Alexander Martin studied industrial mathematics at the University of Augsburg before receiving his doctorate and qualifying as a professor in the field of mathematics at TU Berlin. He then served as deputy head of the Optimization department at the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB). In 2000, he joined the Technical University of Darmstadt, first as a professor and later as Vice President from 2008 to 2010. Most recently, he led the Chair of Analytics & Mixed-Integer Optimization at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). Since 2019, he has been one of three directors at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen. In this role, Professor Martin is responsible for topics such as data analytics and artificial intelligence through the ADA Lovelace Center. He has participated in various initiatives by the German Research Foundation (DFG) involvingCollaborative Research Centres 666 and 805, which focused on interdisciplinary approaches to developing building components and on subsets of mechanical engineering in load carrying systems. He recently also served as spokesperson for the TRR 154 project, which seeks answers to the questions and challenges of efficient gas supply and has just received approval for its third phase. In addition, Professor Martin has been and remains involved in several joint projects by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and has co-edited various international journals. He is also a member of the DFG Senate Committee and Grants Committee on Research Training Groups and chair of the German Operations Research Society (GOR).

Professor Martin is extremely excited about the tasks that await him at UTN: “I have always followed the development of the UTN with great interest. After all, establishing a new university strengthens the scientific community of the entire metropolitan region. This makes me all the more eager to contribute my knowledge and experience to this unique project.” Professor Martin will take the opportunity to establish collaboration between the new university and Fraunhofer IIS.

Founding President looks forward to collaboration

“I am delighted that Prof. Dr. Alexander Martin is taking over the position of Founding Vice President. Based on his previous experiences – among other things as Institute Director of Fraunhofer IIS – he will provide important expertise to build up the research structures at a newly founded university.  With his network in the region as well as his international reputation as a scientist, he will play a decisive role in shaping the future path of UTN,” says Founding President Professor Hans Jürgen Prömel.