The main topic of my research is the unified and constructive treatment of systems of algebraic and differential equations (in particular under- and overdetermined systems) based on the central notion of involution (see my monograph with the same title) combining algebraic, combinatorial, homological and geometric ideas. I am interested in both obtaining a deeper theoretical understanding of this concept and applying it to various fields. On the theoretical side, I am studying questions in the formal theory of differential equations like existence and uniqueness of solutions, completion to involution or geometric singularities and constructive problems in commutative algebra (in particular, the use of Pommaret bases for the study of polynomial modules). The applications concern mainly mathematical physics (geometric mechanics, systems with constraints, gauge theories) and the analysis of differential algebraic equations with a current emphasis on systems arising in bio-chemical reaction networks (in particular, stability and bifurcation questions). More details can be found in my publications.

The following list contains students who have written or are writing theses under my supervision.

• Undergraduate Theses (Bachelor, Master, Diploma, etc.)
  • Matthias Orth: Stability Concepts for Monomial Ideals and Effective Genericity; bachelor thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Julius Rahaus: Involutive Bases in the Exterior Algebra; bachelor thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Maxim Urich: Geometric Completion of Differential Algebraic Equations; bachelor thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Mario Albert: Computing Minimal Free Resolutions of Polynomial Ideals with Pommaret Bases; master thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Christian Braun: Discrete Gradient Methods for Hamiltonian Systems with Constraints; bachelor thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Pierre Pytlik: Effective Genericity for Polynomial Ideals; diploma thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Andreas Prawitt: Boolean Algebra with Pommaret Bases; bachelor thesis project, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel
  • Sebastian Schütz: Combinatorics of Hilbert Functions; diploma thesis, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel 2012
  • Mario Albert: Janet Bases in CoCoA; bachelor thesis, Institut für Mathematik, Universität Kassel 2011
  • Mehdi Sahbi: Pommaret Bases and the Computation of the Koszul Homology in the Monomial Case; diploma thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 2007
  • Mehdi Sahbi: The Effective Determination of Delta-Regular Coordinates for Polynomial Ideals; study thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 2006
  • Wolfgang Globke: An Object-Oriented Programming Environment for Differential Geometric Computations in MuPAD; study thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 2006
  • Marcus Hausdorf: Geometric-Algebraic Completion of General Systems of Differential Equations; diploma thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 2000
  • Marcus Hausdorf: A General Symmetry Package for Differential Equations in MuPAD; study thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 1999
  • Pavel Lukowicz: Applications of Computeralgebra on Problems in the Statistical Physics of Neural Networks; diploma thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 1999
  • Christoph Zenger: Gröbner-Basen for Differential Forms; diploma thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 1992
  • Joachim Schü: Implementation of the Cartan-Kuranishi Theorem in Axiom; diploma thesis, Fakultät für Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe 1992
• Ph.D. Theses
  • Matthias Fetzer: Free Resolutions of Polynomial Modules with Pommaret Bases, thesis project, Universität Kassel
  • Michael Schweinfurter: Effective Homology with Pommaret Bases, thesis project, Universität Kassel
  • Hassan Errami: Semi-algebraic Algorithms for the Hopf Bifurcation, thesis project, Universität Kassel and Universität Bonn
  • Matthias Seiß: Root Parametrised Differential Equations for Groups of Lie Type, Universität Kassel and Universität Heidelberg 2011
  • Eduardo Saenz de Cabezon: Combinatorial Koszul Homology: Computations and Applications; Departamento de Matematicas y Computacion, Universidad de La Rioja, Logrono (Spain) 2008
  • Dirk Fesser: On Vessiot's Theory of Partial Differential Equations; Fachbereich Mathematik, Universität Kassel 2008

In addition, I have been referee or member of the jury for the following Ph.D. theses:

• J. Tautges: Reconstruction of Human Motions Based on Low-Dimensional Control Signals, Universität Bonn 2012
• E.O. Abdel-Rahman: Algorithmic Contributions to the Qualitative Analysis of Autonomous Parametric Dynamical Systems, Universität Bonn 2011
• E. Nana Chiadjeu: Algorithmic Computation of Formal Fourier Series, Universität Kassel 2010
• T. Wichmann: Symbolic Reduction Methods for Non-Linear DAE Systems, Universität Kaiserslautern 2004
• T. Arponen: Numerical Solution and Structural Analysis of Differential-Algebraic Equations, Helsinki University of Technology 2001

My work has been funded by various grants mainly from Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (German National Scholarship Foundation) and from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (German Science Foundation). In addition, I participated in an INTAS project with the title Involutive Systems of Algebraic and Differential Equations (INTAS 99-1112) in which groups from Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Greifswald, Bangor, Catania, Dubna, Moscow and Novosibirsk collaborated between 2000 and 2002. In 2005/6 I headed the Heidelberg team of a European research project called Global Integrability of Field Theories (GIFT) within the NEST-Adventure programme of the European Commission. The other teams were located in Karlsruhe, Grenoble, Toulouse, Amsterdam and Lancaster. Currently, I am a member of the steering group of the Special Priority Programme Algorithmic and Experimental Methods in Algebra, Geometry and Number Theory (SPP 1489) which was invoked by DFG in 2009. Within this programme, I am leading jointly with my colleague Andreas Weber (Universität Bonn) the project Bifurcations and Singularities of Algebraic Differential Equations (BISADE).