History

09 April 2013
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Science, Theresia Bauer, Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, Dr. Harald von Kalm from the German Research Foundation (DFG), and cluster spokesperson Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard officially launched the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools on April 9, 2013, together with high-ranking international and Freiburg scientists.
“BrainLinks-BrainTools not only convinced in the Excellence Initiative as a ‘newcomer’ in the tough competition among 27 new proposals, but was also able to hold its own compared to already established clusters. This is an outstanding success,” said Science Minister Theresia Bauer.

“At the University of Freiburg, medicine, biology, and engineering collaborate in a unique way, combining fundamental research on the human nervous system with the development of microsystems and autonomous robots,” emphasized Rector Hans-Jochen Schiewer. The scientists are pursuing two goals: paralyzed people should be able to control artificial limbs or assistive robots using only their thoughts. In addition, people with neurological diseases such as epilepsy or Parkinson’s should be able to live symptom-free thanks to a small implant in the head.

16 January 2013
Dr. Cyrill Stachniss from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Freiburg received the “Robotics and Automation Society Early Career Award” from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for his pioneering work on enabling mobile robots to navigate autonomously and create maps without prior knowledge of their environment. The award, presented annually since 1999, is considered one of the most important early-career awards worldwide for researchers in robotics.

28 November 2012
The Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, the Joachim Herz Foundation, and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft awarded Prof. Dr. Bernd Becker, Chair of Computer Architecture at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Freiburg, a fellowship worth €50,000 for innovations in university teaching.
The funded project “SMILE+ – Technology-Supported Optimization of Supervision and Self-Learning Processes in Large Courses” builds on the project “SMILE – Smartphones in Teaching,” which the University of Freiburg received the Instructional Development Award (IDA) for in April 2012.

The aim of the project is to enable interactive learning situations in large lectures and support the students’ learning process.
“The system is an app that teachers and students can use on smartphones, tablets, or computers without complicated installation,” says Becker. Basic modules include a feedback function and multiple-choice questions. Students can report during lectures if the pace is too fast and answer questions posed by lecturers via input.

21 August 2012
Distinguishing a sidewalk from a street, recognizing unexpected obstacles such as construction sites and advertising signs, and avoiding the famous Freiburg Bächle: what is obvious for humans must first be taught to a robot.

Scientists from the international research project European Robotic Pedestrian Assistant (EUROPA) succeeded in doing so. During a unique demonstration on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, a robot started at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg. Equipped with sensors, it autonomously found its way to Bertoldsbrunnen in the pedestrian zone in downtown Freiburg, about four kilometers away.
The robot, nicknamed “Obelix,” scans its surroundings ten times per second, creates a three-dimensional image, and distinguishes between static and moving obstacles. Pedestrians, for example, are detected as moving objects. The robot calculates the direction in which a person is moving and reacts by avoiding them. At one difficult spot, Obelix briefly became confused when it lost its orientation. After a short manual intervention, it continued as planned.

“There has never been a robot that can autonomously navigate in inner cities like a pedestrian. The project opens new possibilities for the future, such as sending a robot to the pharmacy for shopping or using robots for courier services. This could open new perspectives, especially for people with disabilities,” explains Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard, project leader of EUROPA and Chair of Autonomous Intelligent Systems at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Freiburg.

The international EUROPA research project involves computer scientists from the University of Freiburg, ETH Zurich (Switzerland), RWTH Aachen University, the Universities of Oxford (UK) and Leuven (Belgium), as well as the Swiss company Bluebotics. The project was funded with €2.9 million by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme.

01 August 2012
In the “Biotechnology and Medical Engineering Ideas Competition,” the project by Prof. Dr. Rolf Backofen titled “Synthetic Switching Mechanisms for Controlling the Function and Localization of Proteins in Cells” was successful. The project focuses on the design and construction of molecular switching mechanisms in animal and human cells. These switches will allow the function of individual cellular components, such as enzymes, to be turned on or off via an external signal. The potential applications range from basic research to optimized manufacturing processes for therapeutic proteins (biopharmaceuticals). The Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) funds the project with €300,000.

