Teaching
Operations research, optimization, programming and logistics at bachelor, master and PhD level, in German and English.
I teach at the University of Hamburg, Kühne Logistics University, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Helmut Schmidt University and the BSP Business & Law School. Students work on real problems with data as messy as it comes, and every course website below is free for students and teachers to use, under CC BY-SA or CC BY-NC-SA depending on the course. I supervise roughly 10 to 15 bachelor’s and master’s theses a year.
Programming & AI
Introduction to Python
Learn Python from scratch covering control flow, functions, data structures, and key libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib. Gain practical skills in data manipulation, visualization, and solving real-world business problems through hands-on tutorials.
Programming: Everyday Algorithms
Explore how algorithms like optimal stopping, explore/exploit tradeoffs, caching, and scheduling can improve everyday decision-making. Develop algorithmic thinking and learn to implement these concepts in Python.
AI-Assisted Programming
A hands-on workshop for PhD researchers on programming with AI coding assistants. Learn effective prompting, agent-driven workflows, and how to build and maintain research software with AI support through labs and a practical project.
Optimization & Operations Research
Applied Optimization
Tackle real-world optimization challenges from industry partners - including parcel delivery, crowd management, and police district design -- using Julia. Master mathematical modeling, constraint formulation, and solvers like JuMP and HiGHS.
Optimization with Julia
A beginner-friendly workshop teaching mathematical optimization with Julia and JuMP, the de facto standard for optimization modeling. Progress from core programming fundamentals through data handling to formulating and solving optimization problems.
Management Science
Solve organizational problems using Monte Carlo simulation, forecasting, scheduling, routing optimization, and metaheuristics in Python. Culminates in a consulting-style competition with real-world cases in delivery routing, healthcare staffing, or inventory optimization.
Operations Research Fundamentals
Learn to formulate, solve, and interpret linear optimization models using Julia, JuMP, and HiGHS. Twelve lectures with exercises and review sessions cover modeling techniques and solution methods for classic operations research problems.
Production & Logistics
Production Logistics
Covers time series forecasting, production planning, workforce smoothing, resource allocation, and production sequencing with an emphasis on understanding over memorization. Gain practical skills in demand prediction using exponential smoothing and Holt-Winters models.
Production Management
Explore facility location planning, assembly line balancing, queuing theory, quality management, and lot sizing optimization. Develop the ability to make informed decisions about production system design and capacity planning.
Material Logistics
Learn material classification, single- and multi-level lot sizing models, inventory management with service level concepts, and ordering policies including the newsvendor problem. Build skills in managing material flows and designing inventory policies for real-world supply chains.
Mathematics & Statistics
Business Mathematics
Build mathematical fluency from foundational algebra through calculus into statistics and probability theory. Gain practical skills in financial mathematics, curve analysis, integration, and Bayesian reasoning for business and economics.
Mathematics for Master Students
A compact refresher for incoming M.Sc. students that rebuilds mathematical fluency for graduate coursework. Review notation and logic, sets, functions, differentiation, optimization, and linear systems through class sessions, homework, self-tests, and cheatsheets.
Interactive Statistics
An interactive introduction to statistics that emphasizes intuition over memorization, progressing from probability, distributions, and confidence intervals to hypothesis testing, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression. Rounds out with experimental design, power analysis, and choosing the right test.
Study & Research Skills
Research Workshops
A collection of short workshops helping students get started with AI tools and prompting, academic literature research, scientific writing with Quarto, and version control with Git & GitHub. Designed as a practical companion for thesis and seminar work.
Study & Business Basics
Foundations for Bachelor students in business administration: academic work techniques, structured problem solving, and first steps in data-driven analysis for coursework and beyond.