DAAD program “University cooperation with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in South Africa, Cameroon, and Ghana”

General information

• Funding: DAAD
• Duration: February 2018 to December 2022

Project managers

• Prof. Dr. Ralf Wunderlich (BTU)
• Prof. Dr. Armin Fügenschuh (BTU)
• Prof. Dr. Olivier Menoukeu Pamen (AIMS Ghana)
• Prof. Dr. Nicole Bäuerle (KIT, cooperation partner)

Project staff

M.Sc. Honoré Paul TAKAM

Project description

The PeStO project aims to foster closer cooperation between scientists at the Institute of Mathematics at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and AIMS Ghana. At the same time, it aims to support AIMS in showing graduates further attractive career prospects in science for the period after their master's degree. The formal framework for this cooperation is provided by:

1. Research workshops and summer schools run by BTU lecturers for  AIMS students  both in Ghana and at the BTU on topics related to stochastics and optimization,
2. Research stays for AIMS graduates in Germany with the aim of obtaining a doctorate,

In terms of content, the focus is on the mathematical research areas of stochastic optimal control and computational integer programming, as well as their application to practical problems. In both cases, these are current and very active areas of research, which have developed into key technologies due to their potential applications to numerous real-world problems.

As part of summer schools offering compact courses at AIMS Ghana and BTU, participating students learn the fundamental theories of these disciplines and are introduced to the use of computer-aided methods for problem solving. The workshops are also open to participants from other AIMS institutes. After completing these workshops, participants will be able to identify relevant practical problems, formulate them in the form of mathematical models, select suitable numerical solution algorithms, and use these solutions to determine the answers using a computer.

In consultation with AIMS Ghana, doctoral students will be selected from among the workshop participants and invited to conduct research stays at the BTU and at the cooperation partner at KIT. In consultation with AIMS Ghana, the doctoral topics should deal with applications of mixed-integer optimization or optimal control under uncertainty to an applied problem in the African economy or society. Possible topics include, for example, planning in public passenger and freight transport, management strategies for energy storage, or the control of irrigation systems for agriculture.

Project-related publications

P. H. Takam, R. Wunderlich, O. Menoukeu Pamen: Short-Term Behavior of a Geothermal Energy Storage: Modeling and Theoretical Results.
arXiv: 2104.05005 [math.NA] (2021)

P. H. Takam, R. Wunderlich, O. Menoukeu Pamen: Short-Term Behavior of a Geothermal Energy Storage: Numerical Applications.
arXiv:2104.05116 [math.NA] (2021)

P. H. Takam, R. Wunderlich:
On the Input-Output Behavior of a Geothermal Energy Storage: Approximations by Model Order Reduction.
arXiv:2209.14761 [math.NA] (2022)