13 July 2012
The Faculty of Engineering hosted the 12th “informatica feminale.” During the one-week summer university, female students and interested women could attend workshops, seminars, and lectures on computer science and personal development. Courses included web programming, Java, scientific writing, and strategies for positioning women in male-dominated teams.

06 July 2012
Prof. Dr. Hannah Bast (ESE) and Prof. Dr. Bernhard Nebel (Computer Science) received the Faculty Teaching Award. This year marked the first time that a prize was awarded for courses in the ESE field.

04 July 2012
In the winter semester 2012/13, the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg launched the Master’s program ESE (Embedded Systems Engineering). The bilingual program (German/English) is aimed at graduates of the ESE Bachelor’s program, introduced in the winter semester 2009/10, as well as graduates of computer science, microsystems engineering, engineering sciences, or related fields.

18 June 2012
The team led by junior professor Dr. Olaf Ronneberger (Computer Science), together with developmental biologist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Driever, developed a method that allows entire brains to be compared. Using microscopic imaging techniques and specialized software, they can examine and compare all genes within a virtual three-dimensional model of the zebrafish brain. The renowned journal Nature Methods published the work of the Freiburg researchers.

15 June 2012
In the second round of the Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments, the University of Freiburg succeeded with the Excellence Clusters BIOSS (Centre for Biological Signalling Studies) and BrainLinks–BrainTools.

02 April 2012
The University of Freiburg awarded six teaching development prizes for convincing project ideas. One of them went to Prof. Dr. Bernd Becker for his project “SMILE” (Smartphones in Teaching). The project enables students to participate in lectures using their smartphones or tablets through live feedback and multiple-choice questions. Students can indicate if the lecture pace is too fast and answer questions directly via their smartphones. The results are displayed for everyone in the lecture hall.

24 November 2011
After another successful evaluation by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the transregional Collaborative Research Center (SFB/TR 14) “Automatic Verification and Analysis of Complex Systems” (AVACS) was funded for an additional four years. The DFG provided funding of €10 million. Since January 2004, AVACS researchers have been developing techniques for mathematically precise verification and analysis of safety-critical embedded systems, such as those used in transportation (cars, railways, and aircraft). The collaborative research center is jointly supported by the universities of Freiburg, Oldenburg, and Saarbrücken, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken. The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is also a partner. On the Freiburg side, the participating computer scientists include Prof. Dr. Bernd Becker, Prof. Dr. Christoph Scholl, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Nebel, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Podelski.

07 November 2011
From November 15 to 24, 2011, the traveling exhibition “Abenteuer Informatik – Informatik begreifen” (“Adventures in Computer Science – Understanding Computer Science”) stopped at the Department of Computer Science in Freiburg. More than 800 students of different ages and school types had the opportunity to experiment with exhibits and demonstrations to explore how computer science works. The exhibition, developed by the Computer Science Education group at TU Darmstadt, was also open to visitors of all ages, families, and school classes with free admission.

13 September 2011
The first Student Engineering Academy (SIA) in Freiburg was officially launched on September 15, 2011, at the Erasmus Gymnasium in Denzlingen. This successful cooperation model between schools, universities, and industry was introduced in Freiburg for the 45th time at the state level.
“We want to reach interested students at an early stage and spark curiosity and enthusiasm for studying engineering. The joint project between schools, industry, and universities is an excellent opportunity to highlight the content and promising career prospects in engineering professions,” explained Prof. Dr. Bernd Becker, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg.

31 August 2011
Prof. Dr. Thomas Brox, Chair of Pattern Recognition and Image Processing and member of the BIOSS Excellence Cluster (Centre for Biological Signalling Studies), received an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.46 million to develop a learning process that enables computers to automatically understand images.

