Annual Report 2010 - Fachgruppe Informatik an der RWTH Aachen ...

Graduiertenkollegs –
Research Training Groups
A Graduiertenkolleg (Research Training Group) is a university graduate training programme
established at a centre of scientific excellence in a specific field. It is designed for up to 15
PhD students by several faculty members. The students work on their theses within the
framework of a coherent and often interdisciplinary research programme; they participate in
an accompanying study programme organised by the faculty members and to some extent by
the students themselves.
The concept of “Graduiertenkolleg” (short: GK) was established in 1990 to improve the
quality of doctoral training in Germany and to substantially reduce the average time necessary
to complete a PhD thesis. This time is generally considered as overly high and should, ideally,
be reduced to three years while keeping the scientific quality at the highest possible level.
At RWTH Aachen University there are two GKs in the area of computer science:
• GRK 643 “Software for Mobile Communication Systems”, speaker Prof. Spaniol
• GRK 1298 “AlgoSyn”, speaker Prof. Thomas.
Helen Bolke-Hermanns links the two GRKs together: she is responsible for management and
coordination.
Graduiertenkolleg
The Graduiertenkolleg “AlgoSyn” is a highly interdisciplinary research project led by a group
of ten professors representing five different faculties in our university. The aim is to develop
methods for the automated design of software and hardware, and its main challenge is to
make progress in integrating quite diverse approaches from computer science and engineering
disciplines.
While methods of software validation and verification are by now well established, based on
adequate formal models and tested in practical applications, the approach of automatic
synthesis of software (and hardware) is as yet only developed in quite rudimentary form. On
the other hand, in theoretical computer science as well as in engineering disciplines a rapidly
increasing stock of techniques for the development of algorithmic synthesis is emerging,
triggered by the demand to decrease development costs by invoking algorithmic procedures
based on adequate formal models. The approach of program synthesis is only applicable in
restricted scenarios, in particular in control systems and in reactive (multi-agent-)systems with
low data complexity. Central issues in the area are the establishment of system models which
allow an algorithmic solution of the synthesis problem, the combination of discrete and
continuous parameters in hybrid systems (as this is also familiar from verification), and the
exploration of the potential of applications. The aim of the Research Training Group is to
unify the expertise from computer science, mathematics, and four engineering disciplines and
to push forward the desired integration of methods.
There is a unit working on foundations comprising two branches, a central unit supplying
methodological interfaces for implementations, and a range of application areas from four
engineering disciplines. In a little more detail, the areas are:
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