test generation, and formal methods to improve software quality through automated bug fixing and program synthesis. He has established significant collaborations with Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Microsoft Research, and other leading institutions in the software engineering field, demonstrating strong industry-academia connections. Dr. Gao received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science (Elite Class) from Shandong University in 2016, followed by a Ph.D. from the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore, where he also served as a Postdoctoral Fellow until December 2021. His educational background spans both Chinese and Singaporean academic institutions, providing him with a global perspective on software engineering research. His primary research interests span multiple cutting-edge areas of software engineering: Program Analysis techniques for detecting and fixing software bugs with formal methods Software Security vulnerabilities with focus on automated repair methods Automated Program Repair systems that generate high-quality patches without overfitting Program Synthesis for creating transformation rules from examples Software Engineering for Artificial Intelligence (SE4AI) to improve AI model reliability and security Mobile Software Engineering with particular attention to UI testing and automation Deep Learning Security including model protection and obfuscation techniques Dr. Gao's recent publication trajectory shows a strategic evolution toward integrating large language models with traditional software engineering approaches, particularly in test generation and program repair. His work on DNN modularization (NeMo, CNNSpliter, SeaM) represents an innovative approach to enhancing model reusability and security in resource-constrained mobile environments, addressing critical challenges in deploying AI on edge devices. His scientific contributions have been recognized with multiple prestigious awards: ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for "ProveNFix: Temporal Property guided Program Repair" at FSE'24 IEEE TCSE Distinguished Paper Award for "Investigating and Detecting Silent Bugs in PyTorch Programs" at SANER'24 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award for "Modularizing while Training: A New Paradigm for Modularizing DNN Models" at ICSE'24 Distinguished Artifact Award for "Automated Patch Backporting in Linux (Experience Paper)" at ISSTA'21 Dr. Gao actively mentors students at various levels, seeking "self-motivated Ph.D, master, undergraduate students and interns with strong programming skills" for his research projects. He serves on numerous program committees for top software engineering conferences including ICSE, ASE, ISSTA, and FSE, demonstrating his growing influence in the academic community. His research has been supported through collaborations with industry partners including Microsoft Research and Fujitsu Laboratories of America, translating theoretical advances into practical applications. His laboratory focuses on several key research projects including Automated Software Vulnerability Repair (with techniques like Fix2Fit, VulnFix, and ExtractFix that address the overfitting problem in program repair), Program Synthesis for Program Transformation (including Semi-supervised synthesis and FixMorph for automated patch backporting in Linux), and Software Engineering for Artificial Intelligence (with projects like CNNSpliter, SeaM, and Sensei that apply software engineering principles to improve AI model usability and robustness). These projects represent cutting-edge work at the intersection of traditional software engineering and modern AI techniques, addressing critical challenges in software reliability and security.

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Mathias Sablé-MeyerView profile

Research Fellow

Max Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentGermany

Mathias Sablé-Meyer is a Postdoctoral Researcher at University College London's Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, working in Tim Behrens's lab. He completed his PhD under the supervision of Stanislas Dehaene at PSL/Collège de France and NeuroSpin, CEA, where he investigated humans' ability to manipulate highly abstract structures, particularly focusing on the perception of geometry. His research spans cognitive neuroscience, computational modeling, and experimental psychology, with a focus on understanding the mechanistic implementation of compositional mental representations. He employs methodologies including MEG, fMRI, behavioral experiments, and computational models to investigate how humans mentally represent abstract structures like geometric shapes, language, and mathematical concepts. Sablé-Meyer's work reveals fascinating insights about human cognitive uniqueness, particularly in geometric perception compared to non-human primates. His recent research examines sequence processing mechanisms and aims to establish foundations for mechanistic implementations of Language of Thought models. He has published in top journals including Cognitive Psychology , Trends in Cognitive Sciences , PNAS , and Journal of Neuroscience . Glushko Dissertation Prize from the Cognitive Science Society (2023) As a supervisor, he co-advises Master's students including Maxime Cauté, who is exploring cross-modal representation of sequences, and is involved with several other students including Svenja Kuchenhoff, Amy Wong, and others. His lab follows open science principles, with code systematically published on the Open Science Framework alongside articles. His research program bridges cognitive science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, with implications for understanding both human cognition and developing more human-like AI systems. He maintains active collaborations across institutions including UCL, Collège de France, MIT, and École Normale Supérieure.