15 June 2011
The German Council of Science and Humanities rated the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg—consisting of the Department of Computer Science (IIF) and the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK)—with top marks in its research rating for electrical engineering and information technology. A total of 31 universities and 16 non-university research institutions participated. Although the council did not publish a ranking list, the number of top evaluations placed the University of Freiburg in third place after RWTH Aachen University and the Technical University of Munich.

03 March 2011
The University of Freiburg was invited to submit one new and three continuation proposals for the second round of the Excellence Initiative. Relevant for computer science were the Excellence Clusters BrainLinks–BrainTools (spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard) and BIOSS (Centre for Biological Signalling Studies).

14 February 2011
Freiburg computer scientist Dr. Malte Helmert received the “IJCAI-11 Computers and Thought Award.” Helmert is the first German and only the second European recipient since the award’s introduction in 1971. He works in the research group “Foundations of Artificial Intelligence,” led by Prof. Dr. Bernhard Nebel.
“This is a tremendous success for Dr. Helmert, computer science in Freiburg, and artificial intelligence in Germany,” said Nebel.

12 January 2011
In the “Biotechnology and Medical Engineering Ideas Competition” organized by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg, six projects from the University of Freiburg received awards. One of them was the BIOSS project by Prof. Dr. Rolf Backofen: “Synthetic Switching Mechanisms for Controlling the Function and Localization of Proteins in the Cell.” The project focuses on designing molecular switching mechanisms in animal and human cells. These switches allow cellular components such as enzymes to be activated or deactivated via external signals. For developing these switches, Backofen designs optimal strategies based on computer-based models.

19 November 2010
After another successful evaluation by the DFG, the Collaborative Research Center SFB/TR 8 “Spatial Cognition: Reasoning – Action – Interaction” received funding for a third phase until 2014. Funding of approximately €10.5 million supports the research work of 17 projects. The interdisciplinary center is located at the universities of Bremen and Freiburg. More than 70 computer scientists, psychologists, and linguists investigate how humans and robots acquire and process knowledge about their spatial environment, navigate within it, and exchange information about their surroundings. The Freiburg spokesperson is Prof. Dr. Bernhard Nebel.

04 November 2010
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard received an ERC Advanced Grant worth nearly €2.5 million for the project “Reliable Lifelong Navigation for Mobile Robots.” Over five years, the team aims to build a mobile robot capable of autonomously navigating hiking trails up the Schauinsland mountain.

08 October 2010
The final round of the German National Computer Science Competition (Bundeswettbewerb Informatik) was hosted for the first time by the Department of Computer Science in Freiburg. More than 1,000 young people from across Germany participated in the competition.

18 August 2010
With a significantly expanded course program in the field of Embedded Systems, the University of Freiburg contributed to meeting the growing demand for specialists and maintaining Germany’s leading position in the field. The program is aimed at engineers and developers working in industry as well as people seeking professional re-entry or career changes. The six-month online courses offer flexible schedules with only short on-site sessions.

14 July 2010
Computer scientist Dr. Cyrill Stachniss received the “Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship,” worth $200,000, for outstanding contributions to robotics.

21 June 2010
The Department of Computer Science received PR2 robots worth $400,000 for research. Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard commented that the team was excited about working with the robots and collaborating with researchers worldwide.

20 April 2010
The University of Freiburg robot team “Brainstormers” won the 9th RoboCup German Open 2010. The team secured the title in the Simulation League 2D for the sixth consecutive time, confirming its position as one of the best teams in the world.

13 January 2010
Three months after the introduction of the new Embedded Systems Engineering program, Prof. Dr. Bernd Becker organized a meeting where students, professors, advisors, and industry representatives discussed first experiences, open questions, suggestions, and ideas.

2005
As part of the Bologna Process, which introduced a tiered and comparable study system across Europe, the traditional Diplom program in Computer Science at the University of Freiburg was completely replaced by a Bachelor’s program in the winter semester 2004/05. This was complemented by the Master’s programs in Computer Science and Applied Computer Science.

