TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann presents Anca Muscholl with the Ambassador Certificate.

In December 2019 Prof. Dr. Anca Muscholl received the honorary title 'TUM Ambassador' from TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann (Image: Astrid Eckert/TUM).

Alumni doing research
TUM Ambassador Anca Muscholl
“TUM Is a Wonderful Place for Interdisciplinary Research”
17. Dec 2019
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Today TUM Ambassador Anca Muscholl is an internationally esteemed researcher, who wants to make software better and more secure with her algorithms. Her way into computer science research started at TUM.
In a discipline still dominated by men, Professor Dr. Anca Muscholl is conducting promising basic research in Theoretical Computer Science with ongoing enthusiasm and conviction. Even as a high school graduate, she was firmly convinced that Computer Science had a great future. Yet, she never dreamt that she herself would play a decisive role in shaping this development.

Lasting impact

For Anca Muscholl it was a matter of course to study Informatics and Mathematics at TUM after graduating from high school. She stresses how beneficial she found the broad-based studies, which taught her to always be open to new ideas, to other areas and to interlocutors. “My time as a student at TUM was fantastic and still influences me today”, she says. “Also the excellent teachers I had have had a decisive influence on me.” Above all, it was the Informatics professors Wilfried Brauer and Volker Diekert who guided the passion and talent of the young scientist with lasting effect: they sparked her interest in Theoretical Computer Science and thus gave her scientific career direction.

The knowledge you acquire at TUM will shape your entire life.

Prof. Dr. Anca Muscholl

Since then, Anca Muscholl has been conducting basic research at the highest level, whether at the University of Stuttgart, the University of Paris or the University of Bordeaux. The majority of modern technology, for example in the automotive industry, the aircraft industry or in robotics, is based on so-called distributed computing, which is very difficult to analyse and validate. Anca Muscholl’s algorithmic methods do just that. The computer scientist has already received numerous awards for her groundbreaking research, including the Silver Medal of the French Centre for Scientific Research.

Mutual benefit

When Professor Javier Esparza, TUM Ordinarius for Foundations of Software Reliability and Theoretical Computer Science, drew her attention to the Hans Fischer Senior Fellowships of the TUM Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) in 2015, Anca Muscholl immediately decided to return to TUM. The scholarship enables outstanding international scientists to develop new, innovative and risky topics together with a TUM research group and to establish close international cooperation. The top researcher did not want to miss out on this opportunity. She immediately applied and was awarded the three-year scholarship.

Anca Muscholl spent a year researching at TUM with proven experts who covered all subject areas from compiler and software construction, robotics and artificial intelligence to real-time computer systems and hybrid control systems. The interdisciplinary cooperation between the departments paid off: even after her return to Bordeaux, the interdisciplinary results inspired Anca Muscholl to create local collaborations. “My stay at TUM was an extremely productive and stimulating time,” summarises Anca Muscholl. “TUM is a wonderful place for interdisciplinary research.”

Distinction as TUM Ambassador

Anca Muscholl’s latest distinction shows how much the passionate computer scientist enriched TUM with her scientific expertise and international experience. In recognition of her merits, the top researcher was awarded the honorary title ‘TUM Ambassador’ by TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann. “This award is a great honour for me”, Anca Muscholl says modestly. “I greatly appreciate TUM and its research atmosphere.” If it were up to her, everyone should study and do research at TUM. “The knowledge you acquire here will shape your entire life.”

Portrait of TUM Ambassador Anca Muscholl.

Anca Muscholl (Image: Astrid Eckert/TUM).

Prof. Dr. Anca Muscholl

Diploma Informatics 1991 and Hans Fischer Senior Fellow at TUM 2015/2016

 

Anca Muscholl received her diploma in Informatics from TUM in 1991 and her doctorate from the University of Stuttgart in 1994. After her habilitation, she moved to the University of Paris VII as a professor in 1999 and then to the University of Bordeaux in 2006, where she headed the Formal Methods group at the Laboratoire Bordelais d’Informatique de Recherche en Informatique (LaBRI) from 2010 to 2015. In 2015/2016 she returned to TUM as a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow for her sabbatical.

Anca Muscholl is Chairwoman of the Steering Committee of the International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP) and a member of the Council of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS). In 2010 she received the Silver Medal of the French Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and in 2016 the ACM PODS Alberto O. Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award. She is currently co-editor of the journal Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science and a member of the Editorial Board of Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics. Anca Muscholl lives with her husband and two daughters in Talence, a suburb of Bordeaux. In her spare time she likes to travel with her family.

In 2019 TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann awarded Anca Muscholl with the honorary title ‘TUM Ambassador’.