Active Group Members
Head of the Group
Prof. Dr. Timo de Wolff established the Applied Algebra group at TU Braunschweig in 2019 and leads it since then.
His research covers the entire research spectrum of the group.
His core area of interest is nonnegativity and polynomial optimization.
Timo graduated from the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main under supervision of Thorsten Theobald in 2013.
Before establishing the Applied Algebra group in Braunschweig, he held positions at the Technical University Berlin,
the Texas A&M University, the Saarland University, and the Goethe University.
Timo is an alumnus of the Emmy Noether Program of the DFG (2017-23) and an alumnus of the German Young Academy – Die Junge Akademie (2019-24), of which he was chair in 2022/23.
Contact: t.de-wolff(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Postdocs
Dr. Boulos El Hilany applies a variety of methods – and develops new ones – to study the interplay between the topological and combinatorial properties of polynomial maps.
His research spans classification, enumeration, and computational problems in complex and real algebraic geometry, singularity, rigidity, fewnomial, and Hurwitz theories, as well as polynomial optimization.
Boulos graduated from the Université Savoie Mont Blanc in Chambéry under supervision of
Frederic Bihan in 2016.
He is currently Visiting Associate Professor in the Geometry Research Group at the
Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg.
Before he moved to his current position in Magdeburg, he held positions as a
Walter Benjamin Programme
Fellow at the Institute of Analysis and Algebra, TU Braunschweig;
a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Symbolic Computation group at the
Johann Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics (RICAM), Linz;
a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Mathematics, Polish Academy of Sciences;
a Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics, Bonn;
and a Postdoctoral Researcher with Johannes Rau in the Geometry Research Group at the
University of Tübingen.
Contact: b.el-hilany(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Dr. Matthias Himmelmann works on the intersection of applied algebraic geometry, numerical mathematics and materials science. Using a broad range of tools from these areas, he studies deformative properties and least-energy configurations of geometric materials. His approach combines robust geometric modeling, experimental techniques, and computational methods, which makes the exploration of increasingly complex geometric constraint systems possible and often leads to the development of research software.
As a graduate student at the Berlin Mathematical School, Matthias Himmelmann received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Potsdam in 2025 under the supervision of Myfanwy Evans and Alexander Heaton with the dissertation "Optimization in Geometric Materials". Prior to joining the Applied Algebra group in the Summer of 2025, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the ICERM, Brown University, for the semester program "Geometry of Materials, Packings, and Rigid Frameworks."
Contact: matthias.himmelmann(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
PhD-Students
Birte Ostermann joined the Applied Algebra group in 2023. Birte works on polynomial optimization and nonnegativity via SONC certificates in applications such as quantum computing.
Birte pursued a Bachelor's and Master's degree in mathematics at TU Braunschweig, including a semester abroad at Syddansk Universitet (SDU) Odense in Denmark.
Contact: birte.ostermann(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Jonas Naumann is research associate at the Institute of Lightweight Systems of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and joined the Applied Algebra group as PhD student in 2024. He mainly works on computer vision applications in the field of carbon fiber composite production research.
Jonas pursued a Bachelor's degree in mathematics in finance and industry and a Master's degree in data science both at the TU Braunschweig, also including a semester abroad at Syddansk Universitet (SDU) Odense in Denmark like Birte.
Contact: jonas.naumann(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Nikolas Rieke joined the Applied Algebra group a a PhD student in 2024.
He works on real algebraic geometry, particularly nonnegative polynomials and A-discriminants. He is also interested in applications of these ideas to dynamical systems and other fields of mathematics.
Nikolas earned his masters degree in mathematics at Western University under the supervision of Taylor Brysiewicz in 2024.
Contact: nikolas.rieke(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Secretary
Silke Thiel works at the TU Braunschweig since 2006, and at the math department since 2007.
Next to our group, she administers the Institute for Mathematical Optimization (IMO).
Contact: s.thiel(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Associated Group Members
Sabrina Ammann joined the Applied Algebra group in 2022.
Sabrina mainly works at the Institute for Mathematical Optimization as a PhD student in the Discrete Optimization Group under supervision of Sebastian Stiller. She works on combinatorial optimization problems like TSP and network flows over time in the context of quantum computing.
Sabrina pursued a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in mathematics at the TU Braunschweig.
Contact: s.ammann(AT)tu-braunschweig.de
Mandy Stritzke joined the Applied Algebra group as a PhD student in 2021. Her research focuses on machine learning and computer vision
with applications to physics and biology.
She also works on temporal pattern mining methods for biomedical time series data.
In 2024, Mandy started a full time position as Data Scientist at Hannoversche Volksbank eG.
In parallel, she continues to write on her PhD thesis in our group.
Mandy studied mathematics at TU Braunschweig, where she obtained both her Bachelor's and
Master's degrees.
Dr. Christoph Brauer is a staff scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Stade, where he is the deputy head of the Production Technologies department at the Institute of Lightweight Systems.
His research areas include mathematical optimization, machine learning, and image and signal processing, focusing on real-world applications in lightweight engineering.
Christoph graduated from TU Braunschweig in 2018 under the supervision of Dirk Lorenz. Christoph collaborates with the Applied Algebra Group on topics at the intersection of lightweight systems, applied algebra, and machine learning.
He is also a lecturer at TU Braunschweig and an external member of the Inverse Problems and Imaging Group at the Center for Industrial Mathematics at the University of Bremen.
Contact: christoph.brauer(AT)dlr.de
Former Group Members
- Prof. Dr. Khazhgali Kozhasov: Khazh was a postdoc in our group from 2019 till 2023 (substituting professorships in Osnabrück and Jena during this time). His main area of research is real and applied algebraic geometry. He is now a tenure track Assistant Professor at Université Côte d'Azur in Nice, France.
- Dr. Janin Heuer: Janin was a PhD student in our group from 2019 till 2023. She graduated in 2024 with a thesis on "The SONC Cone: Primal and Dual Perspectives". Now, she is a software consultant a TNG consulting.
- Dr. Oğuzhan Yürük: Oğuzhan was already a PhD student in our Emmy Noether group in Berlin and then was a member of the Applied Algebra group 2019 till 2020. He graduated in 2021 with a thesis on "On the Maximal Mediated Set Structure and the Applications of Nonnegative Circuit Polynomials". After a postdoc at TU Berlin / MPI Leipzig, he is now a software consultant a TNG consulting.