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Nuttida RungratsameetaweemanaView profile

Assistant Professor

Max Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentGermany

Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. She also serves as a Provost Research Fellow at Columbia University, demonstrating her significant research contributions early in her academic career. NuttidaLab, her research group, focuses on integrating computational and experimental approaches to investigate the neural computations underlying complex cognitive functions in both health and disease. The lab's research spans several key areas including learning mechanisms, decision-making processes, and social behavior, with particular emphasis on understanding how these cognitive functions become disrupted in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The lab has developed several important computational neuroscience tools including NeuralDecoder for representational similarity analysis, state_space_analysis for modeling neural dynamics, MARLAX for multi-agent reinforcement learning, and dynamax for state space modeling. These tools reflect the lab's commitment to developing robust analytical frameworks that can be widely adopted by the neuroscience community. NuttidaLab maintains an active GitHub presence with multiple repositories that demonstrate the lab's focus on open science and reproducible research. The lab's work combines cutting-edge computational approaches with experimental neuroscience to develop a deeper understanding of brain function. The lab actively seeks talented students and researchers interested in interdisciplinary work at the intersection of engineering, neuroscience, and computational science. Professor Rungratsameetaweemana's research represents an important bridge between theoretical computational models and experimental neuroscience, with significant potential for advancing our understanding of both healthy brain function and neurological disorders.

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Roman KlingerView profile

Professor

Otto Friedrich University of BambergGermany

Roman Klinger is a Professor at the Faculty for Information Systems and Applied Computer Science (WIAI) at Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, where he holds the chair for Fundamentals of Natural Language Processing. He is affiliated with the Bamberg Center for Artificial Intelligence (BaCAI) and the Centre for Innovative Applications of Computer Science. His research focuses on modeling psychological concepts in text, with applications in emotion analysis and argument mining across domains like social media, scientific texts, and news. His work contributes to bioinformatics, computational social sciences, digital humanities, and machine learning methodologies, particularly probabilistic approaches and structured learning.

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Xin ZhangView profile

Assistant Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Xin Zhang serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Technology within the School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science at Peking University. His academic profile demonstrates deep engagement with programming languages and software engineering research communities through active participation in major conferences including ASE, SPLASH/OOPSLA, PLDI, and ICSE. Dr. Zhang's research focuses on the synergistic relationship between program analysis and machine learning. He investigates how ML/AI techniques can enhance traditional program analysis methods while simultaneously developing program analysis approaches to improve the interpretability, fairness, robustness, and safety of AI systems. His work spans probabilistic program analysis, abstraction refinement techniques, Bayesian modeling for program semantics, and applications of graph neural networks to static analysis problems. His publication record shows consistent contributions to top venues from 2016 through 2025, with recent work emphasizing Bayesian program analysis, abstraction refinement methods, and the intersection of formal methods with machine learning. The trajectory of his research demonstrates increasing sophistication in combining traditional program analysis techniques with modern AI approaches. Dr. Zhang actively contributes to the academic community as a program committee member for major conferences including ASE, SAS, PLDI, and SPLASH. His service includes reviewing, session chairing, and committee participation across multiple venues, reflecting his standing in the programming languages and software engineering communities.

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Lars GrunskeView profile

Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Lars Grunske is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. His academic career spans multiple institutions across Germany, Australia, and internationally, with a strong focus on research and conference participation in software engineering. His educational background includes a PhD in computer science from the University of Potsdam (Hasso-Plattner-Institute for Software Systems Engineering) in 2004. Professor Grunske's research interests center on modeling and verification of systems and software, with particular emphasis on automated analysis techniques. His work primarily focuses on probabilistic and timed model checking and model-based dependability evaluation of complex software intensive systems. He has made significant contributions to software testing, program repair, formal methods, and the application of machine learning techniques to software engineering problems. His publication record shows consistent contributions to top software engineering conferences over the past decade, with recent work exploring the intersection of AI/ML with traditional software engineering challenges. His research demonstrates an evolution from foundational model checking techniques toward more practical applications in software testing and repair. Boeing Postdoctoral Research Fellow Professor Grunske actively mentors through conference activities including chairing mentoring circles at ICSE 2021. He serves on numerous program committees for major software engineering conferences including ASE, ICSE, ESEC/FSE, and others, demonstrating his standing in the academic community. His involvement spans multiple roles from committee member to track chair and award committee positions. He maintains an active research laboratory focused on software verification and testing, as indicated by his departmental affiliation and research website.

