Research

Research Area

My research interests are in the area of Software Engineering. In particular, I am working on the question how to engineer trustworthy AI-based solutions that help humanity to survive without compromising individual freedom. Currently, I am heading the department „Data Science“ at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (IESE), Kaiseslautern, Germany.

My department focuses on how to identify, design, develop, and deploy secure solutions based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Our research focuses on solution trustworthiness and supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals in application areas with specific functional security requirements.

My previous role was that of a technical project manager. I led several larger projects in the area of embedded software and systems engineering.

I am active in the International Software Engineering Research Network (cf. ISERN) and the German Gesellschaft für Informatik (c.f. https://fg-data-science.gi.de/)

I have been involed in several projects funded by, e.g., the German BMBF and the European Commission. 

Membership in Research Groups

  • Representative of Fraunhofer IESE in the International Software Engineering Research Network (ISERN) and life-time member of the ISERN Steering committee
  • Member 2015-2023 of the Steering committee of the international Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM)
  • Chair of the Steering committee of the international Conference on Product Focused Process Improvement (PROFES)
  • Member of the German Computer Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik, GI) in the groups „Software Engineering (Softwaretechnik)“ and „Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially in the ABIS: Adaptivität und Benutzermodellierung in interaktiven Softwaresystemen Fachgruppe (FG) 1.1.4 und 2.3.3, and Data Science and Measurement (FG 2.1.10)
  • Chair of the steering committee of special interest group „Data Science and Measurement“ at the German Gesellschaft für Informatik

Activities as an Editor

  • Editor for the several Workshop and conference Proceedings in the area of Software Engineering (see Puplications)

Activities as a Reviewer

  • For several workshops in the area of Software Engineering (WSESE, WS SENE, MORSE) and Adaptive Systems (ABIS)International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (HCI2003)
  • PC Member of International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering (ISESE 2004, ISESE 2005, ISESE 2006)
  • International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE 2005)
  • Poster Chair for the International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM2007)
  • International Conference on Quality of Information and Communications Technology (QUATIC 2007)
  • International Conference on Product Focused Process Improvement (PROFES) 2005-today
  • International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM) 2007-today
  • IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice (ICSE-SEIP) 2017
  • IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering: New Ideas and Emerging Results (ICSE-NIER) 2021
  • Journal „Empirical Software Engineering“
  • Journal „Information Science and Technology“
  • Journal „Transactions in SOftware Engineering“
  • Journal „IEEE Access“
  • Reviewer on behalf of the EU for ICT 30 2015: Internet of Things and Platforms for Connected Smart Objects

Research Activities

  • General Co-Chair PROFES, 2023 Dornbirn (Österreich)
  • Workshop Chair Young Scientists and early-stage research in Data Science Workshop 2023 (YSDS-23) im Rahmen der Informatik 2023, Berlin 2023
  • Program Co-Chair PROFES, 2021 Turin (Italy)
  • Program Co-Chair PROFES, 2020 Turin (Italy)
  • Program Co-Chair International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry and 6th International Workshop on Software Engineering Research and Industrial Practice, CESSER-IP 2019 and ICSE Workshop, 2019 Montreal, Canada
  • Co-Chair International Workshop on Conducting Empirical Studies in Industry (CESI 2017) ein ICSE Workshop, 2017 Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • CESI 2016@ICSE: Co-Organizer
  • ESEM 2016: Program Co-Chair
  • PROFES 2014: Program Co-Chair
  • PROFES 2013: General Chair
  • PROFES 2012: Program Co-Chair
  • ISERN 2012: Session Chair: What are the currently known best practices in SE?
  • ISERN 2011: Session Chair: System Evaluation
  • IASESE 2011: Chair: Empirically-based Decision Making
  • ISERN 2010: Session Chair: Issues with studies in industry
  • IDoESE 2010: Member of the Doctoral Committee
  • ISERN 2009: Programme Co-Chair
  • ISERN 2008: Programme Co-Chair
  • PROFES 2008: Program Co-Chair
  • ESEM 2008: Financial Chair
  • ESEM 2007: Chair of the session on systematic reviews.
  • ISERN 2007: Chair of the Session on „Experience Factory“
  • PROFES 2007: Session Chair
  • WSESE 2007: Workshop Chair
  • ISESE 2006: Session Chair
  • ISERN 2006: Chair of the Sessions „Experience Factory“ and „Decision Support“
  • Dagstuhl Seminar 06262 „Empirical Software Engineering“
  • WS SENE: Workshop Chair
  • PROFES 2006: Session Chair
  • WSESE 2006: Workshop Chair
  • FGML 2005: Chair of the Workshop of the special interest group „ABIS“ at the LWA-05 Learning, Knowledgde Discovery and Adaptivity
  • ISESE 2005: Session Chair and presentation of a paper
  • ISERN 2005: participant
  • PROFES 2005: Session Chair and presentation of a paper
  • WSESE 2005: Workshop Chair
  • SOQUA 2004: First International Workshop on Software Quality in conjunction with the Net.ObjectDays 2004
  • ISESE 2004: Session Chair and presentation of a paper
  • ISERN 2004: participant
  • SEKE 2004: Session Chair and presentation of a paper
  • SEDECS 2004: presentation of a paper
  • FGML 2004: Workshop of the special interest group „ABIS“ at the GI-Workshopweek „Lernen – Lehren – Wissen – Adaptivität“ (LLWA)
  • ISESE 2003: presentation of a paper
  • WSESE 2003: Workshop Chair
  • ISERN 2003: participant
  • WSESE 2002: Proceedings Co-Chair
  • AH 2002:
  • FGML 2002: Workshop of the special interest group „ABIS“ at the GI-Workshopweek „Lernen – Lehren – Wissen – Adaptivität“ (LLWA)
  • UM 2001:
  • FGML 2001: Workshop of the special interest group „ABIS“ at the GI-Workshopweek „Lernen – Lehren – Wissen – Adaptivität“ (LLWA)

