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The AI Competence Center ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig has gained Anna Wienhard as a new member (Principal Investigator) for the Leipzig University site. She is the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (MPI MiS) in Leipzig. There she supports basic mathematical research and applications of geometric and topological methods in the natural sciences, particularly in data analysis and machine learning.
Wienhard’s vision for ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig and MPI MiS
As a new Principal Investigator, she has been providing significant support to the research area of AI algorithms and methods since the beginning of March with her expertise in mathematical foundations, representation learning, geometric deep learning and geometric methods of data analysis. An important concern for her is to strengthen the connection between mathematics and AI - especially with regard to the mathematical foundations of current AI models, the application of mathematical structures to construct new algorithms/models and the development of mathematically applicable AI models. In particular, she sees great potential for both sides in the Mathematics Lab of the MPI MiS, which is currently being set up with a focus on mathematics and AI, "in cooperation with ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig". The aim of the lab is to create a platform in Leipzig that brings together researchers with an interest in the lab’s work.
Beyond the Mathematics Lab, Anna Wienhard also attaches particular importance to interdisciplinary collaboration with other research areas and institutions: ,,As director at the MPI MiS, I would like to further expand the interdisciplinary contacts here at the site. AI and machine learning are becoming increasingly important in many scientific disciplines and are also very closely linked to mathematical issues. ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig therefore offers a very attractive interdisciplinary environment with many interesting principal investigators and research groups". She is already cooperating with Nico Scherf, Principal Investigator of the Neurosciences research area at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig. "I am looking forward to working with the many interesting established and young scientists within ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig," she explains.
Academic career between topology, geometry and dynamics
After studying mathematics and theology in Bonn, where she received her doctorate in 2004, she continued her career in Switzerland (ETH Zurich, University of Basel) and in the USA (Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, University of Chicago, Princeton University, Caltech, MSRI/SLMath Berkeley). Her research focuses on discrete and continuous symmetry groups and geometric structures on manifolds at the interface of topology, geometry and dynamics.
From 2012 to 2022, Anna Wienhard was a professor at Heidelberg University and from 2015 also a group leader at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies. During this time, she led numerous activities and initiatives (Graduate School, Mathematics and Physics Partnership, Upstream Network, Heidelberg Experimental Geometry Lab). She was co-founder and co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence STRUCTURES and founding director of the Research Center Geometry and Dynamics.
Anna Wienhard has been honored with numerous prizes and awards, including an ERC Consolidator Grant, an ERC Advanced Grant and the Hector Science Award 2022. She is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and an elected member of the Heidelberg and Berlin-Brandenburg Academies of Sciences and Humanities, the Leopoldina, the European Academy of Sciences, and The World Academy of Sciences.
ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig
ScaDS.AI (Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence) Dresden/Leipzig is a center for data science, artificial intelligence and big data with locations at TU Dresden and Leipzig University. As one of five new AI centers in Germany, ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Free State of Saxony as part of the federal government’s AI strategy. It has been established as a permanent research facility at both locations and is closely linked to the local universities, TU Dresden and Leipzig University.
