Siegen Researcher Named Lamarr Fellow

AI researcher Prof. Michael Möller of the University of Siegen has been named a Lamarr Fellow by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The “Lamarr Fellow Network” was established to promote high-level research in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Bringing together the cleverest minds in the state to extend NRW's already leading position in the research and development of artificial intelligence — that is the goal of the “Lamarr Fellow Network” program by the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Culture and Science (MKW). After two rounds of selection, a pair of new high-level researchers have been named as Lamarr Fellows: One of them is Prof. Michael Möller from the Teaching Chair for Computer Vision at the University of Siegen. As part of the grant program, he will receive up to 600,000 euros in research funding as well as access to the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, which was founded in July 2022 with locations in Bonn, Dortmund, and Sankt Augustin.

NRW Minister of Science Ina Brandes commended the choice: “As the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, we are investing in AI research to serve as a counterweight to the huge American tech companies that do not prioritize ethical concerns. Our Lamarr fellows help us make the opportunities inherent to artificial intelligence, including for example medical diagnostics, available to everyone and at the same time to work to counteract the risks involved with these new technologies. As new Lamarr Fellows, Prof. Möller and Prof. Jentzen represent a tremendous enrichment to North Rhine-Westphalia as a location for science.”

“I'm thrilled to be named a Lamarr Fellow and to have the opportunity to contribute my research to the AI landscape in North Rhine-Westphalia,” Prof. Michael Möller says. Möller's research primarily focuses on so-called ‘inverse problems’ in the field of image processing and machine vision. These are cases in which it is not possible to record a direct image of the object being regarded. For example, doctors can't take a photo of the inside of a patient's head — CAT scans only allow for them to derive implicit information about the interior of the head based on x-rays. Using that measurement data, cross-sections of the head can be construed.

“In many cases, the information on which the reconstructed imagery is based are incomplete, and small changes to the measured data can lead to major changes in how the image is construed. This is where my research begins, looking at enhancing image quality by improving the machine learning process,” Möller explains. As a Lamarr Fellow, he intends in concrete terms to research how physical knowledge about measurement processes can be integrated into the machine learning process. The goal is to allow for even better processing of examined objects, allowing for better, more robust results of the reconstruction process. There is also a variety of other potential applications beyond medicine, including in biology, physics, and industrial manufacturing.

For Möller, the Lamarr Fellowship furthermore represents an outstanding opportunity to network and exchange insights with the other members of the Lamarr Institute as well as international researchers. His plans call for new exchange grants for students to the Siegen Center for Sensor Systems (ZESS) as well as research trips to international partners in the USA, Italy, and Great Britain. “Through contacts of this type and the networking of the Siegen ZESS with the Lamarr Institute, we have the opportunity to further raise the University of Siegen's profile as a site of AI research,” Möller says.

Möller joined the University of Siegen as a professor in 2016. He is a member of the Board of Directors at ZESS, participates in the “Theoretical Foundations of Deep Learning” focal program at the German Research Association (DFG) and is also the spokesman for Siegen’s DFG research group on “Learning to Sense.” Alongside Prof. Möller, Prof. Arnulf Jentzen of the University of Münster was also selected in the most recent selection process as a new Lamarr Fellow.

Background:

The Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence was launched in July 2022, with almost 20 million euros in funding each year from the German Federal Government and the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The elite international research center brings together basic research in AI with questions related to practical applications, offering attractive conditions for established researchers and early-career AI scientists. Through its Lamarr Fellow Network Program, the federal state is promoting a network for which researchers from around North Rhine-Westphalia can apply to join.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Michael Möller (Teaching Chair for Computer Vision at the University of Siegen)
Email: michael.moeller@uni-siegen.de
Tel.: +49 271 740-4446

(Photo: Sascha Hüttenhain)