Jakob Zech

Jakob Zech is a Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) at Heidelberg University since April 2020. Before this, he held postdoctoral positions at MIT (2019-2020) and ETH Zürich (2018-2019). He earned his PhD in Mathematics from ETH Zürich in 2018, focusing on Sparse-Grid Approximation of High-Dimensional Parametric PDEs, followed by a Master’s (2014) and Bachelor’s (2012) in Applied Mathematics from ETH Zürich and TU Wien, respectively.

Research Interests: Zech’s work bridges Uncertainty Quantification (UQ), high-dimensional approximation, and computational mathematics. Key areas include sparse-grid techniques, neural networks, transport methods, Bayesian inverse problems, and the theoretical foundations of deep learning. His research emphasizes developing algorithms for stochastic modeling and analyzing their mathematical properties.

Teaching: He has taught advanced courses such as High Dimensional Approximation, Theory of Deep Learning, and Numerical Methods for Bayesian Inverse Problems at Heidelberg University. He also served as a teaching assistant for numerous courses at ETH Zürich, covering numerical analysis, partial differential equations, and linear algebra.

Publications: His recent work explores quantum computing applications in polynomial chaos expansions, statistical learning theory for neural operators, and multilevel optimization strategies. His articles reflect a strong focus on combining classical numerical methods with modern machine learning techniques.

Labs/Teams: While no specific lab is mentioned, his research group is active in computational UQ and deep learning, collaborating internationally with institutions like MIT and ETH Zürich.