Research Interests

Informal CV

I studied Mathematics with Computer Science in Graz. In 1991 I graduated as Diplom-Ingenieur in Mathematics from Graz University of Technology.

From July 1992 till June 1995 I was employed at the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Discrete Optimization associated with the Institut für Mathematik B at the Graz University of Technology. I received my Ph.D. in 1995 at Graz University of Technology. My Ph.D.-thesis introduced An Interior Point Method for Semidefinite Programming and Max-Cut Bounds.

In my "Berlin years", from July 1995 to March 2002, I worked at the Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin. Like in Graz, I spent most of my time on research and on industrial projects. During 1997/98 I participated in the organization of the International Congress of Mathematicians Berlin 1998 - a lot of work but a rewarding experience! In July 2000 I finished my Habilitation at Technische Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Mathematik. Feel free to download my Habilitationsschrift Semidefinite Programming for Combinatorial Optimization. My spectral bundle code SBmethod for large scale semidefinite programming is still available but now superseded by the C++ callable library ConicBundle, which offers special support for Lagrangian relaxation of integer and linear programs over symmetric cones with separate (also nonpolyhedral) cutting models, for primal aggregation and for adding primal cuttings planes dynamically.

During a short period, from April 2002 till September 2002, I was a Professor of Economathematics at the Department of Mathematics, University of Kaiserslautern.

Since October 2002 I am Professor of Algorithmic and Discrete Mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, Chemnitz University of Technology.

I am a member of the Deutsche Mathematiker Vereinigung (DMV) (contact me if you want to join as well!), of the Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR), the Mathematical Optimization Society, and of Deutscher Hochschulverband. In our department's support of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences I also try to be of some help. In the "COST Action TD 1207 - Mathematical Optimization in the Decision Support Systems for Efficient and Robust Energy Networks" I served as one of the two Management Committee Members representing Germany and as one of four Working Group Leaders.

I consider it important to advertise the creative side of mathematics already in school. To this end, in the German mathematical year 2008, we started a yearly poster competition lasting up to 2013 and developed, together with other enthusiasts, a spielMATHz Kiste and a bastelMATHz Kiste intended as support material for elementary schools.

During my period as dean from April 2016 to March 2019, the increasing need to politically advocate reasoning and creativity rather than focussing on computational skills alone in high school mathematics resulted in founding the AK Schulmathematik, a joint effort of the mathematics departments of all four Saxonian universities. During my dean's period we also started our yearly Tag der Mathematik which features, inspired by Bayreuth, a team competition for high school students accompanied by mathematical presentations and experiments for the general public.