AH. Alexander Hagg
Email

Curriculum vitae

CV

Dutch researcher in AI & optimization with international experience in research, teaching and research management. Education, experience, skills, grants, supervision, service and languages — plus the path through them.

Bonn, GermanyDutch · German · EnglishAI & optimization
Email meSee the projectsResearch

Professional & Research Experience

  1. 2026– (18 months)

    Project Leader (Principal Investigator), OpenSKIZZE-Praxis (DBU)

    H-BRS (TREE), Sankt Augustin

    Follow-up to OpenSKIZZE that operationalizes the AI assistant within formal municipal Bauleitplanung (land-use planning) processes. Develops a standardized "climate-resilience building block" — an adapted OpenSKIZZE tool plus action guides and text modules — piloted and validated with the City of Bonn, and published as open-source modules for established GIS (GRASS GIS, QGIS) in cooperation with the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). Partners: Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), City of Bonn. Case study

  2. 2025–present

    Co-Lead / Deputy Head, Digital Twin 4 Multiphysics Laboratory (TREE)

    TREE institute, H-BRS, Sankt Augustin

    Interdepartmental research and teaching cooperation between Prof. Dr. Sebastian Houben (Dept. 02) and Prof. Dr. Dirk Reith (Dept. 03) for the collaborative study of multiphysical digital twins at the interface of simulation and physical robotic systems. Case study

  3. 2025–present

    Research Associate, CytoTransport Project (DFG)

    H-BRS, Sankt Augustin

    Interdisciplinary DFG research cluster across Departments 02, 03, and 05 and the IFGA and TREE institutes (with Dr. Karl N. Kirschner). Focus on Human-AI Interaction for molecular conformation prediction, force-field parameter optimization, and predicting the impact of protein mutations. Case study

  4. 2024–2025

    Project Leader (Principal Investigator), OpenSKIZZE (DBU)

    H-BRS, Sankt Augustin

    Interactive, applied AI and co-creative decision support for climate-adapted urban planning at neighborhood level. Responsible for interactive surrogate-assisted multi-solution optimization, integration of the DWD cold-air outflow model KLAM_21, supervision of three students, and an interactive prototype application with workflow and visualization. Partners: Montag Stiftung Urbane Räume gAg, Neue Stadtgärtnerei e.V. Case study

  5. 2023–2025

    Research Associate, UMMBAS Project

    H-BRS, Sankt Augustin

    Interdisciplinary work across Departments 02, 03, and 05 and the IFGA and TREE institutes (with Prof. Dr. Dirk Reith). Human-AI Interaction in scientific applications and collaborative data analysis in a shared immersive VR environment. Co-supervised Lennard-Jones force-field parameterization and generative graph neural networks for molecular conformation generation; developed the virtual screening framework MolFuSE. Case study

  6. 2019–2020

    Project Leader (Principal Investigator), FullDA-FM

    H-BRS, Sankt Augustin · Funded by the VP2 start-up grant

    Simulation- and optimization-assisted decision support in urban planning: built an early prototype including all core machine learning and optimization algorithms and secured follow-up funding. Partners: Montag Stiftung Urbane Räume gAg, Neue Stadtgärtnerei e.V.

  7. 2019–2020

    Research Associate, KISs-BiS Project

    H-BRS (Dept. 02), Sankt Augustin

    With Prof. Dr. Alexander Asteroth. Authored a systematic review of AI/ML in sport and developed proposals to bridge gaps in resource access, expert availability, and method/data handling. Partners: Technical University of Munich, University of Mainz. Case study

  8. 2016–2019

    Research Associate, AErOmAt Project (BMBF)

    H-BRS (Dept. 02), Sankt Augustin

    With Prof. Dr. Dirk Reith and Prof. Dr. Alexander Asteroth. Developed methods for computational creativity, efficient optimization, and problem decomposition to reduce aerodynamic simulations, applied to airfoils, recumbent bicycles, a Formula Student racing car, cabin airflow, and passenger car side mirrors. Partners: DLR, Fraunhofer SCAI, University of Siegen, SIDACT GmbH, Beyss Leichtfahrzeuge (Go-One). Case study

  9. 2014–2015

    Research Associate, E-LaBoR Project

    H-BRS (Dept. 02), Sankt Augustin

    With Prof. Dr. Stefanie Meilinger, Prof. Dr. Alexander Asteroth, and IZNE. Developed a phased rollout strategy for charging infrastructure in Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district, plus a planning guide for detailed siting. Partners: City of Bonn, Rhein-Sieg District, SWB Energie und Wasser, rhenag, Stadtwerke Troisdorf, RheinEnergie, RWE. Case study

  10. 2011–2012

    Student Assistant, Fraunhofer IAIS

    Sankt Augustin · NIFTi Project

    EU search-and-rescue robotics and human-robot interaction. NIFTi researched cooperative teamwork between humans and robots in urban search-and-rescue scenarios to reduce operator cognitive load and optimize joint team workflow. Partners: DFKI Language Technology Lab, TNO, Fraunhofer IAIS, Bluebotics, ETH Zurich, Czech Technical University in Prague, Sapienza University of Rome, Dortmund Fire Department, Corpo Nazionale Vigili del Fuoco.

