The Department of Computer Science can now expand with two new international professors each with four years of postdoc funding at their disposal thanks to a grant of DKK 17 million from the Poul Due Jensen Foundation. The two professorships will fall under two separate research groups in the department.
Future-proofing and generation shift
The business community is poised to hijack university graduates and this looks set to continue for a long time to come. Over the past ten years, the Department of Computer Science has had significant growth in the number of students, and with the new professorships, the university wants to both generally strengthen as well as future-proof the area. Henrik Pedersen, Dean of the Technical Faculty of IT and Design, is looking forward to the build-up and feels it comes at a good time:
– We want to future proof and strengthen the two research units, so they consolidate and develop their status as world class research environments within each of their respective areas. We expect to benefit from the current leaders of the research groups for many years to come, so you can certainly talk about due care and diligence.
Top researchers head the two research groups that will be home to the two new professorships. The high-profile researchers, Professor Kim Guldstrand Larsen (distributed, embedded and intelligent systems) and Professor Christian Søndergaard Jensen (databases, programming and web), both have long CVs and have achieved many significant results, and they are also the two most cited computer scientists in Denmark.
The digital future
The rector is also excited about the strengthening of the computer science area, where Aalborg University (AAU) has distinguished itself with groundbreaking solutions for effective management and analysis of temporal, spatial, and multidimensional data in relation to e.g. transport and green energy, as well as with efficient and automated validation and optimization of software embedded in products, such as safety critical software in cars and intelligent traffic management systems.
– Computer science is a very important area for AAU where we have always been on the forefront, and digitalization will undoubtedly be the biggest technological force for change in society in the coming decade. By strengthening the area, we ensure that AAU continues to deliver usable knowledge and graduates to society. It is very gratifying, says Rector Per Michael Johansen.
The Poul Due Jensen Foundation has granted 17 million kroner that covers up to 2023. AAU then takes over the full financing of the AAU appointments, thus future-proofing the two professorships. The foundation, which was established in 1975 by Poul Due Jensen, founder of the pump company Grundfos, aims to strengthen selected research environments and individuals in the science and engineering disciplines.
CONTACT:
AAU
Henrik Pedersen, Dean, Technical Faculty of IT and Design, dekan-tech@aau.dk, +45 99 40 96 32
Kim Guldstrand Larsen, Professor, Department of Computer Science, kgl@cs.aau.dk, + 45 22 17 11 59
Christian Søndergaard Jensen, Professor, Department of Computer Science, csj@cs.aau.dk, + 45 99 40 89 00
Nelly Sander, Press Contact AAU, nsa@adm.aau.dk, +45 99 40 20 18
Poul Due Jensen Foundation
Christian Hartvig, Executive Director, chartvig@grundfos.com, + 45 23 73 26 36