2004
After 18 months of construction, the new research building of the faculty was inaugurated. The highly flexible and transparent building provides space for projects that have acquired above-average levels of third-party funding.

2003
For the first time, the Department of Computer Science offered a teacher-training program in computer science as a major subject.

On the faculty grounds, a cylindrical perforated-sheet sculpture by Olaf Metzel was inaugurated. It was the second “art-in-architecture” project implemented by the state of Baden-Württemberg on the campus. An earlier installation had already been presented at the opening of Building 101: Dennis Oppenheim’s sculpture “Jump and Twist.”

2002
The Department of Computer Science developed very successfully, even beyond the overall growth of the faculty. After the targeted number of 100 first-year students per year in the Diplom program in Computer Science had already been reached in the winter semester 1996/97, the number rose to almost 200 by the end of 2002 (source: Zeit). In total, around 850 students were enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Sciences. In response to the increasing demand for space, the state government commissioned the university’s construction office to plan another research building. Based on an action program of the state government, the Department of Computer Science also introduced a new Bachelor’s degree program in Computer Science.

2001
The Department of Computer Science launched the internationally oriented Master’s program Applied Computer Science, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

2000
Erwin Teufel, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, officially handed over the renovated historic buildings of the Department of Computer Science, the newly constructed buildings of the Department of Microsystems Engineering, and Building 101 to the University of Freiburg.

1996
With the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building of the Department of Microsystems Engineering, the new campus at the airfield began to take shape architecturally. At the same time, the distinctive Building 101 was constructed, housing the library, multimedia lecture halls, exercise rooms, and the dean’s office.

1995
After the appointment of the first professors and the filling of all leadership positions, the faculty officially began its operations. At the first faculty council meeting, Professor Wolfgang Menz, Managing Director of the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), was elected Dean, and Professor Thomas Ottmann, Chair of Algorithms and Data Structures at the Department of Computer Science, was elected Vice Dean. At the same time, the Department of Computer Science moved into renovated teaching and seminar rooms on Georges-Köhler-Allee.

1994
A cabinet decision by the state government ended the planning phase for the new faculty and initiated its establishment phase. The university’s Great Senate subsequently amended the university’s constitution and added the “15th Faculty of Applied Sciences” (today the 11th Faculty). After negotiations with the city of Freiburg, the location was set on a former barracks site at the airfield about two kilometers northeast of the city center, which had been used by the French military administration until the early 1990s. In the winter semester 1994/95, the first students enrolled in the Diplom program in Computer Science.

1992
In July, the German Council of Science and Humanities approved the establishment of a Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of Freiburg with the disciplines Computer Science and Microsystems Engineering.

1991
The Federal Ministry of Science and Research examined whether the federal government would contribute 50% of the costs for the realization of the new faculty in Freiburg.

1989
Lothar Späth, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, declared the state government’s fundamental willingness to support the establishment of the new faculty. At the end of the year, the responsible council of ministers set up a founding commission to provide recommendations for the future profile of the study programs and professorships. The capacity of the faculty with its two institutes was planned for around 1,000 students.

1988
Max Syrbe, President of the Fraunhofer Society, recommended that the government of Baden-Württemberg establish a Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg. The initiative, supported by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Southern Upper Rhine and the WVIB industry association, aimed to strengthen the technological and scientific infrastructure for the regional economy in southern Baden. Due to the predicted shortage of engineers at the end of the 1980s, the initiators initially proposed electrical engineering and mechanical engineering as the main areas of focus.

Professor Christoph Rüchardt, Rector of the University of Freiburg, presented the state government with a revised concept of the initiative. The future faculty’s focus was now to be on computer science, microsystems engineering, and materials science. Rüchardt emphasized the growing importance of computer science as a key discipline for all other scientific fields.