  11. 2006–2009

    Vocational Training, City of Troisdorf

    Troisdorf, Germany · IT Specialist for System Integration

  12. 2002–2006

    Freelancer (Freiberufler)

    North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

    Graphic design, web design, and web development.

Skills & Expertise

Machine Learning

  • U-Net, GNNs, diffusion models
  • Gaussian process regression, Random Forests, ensemble learning
  • Agentic AI & LLMs (Cline, Roo Code, Zoo Code)
  • Agent harnesses: Pi, Oh My Pi, OpenRig
  • Applied to scientific data

Optimization

  • Quality-Diversity / multi-solution optimization
  • Surrogate-assisted optimization
  • Evolutionary computation, neuroevolution, Gaussian process regression
  • Computational ideation / co-creativity
  • Historically developed for robust, adaptive controllers across simulation, optimization, and physical robotic systems

Coding

  • Python, C/C++
  • Linux, ROS
  • PyTorch, scikit-learn, pyribs, pandas, NumPy, SciPy, OpenCV
  • Focus on scientific methods and experimental robotics

Computational Chemistry

  • Force-field parameterization
  • Variant effect prediction (ENaC)
  • Molecular similarity models
  • Pre-screening of small molecules
  • Conformation optimization

Applications

  • CFD & shape optimization
  • Interactive urban planning & urban digital twins
  • AI in sports
  • Search-and-rescue robotics (human-robot teamwork)
  • Domestic robotics (robot perception), computer vision & cooperative autonomous systems

Data Analysis

  • Statistics and visualization
  • Python & Jupyter Notebooks

Research Management

  • Project Leader / PI (OpenSKIZZE, FullDA-FM)
  • Consortium leadership & budget management
  • Leading scientific teams
  • Grant applications

Teaching

  • English-language, research-oriented teaching
  • Courses: Evolutionary Computation, Neuroevolution, Genetic Algorithms, AI workshops, summer schools
  • Teaching assistant: Autonomous Mobile Robots, Algebra and Number Theory
  • Independent student supervision & assessment
  • Workshop organization & curriculum development

Grants, Awards & Fellowships

  • 2024Grant approved — German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) Funding for the OpenSKIZZE project (18 months).
  • 2023Honourable Mention, Best Paper Awards GECCO 2023.
  • 2022Honourable Mention, ACM SIGEVO Best Dissertation Awards ACM SIGEVO.
  • 2022Research Funding, H-BRS Grant for FullDA-FM, funded by the VP2 start-up grant (18 months).
  • 2021Nominated, Best Paper Awards GECCO 2021.
  • 2019Co-author of Grant Proposal, Federal Institute for Sports Science (BISp) Approved grant for the KISs-BiS project (1 year).
  • 2017–2020Full PhD Scholarship, H-BRS/NRW Sankt Augustin.
  • 2017AFCEA Student Award 2017, 2nd Place AFCEA.
  • 2017Honourable Mention, GECCO Best Student Paper Award GECCO 2017.
  • 2016Best Paper Award RoboCup Symposium 2016.
  • 2015Co-author of Grant Proposal, BMBF Approved grant for the AErOmAt project (3 years).
  • 2012–2015Full Scholarship, German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) Sankt Augustin.

Education & Academic Background

  1. 2017–2021

    PhD (Promotion), LIACS, Leiden University

    Leiden, Netherlands · Defense: December 7, 2021

    Discovering the Preference Hypervolume: an interactive model for co-creative computation. Interactive human-AI model built on Quality-Diversity optimization, Gaussian process models, and generative Variational Autoencoders to explore extremely large solution spaces and open up the hypervolume of user-preferred solutions.

  2. 2018

    Gaussian Process Summer School

    University of Sheffield, UK

  3. 2013–2016

    M.Sc. Autonomous Systems

    Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS), Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Focus on practical methods for autonomous systems, robot perception, and mobile robotics. Active member of the b-it-bots RoboCup@Home team (ROS, C++, Python); independent R&D project on transparent-object recognition with an RGB-D camera; Master's thesis on hierarchical ML methods for dimensionality reduction.

