Karl-Theodor Sturm

Karl-Theodor Sturm is a Full Professor at the Institute for Applied Mathematics of the University of Bonn, where he has been since 1997. His research focuses on Stochastic Analysis, Geometric Analysis, and Metric Measure Spaces, particularly in the context of Ricci Curvature, Optimal Transport, and Liouville Quantum Gravity. He currently serves as Director of the Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics (since 2024) and previously coordinated the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (2012–2019). As Principal Investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant Metric measure spaces and Ricci curvature - analytic, geometric and probabilistic challenges (2016–2022), he advanced interdisciplinary research at the intersection of geometry, probability, and analysis.

• Research Themes: Synthetic Ricci curvature, Optimal transport, Stochastic analysis on singular and random spaces, Dirichlet forms, Geometric inequalities.
• Recent Publications: Highlighted works include studies on heat flows on nonconvex domains, Wasserstein diffusions, and conformally invariant random fields in quantum gravity. His work often bridges probabilistic methods with geometric and analytic structures.

Scientific Awards: Notable accolades include the Heisenberg Fellowship of the DFG (1994) and the ERC Advanced Grant (2016–2022). He has declined offers from prestigious institutions like Imperial College London, Northwestern University, and the University of Kansas.

Teaching and Leadership: He leads graduate seminars (e.g., on Gaussian Free Fields and Liouville Quantum Gravity) and advanced courses in geometric analysis. As Managing Director of his institute and member of scientific committees (e.g., Mathematische Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach), he shapes academic governance.