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Dirk RoosView profile

Professor

Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied SciencesGermany

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dirk Roos is a Professor for Computersimulation und Design Optimization at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Process Engineering, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, where he has served since March 2011. He is also the Head of the Institute for Modeling and High Performance Computing (IMH) since December 2016. His academic career includes previous positions as Head of Robust Design Optimization at DYNARDO Dynamic Software and Engineering GmbH (2002-2011) and Technical Solutions Specialist at CADFEM GmbH (2000-2008). Prof. Roos specializes in machine learning, robust design optimization, stochastic analysis, and probabilistic modeling for virtual product development. His research focuses on developing mathematical methods for stochastic structural and fluid simulation, robustness and reliability analysis, multidisciplinary optimization, and software development for complex system development. He has established strong collaborations with academic institutions including RWTH Aachen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and industrial partners like Siemens AG and Robert Bosch GmbH. His recent work explores Probabilistic Intelligence, cyber-physical systems, digital twins, and Big Data Analysis, with applications spanning power plant flexibility, renewable energy, turbomachinery, automotive, aerospace, and medical technology. Prof. Roos has successfully secured numerous third-party funded research projects totaling over 1.8 million euros, including collaborations with Siemens AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, and various universities. optiSLang Award 2012 Weimar Optimization and Stochastic Days Gutachter BMBF im Programm FH-Kooperativ since 2019 Mitglied des Scientific Committee International Probabilistic Workshop since 2017 Mitgliedschaft im Graduierteninstitut für angewandte Forschung der Fachhochschule in NRW since 2017 Prof. Roos supervises multiple doctoral students and has successfully completed several cooperative PhD projects. His current research projects include AI-driven optimization for medical care, reinforcement learning for emergency room planning, and machine learning algorithms for power plant component lifetime prediction. The Institute for Modeling and High Performance Computing (IMH) under his leadership develops mathematical methods and software competence in machine learning and CAE-based robust design optimization for virtual product development.

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Đorđe ŽikelićView profile

Assistant Professor

Max Planck Institute for Security and PrivacyGermany

Đorđe Žikelić is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the School of Computing and Information Systems at Singapore Management University (SMU) in Singapore. He completed his PhD in 2023 at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) under Krishnendu Chatterjee and Petr Novotný, receiving both Outstanding PhD Thesis and Outstanding Scientific Achievement awards. Prior to his doctorate, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from the University of Cambridge. His educational background includes: PhD in Computer Science, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), 2023 Bachelor's and Master's in Mathematics, University of Cambridge Dr. Žikelić's research focuses on advancing formal methods to ensure software and AI systems are correct, safe, and trustworthy. His work bridges theoretical aspects of formal reasoning about probabilistic systems with practical automated verification methods. His primary research interests span three interconnected areas: Program Analysis and Verification: He develops techniques for analyzing probabilistic programs, numerical programs, and efficient quantifier elimination methods, addressing fundamental challenges in verifying complex software systems. Trustworthy AI and Safe Autonomy: He creates formal verification frameworks for learning-enabled control systems and neural networks, ensuring AI operates safely in uncertain environments through methods like runtime monitoring and certificate repair. Probabilistic System Verification: He explores broader applications including bidding games on graphs and blockchain protocol analysis, extending formal methods to novel domains beyond traditional finite-state verification. His publication trajectory shows a consistent progression from theoretical foundations to practical applications, with recent work increasingly focused on integrating formal verification with machine learning. His 2024-2025 publications demonstrate growing expertise in verifying learning-based systems and developing practical tools like PolyQEnt for quantified entailment solving. His scientific achievements have been recognized with: Outstanding PhD Thesis Award at ISTA Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award at ISTA Distinguished Paper Award at FM 2024 Dr. Žikelić serves on program committees for major conferences including TACAS, PLDI, AAAI, and CAV. He actively mentors through the Programming Languages Mentoring Workshop (PLMW) at PLDI 2025. His research group at SMU focuses on developing novel algorithms for verifying correctness of programs and AI systems, with current projects spanning formal methods, artificial intelligence, and programming languages.

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Reiner MarchthalerView profile

Professor

Esslingen University of Applied SciencesGermany

Prof. Reiner Marchthaler is a Professor at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences within the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology. He serves as Deputy Director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems (IIS), Scientific Director of the Green IT 2026 Conference, and Liaison Lecturer for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. His academic leadership spans autonomous systems research and educational initiatives in embedded technologies. His research centers on Embedded Systems and Sensor Data Fusion, with pioneering work on Kalman filters for autonomous systems. He maintains the authoritative resource kalman-filter.de and has developed real-time capable SLAM algorithms, camera-based reference systems, and parking space detection frameworks. His expertise extends to entropy-based safety evaluation in autonomous driving and semantic segmentation using mixed real/synthetic data. Analysis of his 2020-2025 publications reveals dominant trends in autonomous driving systems, emphasizing real-time sensor fusion, deep learning for perception, and safety validation. Key subfields include adaptive Kalman filtering (ROSE-Filter), landmark-based navigation, neural network training with synthetic data, and maximum entropy safety frameworks. His work bridges theoretical innovation with automotive applications, particularly in model vehicle testing environments. Prof. Marchthaler leads research at the Institute for Intelligent Systems, directing the Green IT 2026 initiative and advising the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. His team develops ROS-based validation environments for autonomous algorithms and maintains the Kalman filter knowledge portal. Current projects focus on connected traffic systems using conventional infrastructure landmarks and entropy-optimized safety protocols for production vehicles.

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