Department of Computer Science

Meet Christian Schilling - new Assistant Professor in the DEIS group

Meet Christian Schilling - new Assistant Professor in the DEIS group

Please welcome Christian Schilling who joined the Department of Computer Science as new Assistant Professor in the DEIS group as of October 1, 2021.

Last modified: 12.10.2021

DEGREES, FORMER POSITIONS

I studied in the group of Andreas Podelski at the University of Freiburg in Germany, where I obtained my doctorate degree in 2018. I received a Marie Curie fellowship for my postdoc at IST Austria in the group of Thomas Henzinger until 2020. I then moved to the University of Konstanz, Germany, where I filled a one-year vacant faculty position to get teaching experience.

RESEARCH AREA AND FOCUS

I am interested in the analysis, formal verification, and synthesis of dynamical and cyber-physical systems and AI components. Generally, I enjoy to design algorithms and then develop practical implementations. My main line of research is the development of reachability algorithms, which can be used to analyze the behaviour of complex systems. For instance, we showed how to efficiently analyse linear continuous systems with thousands of dimensions.

I am one of the lead developers of the reachability toolbox JuliaReach, which can analyze linear and nonlinear systems with hybrid (discrete-continuous) dynamics and neural-network controllers. In another line of work, we developed algorithms to synthesize simple mathematical models of hybrid systems from time-series data; such algorithms help automating a time-intensive process for engineers.

PROJECTS

I have some ongoing collaborations on topics such as probabilistic reachability and synthesis of parametric systems. With Marco Muniz and Frederik Meyer Bønneland from AAU we started to think how to apply their approach of partial-order reduction for timed automata to systems with more complex continuous dynamics. Kim Guldstrand Larsen's Villum Investigator grant also fits my interest very well and I am looking forward to working on projects emerging from there.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO CONTINUE YOUR CAREER AT AALBORG UNIVERSITY?

AAU, and DEIS in particular, is one of the main hubs for the formal analysis of cyber-physical systems in Europe. So, it is a perfect match for me. I am also happy that Denmark is at the forefront of beating COVID-19 and life starts to become "normal" again.

PRIVATE/FUN FACTS

During my postdoc at IST Austria I was introduced to Puzzled Pint (http://www.puzzledpint.com/). It is very simple: People meet at a pub and solve puzzles once a month. There are puzzle groups all over the world, but not yet in Aalborg it seems. If there is interest, let me know!

CONTACT INFO

christianms@cs.aau.dk

GOOGLE SCHOLAR PROFILE

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d_uKdigAAAAJ

Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University

Selma Lagerlöfs Vej 300
9220 Aalborg East, Denmark

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