Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

PD Dr. Mohsen Makki and his research group Soil Geography and Geomorphology have been dealing with soil-forming processes and properties of soils in urban areas for about two decades.

The scope of work includes all types of anthropogenically influenced sites (e.g. military sites, airports) that have been transformed by humans in the course of urban development, and natural soils. A main focus has been and will be the integration of the results of the soil investigations into soil protection concepts and landscape design measures with regard to climate change and other urban and landscape planning development concepts.

The working group continues to participate in geoarchaeological projects and supports non-university partners in the development of systems as well as substrates for vertical farming and green roofs. Regional focal points of research are the metropolitan region Berlin/Brandenburg, Italy, West and Central Asia.

Prof. Nuissl is concerned with the development of cities and regions. He investigates the growth of cities and settlement areas, dynamics on the housing market (esp. displacement processes) as well as the development of city districts and neighborhoods. In addition, one focus of his work is the analysis of municipal planning and policy processes. As a member of the Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Prof. Nuissl has excellent interdisciplinary connections in his field of research.

Professor Bojdys research focuses on the design of covalent organic polymers with applications as organic transistor devices and on light-reactive polymers (e.g., Nat. Commun. 2019. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11264-z). He and his team cooperate with established battery and coating companies and with a Berlin SME.

Since 2018, Professor Bojdys has been a member of the "Young Scientists" at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and further serves on their advisory board since 2019.

Mendling's research focuses on the question how business processes can be efficiently and effectively supported by information systems. To this end, Mendling and his team address questions of the information technology as well as of managerial questions.

Within the framework of business process management they developed a series of technical solutions for process mining and also management tools like the BPM Billboard.

The expertise of Mendling and his team is summarized in the seminal textbook "Fundamentals of Business Process Management", which is used by over 250 universities in 70 countries.

http://humboldt.gmbh/forschungskooperation

Prof. Pinna works on the development of nanostructured materials. In his current research, he focuses on the synthesis of novel multifunctional materials, their characterization and the study of their physical properties. Together with his team, he works towards several objectives. The first is the synthesis of crystalline metal oxide nanoparticles, heterostructures, hybrid materials and thin films by novel nonaqueous sol-gel routes. In a following step, he assembles the obtained materials. Furthermore, the team carries out their chemical and structural characterisation. This also includes the study of their physical properties, which are among others of optical, electrical, electrochemical, magnetic, catalytic or gas sensing type.

Prof. List-Kratochvil and his research group are working on electronic and optoelectronic hybrid components (based on hybrid material systems and organic or hybrid semiconductors), additive resource-efficient deposition techniques (inkjet printing) and in-situ nanostructuring and synthesis methods. By developing and combining novel electro-active materials with appropriate structuring and processing methods applications in the field of sensor technology, photovoltaics and optoelectronics are developed. Based on a wealth of experience, the AG Hybrid Devices can participate in national research projects, within the framework of European funding projects and programs or in direct contract research on the level from from basic research to joint product development.

As part of their scientific activity Dr Markus Krutzik and the team members of the.quantum.chapter have acquired an extensive amount of expertise in developing tailored quantum sensors - from key technology to subsystem and system level. Quantum optical sensors and optical clocks are used in high-precision inertial navigation, gravimetry and gradiometry or for the synchronisation of networks. Hence, they are central for navigating GPS-free environments, for geophysics, the exploration of natural resources, the monitoring of climate change, and for addressing fundamental questions of modern physics. Central to their research are compact and robust setups for optical spectrocopy, absolute frequency references, and ultra-cold atom based inertial sensors. For this purpose, the team developed lasers and optical systems for generation and manipulation of light, as well as control software and data management platforms. Their setups are not only operated in laboratory research: They are also used as in field or even in space. In addition to development, testing and operation of atomic quantum sensors, Dr Krutzik and the team gained expert knowledge in all stages of mission and system design, ranging from mission architecture and identification of requirements to system integration and qualification, as well as development of control concepts and data analysis. In addition to Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Dr Krutzik is also associated with Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik.

Model-driven engineering raises the level of abstraction in software engineering by using models as primary development artifacts. In particular, domain-specific modelling languages can ease the transition between informally sketched requirements or designs and implementations by supporting high-level yet formal representations as a starting point for automation. Moreover, using a model-based development approach, critical system properties can be analyzed, validated and verified even before the system is actually built. Model-driven development thus leads to an increase in both productivity and quality. To some extent, model-driven engineering has made its way into industrial practice, most notably for the development of embedded systems in various domains. However, model-driven engineering does not suffice to successfully manage all challenges of modern software engineering, and actually creates new problems. Research conducted at the Chair of Model-driven Software Engineering is particularly driven by relevant challenges and problems arising from the adoption of the model-driven engineering paradigm in industrial practice.

Prof. Hostert’s explores cutting-edge satellite data analysis. His main focus lies on questions regarding the global change, particularly large-scale mapping in agrarian- and forestry systems and near-nature ecological systems worldwide. He analyses the change of the earth’s surface through different methods, for example with machine learning, big data, time series analyses, hyperspectral and multisensor approaches, as well as multiscale analyses. Regional expertise of the team covers Germany, the mediterranean areas and South America, as well as Central Asia.