Teaching Activities

  • Empirical Model Building and Methods at the University of Kaiserslautern 2012-2019
  • Empirical Software Engineering – several Guest lectures at University Politecnico Madrid in 2014, 2015, 2016
  • Software Engineering Lecture at the University for Applied Sciences in Worms 2004-2005
  • Software Engineering Lecture at the Berufsakademie Mannheim 1999-2001
  • Empirical Model Building and Method

Projects (selected ones)

  • KI Wald (2023-2025) We are exploring heterogenous data sources and their potential for applying AI techniques to help forest owner to strategigcally rebuild their forest taking into account climate change and local conditions.
  • DeepQuali (2023-2025) BMBF KI4KMU We explore, whether AI techniques such as deep learning can be used to make quality assessment on code level, without using any knowledge from static code analysis.
  • Saturn (2022-2025) BMG – We explore how Machine Learning and rule-based approaches can be used (integrated) to inform physicians whether a patient’s data give an indication for a rare disease.
  • QRapids (2017-2019) Quality-aware rapid software development – This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732253. I was the lead researcher for Fraunhofer IESE. Our responsibilities were related to Quality modeling, analysis pipeline (from acquisition to analysis), prediction of quality issues and empirical evaluation.
  • ProDebt (BmBF), I was the lead researcher for Fraunhofer IESE. Our responsibilites were related to quality modeling, data pipeline, prediction of technical debt, evaluation plan.
  • ARAMiS Here I was responsible for the empirical evaluation
  • SPES-XT Here I was responsible for the empirical evaluation
  • MUNDUS Here I was working object tracking and motion estimation based on computer vision approaches
  • ROSETTA (ended May 2012) Here I was responsible for the research and development of an early detection system, aiming at identifying critical situations in the life of eldery people suffering from dementia
  • OASIS (ended in 2011) Here I supported the field trials.
  • EMERGE (ended in 2009) (Emergency Monitoring and Prevention): The main objective of the project is to unobstrusively detect emergency situations in homes, especially of elderly people. The aim here is to give elderly people a better feeling, thus allowing them to stay longer in their own environment.
  • ESERNET (Empirical Software Engineering Network): The EU funded thematic network project aimed at collecting and producing evidence about the values of software engineering methods and techniques such as inspections, component-based development and others.
  • VIDE (Visualize all Model-Driven Software Development): The EU funded research project „VIDE“ is concerned with the visual development of software on the model level (i.e., Model Dirven Software Development, MDSD). The goal is to support the composition of plattform-indepentend models via action languages. Additionally, quality defects in these models such as antipatterns or architecture smells that have a negative effect on a quality aspect such as maintainability are diagnosed in order to assist the modeler. (duration: 7/2006-12/2008)
  • ReDSeeDS (Requirements Driven Software Development System): The main objective of the project is to create an open framework consisting of a scenario-driven development method (precise specification language and process for the “how-to”), a repository for reuse and tool support throughout. The basic reuse approach will be case-based, where a reusable case is a complete set of closely linked (through mappings or transformations) software development technical artefacts (models and code), leading from the initial user’s needs to the resulting executable application. A new problem description in the form of a requirements model can be matched with previous requirements models. The solution information (models and code) of the most similar problem can then be taken for reuse and adapted to even only partially developed requirements. Unlike for other approaches, the effort associated with preparing reusable solutions with this framework is kept to the minimum.
  • IST-EC2 (European-Canadian Cooperation): IST-EC 2 is a joint Canada-Europe project whose objective is to connect the European and Canadian research communities in key areas of the Information Society Technologies (IST). It will build on the success of the original IST-EC project which ended in May of 2004, by facilitating co-operative participation in comparable Canadian and European IST Research & Technology Development (RTD) programs. Under the project, Canadian and European research and technology developers from both the public and private sectors (university, research centers or SME’s), can search for joint projects in which to participate on the basis of mutual benefits. They are responsible for securing funding within their own organisations or from other sources available in their respective countries.