The Fellows of the SSC SSC Fellows
Dr. Niklas Baumgarten is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Mathematics in Heidelberg. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, a Master's in Applied Mathematics, and a PhD in Uncertainty Quantification (UQ), High-Performance Computing, and Finite Element methods (FEM) for Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). His current work combines optimal control and Bayesian inference with these topics, alongside the development and maintenance of M++, a high-performance FEM software that integrates UQ algorithms. One key feature provided by this tool is a distributed multilevel data structure, leveraged across many different algorithms achieving competitive performance and scalability. During his fellowship, he wants to improve the user experience, the popularity and the maintenance of this software.
Anamaria Elek is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH). Her project focuses on developing a deep learning framework to better understand how genes are spliced across different tissues and mammalian species. By combining advanced deep learning approaches with large-scale biological data, her work aims to uncover the regulatory logic underlying alternative splicing and its evolutionary dynamics. A key part of Anamaria’s project is to build accessible and interpretable software that integrates model training with explainable AI modules for visualizing and understanding model predictions, alongside a flexible API for fine-tuning and downstream applications. This will enable researchers to explore splicing mechanisms across species and address related evolutionary questions. Through the SSC Fellowship, Anamaria seeks to strengthen her software engineering skills and learn best practices for developing sustainable, user-friendly research software that benefits the broader scientific community.
Dr. Maximilian Friedrich is a resident doctor at the Department of Ophthalmology of University Hospital Heidelberg and a researcher at the associated David J Apple Laboratory for Vision Research. He is interested in optimizing the perioperative care after corneal transplantation especially in modern endothelial corneal transplantations. Dr. Friedrich is developing a U-Net to automatically segment and objectively quantify graft detachments, one of the most common complications after endothelial transplantation. This will create objective study endpoints for studies aiming to reduce the incidence of graft detachment. Additionally, this tool may help surgeons to assess the need for additional ocular surgeries in the case of a detachment.
Luca Monari holds a Master’s degree in Complex Systems Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg. After years of chemistry, he switched to RNA for his PhD, because what could possibly go wrong with molecules that fold themselves? He now works on engineering RNA nanostructures and, after losing one too many battles against misfolded RNA designs, decided to fight back with code.
He is the developer of pyFuRNAce, a Python package for designing RNA nanostructures and performing sequence optimization. Essentially, a digital furnace to melt RNA into shape (sometimes). Through the fellowship program, Luca aims to learn how to better organize and document his code, refine its design, and develop new advanced features (but that’s a secret).
Stanley Scott is a doctoral student at the Institute of Environmental Physics in Heidelberg. His work involves development of trace gas exchange models in oceanic systems, with a view to constraining the timescales of their dynamics and identifying/quantifying the relevant air-sea gas exchange processes taking place within them. To assist in development of oceanic tracer exchange models, Stanley has been developing Python Analysis of Groundwater and Ocean Samples (PAGOS). The package aims to streamline the creation, testing and implementation of tracer models and help even inexperienced users to adhere to FAIR principles when writing their own models. Under the guidance of the SSC, Stanley hopes to expand PAGOS to include a wider scope of projects than those he has been personally involved in and ultimately make it a tool that can be used by successive researchers with minimal transitional effort.
Previous SSC fellows
2024/2025
- Dr. Chris Byrohl, Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
- Solène Gerwann, sport psychology
- Stefan Maurer, Center for Molecular Biology
- Anna Lena Schaible, AstroAI Lab
