I am a software engineer and researcher from the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany, working at the Technical University of Darmstadt. I’m interested in all sorts of technology; my current focus is on building authentication systems that are not only user-friendly but also seamlessly fit into existing hardware and software requirements.

Education

Awards

Early Life

My fascination with technology began during primary school when I started programming with Pascal and Delphi, teaching myself with books from the local library.

In high school, I co-founded a computer science club with friends and a supportive teacher, where we shared our knowledge (and worked on fun projects). One memorable project was building a Lego Mindstorms robot for the 2008 First Lego League, for which we even got some training from researchers at the local university. Although we didn’t get far in the competition, it was a fun experience.

As I explored web development (HTML, CSS, JS, SQL, PHP), I began creating websites for friends, which later turned into a part-time job. I also expanded my programming skills to include Java and C#, which were great for developing Windows GUIs, reminding me of my earlier experiences with Delphi. I gradually switched to Linux, and Python quickly became my favorite programming language.

Computer Engineering

After high school, I chose to study Computer Engineering (“Informationssystemtechnik”) at TU Darmstadt, because I wanted to understand how computers actually work – especially the hardware side. While I was already comfortable with software development, getting into electrical engineering was challenging but rewarding.

I studied a wide range of topics: from functional programming in Racket and Lisp, building computer architectures out of NAND gates, diving deep into mathematics (especially statistics turned out to be important later on), signals & systems, communication technology, electronics & embedded systems, software engineering & design patterns, statistical machine learning, some robotics, IT security, and more.

I was actively involved in the Computer Engineering student council, organizing events like the orientation week for freshmen and our annual summer barbecue. Additionally, I contributed to our student magazine and managed our IT infrastructure.

IT Security & HCI

During my university years, particularly when I specialized in IT security, I recognized that practical problems aren’t just technological; they also demand solutions that are user-friendly and genuinely beneficial. It became clear to me that even software with impressive features could suffer from poor usability – PGP being a notorious example. This made me interested in human-computer interaction, motivating me to study and improve how people interact with technology.

During my PhD at SEEMOO, my research has focused on bridging the gap between IT security and human-computer interaction. This collaborative effort led to a paper presented at CHI ‘23, the leading international conference on human-computer interaction. Our study on usable security was well-received, earning a Best Paper Award, which has been encouraging and motivates further research in this important area.