  4. 2012

    Summer School on Computer Vision

    Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic

  5. 2011

    Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (MOOC)

    Stanford University, California, USA

    Taught by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig. Of 104,000 registered students, 13,000 successfully completed the course.

  6. 2009–2012

    B.Sc. Computer Science

    Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS), Sankt Augustin, Germany

    Specialization: embedded systems, computer vision, and robotics. Bachelor's project and thesis at Fraunhofer IAIS in autonomous mobile robotics.

  7. 2006–2009

    Vocational Training — IT Specialist for System Integration

    City of Troisdorf, Troisdorf, Germany

Languages

  • DutchNative speaker
  • GermanFluent (verhandlungssicher)
  • EnglishFluent

Research Management & Leadership

Principal Investigator capability

As project manager of third-party-funded projects — OpenSKIZZE and FullDA-FM — I have held budget responsibility, coordinated consortium partners, and supervised scientific student assistants. I actively contribute to drafting research proposals for external funding and support administrative and collaborative tasks for faculty.

OpenSKIZZE (PI) · UMMBAS · DT4MP co-lead · supervision record

Supervision

Successful primary, secondary, or tertiary supervision of over 40 student theses and projects at H-BRS, frequently in cooperation with industry partners.

  • 40+Theses & projects
  • 19M.Sc. theses
  • 13B.Sc. theses
  • 12Project works

See the Teaching page for a curated selection of supervised works.

Service & Community

Reviewing & Academic Service

  • Reviewer, Journal of Evolutionary Computation, MIT Press (2024–present)
  • Reviewer, IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics (2018–present)
  • Reviewer, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (2019)
  • Reviewer, ECML PKDD (2018)
  • Program Committee, PPSN Conference (2020–2023)

Community & Outreach

  • Neue Stadtgärtnerei Bonn — urban planning, architecture, and cooperation with the City of Bonn (2022–present)
  • Co-lead, Digital Twin 4 Multiphysics Lab (DT4MP), TREE institute, H-BRS — urban digital twins (2023–present)
  • Member, Computational Chemistry Working Group, H-BRS
  • Climate Adaptation Working Group, Twins4NRW — state and municipal NRW (2025)
  • H-BRS Representative, GeoIT Round Table NRW, GDI NW (2025)
  • Speaker, KI-Wrap AI lectures, H-BRS (2025)
  • Organizer, innovation meeting "Digital Twin for Urban Sustainability", H-BRS (2025)
  • Workshop "Digitaler Zwilling", Stadt Troisdorf (2025)
  • KLUGER Transfer Tandem Talk: "Luftqualität und Klimawandel in der Stadtplanung" (2024)
  • Barcamp Nachhaltige Zukunft Bonn: "Beyond Open Data and Towards Grass Roots Urban Ecology" (2024)
  • AI consultant on an academic search committee, H-BRS (2025)
  • Guest, H-BRS research podcast "Abenteuer Promotion" on AI research (2021)
  • Network development and fundraising, Jugend Rettet / Iuventa (2016)
  • Panel discussion "Fair Mobility Bonn" (2016)

Robotics Competitions

  • b-it-bots RoboCup@Home (2012–2015)
  • RoboCup German Open, Magdeburg (2013)
  • Robolympics, Moscow (2012)
  • EuRobotics Challenge, London (2011)

Industry & Practice Partners

Selected collaborations arising from supervised theses, research projects, and transfer activities:

  • SICK
  • Mundialis GmbH & Co. KG
  • DrofoTech
  • Geo-NET
  • Kautex Textron
  • inovex
  • DGUV
  • Aramex
  • Ranger
  • Fraunhofer IAIS
  • Fraunhofer SCAI
  • DLR
  • SIDACT
  • Beyss Leichtfahrzeuge

Research partners have also included Montag Stiftung Urbane Räume gAg, Neue Stadtgärtnerei e.V., the German Weather Service (DWD), TUM, University of Mainz, DFKI, TNO, Bluebotics, ETH Zurich, CTU Prague, and Sapienza University of Rome.

Beyond Research

  • Music — playing neoclassical music and improvisation
  • Art — co-creative collaboration between artists and AI, generative art (Spiegelmaschine)
  • Writing — novel writing, aiming for publication in 2027
  • Cooking — Indonesian cuisine
  • Volunteering — Neue Stadtgärtnerei, sustainable housing and agriculture in central Bonn
  • Sports — hiking and cycling
  • Philosophy — intelligence, AI, and politics