Just in time for the beginning of the semester, the Faculty of Computer Science can welcome Prof. Dr.-Ing. Horst Schirmeier as holder of the professorship Operating Systems. The 41-year-old father of Mara (5) and Linus (9 months) seems to be predestined for teaching: already his first course on "Operating System Construction" in the master's in-depth module at the TU Dortmund was awarded the teaching prize of the Faculty of Computer Science as the best-rated of 28 lectures. His course "Software in the Automobile" was honored three times in a row as the best rated Bachelor subject project.

Even before studying computer science at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schirmeier was the managing director and founder of webshape GbR in Erlangen. In 2007, he graduated with honors in computer science on the topic of "Tool Support for Static Application Analysis in the Context of Software Product Lines". In 2007, he moved to TU Dortmund University as a research assistant, where he received his PhD in 2016 on "Efficient Fault-Injection-based Assessment of Software-Implemented Hardware Fault Tolerance", also with honors.

His research interests include reliable, robust, and efficient operating systems, software-implemented hardware fault tolerance, and fault injection. At the Faculty of Computer Science, he plans to combine his research topics with, among others, the microkernel topics that have been very successfully established there. Furthermore, interdisciplinary collaborations on heterogeneous memory hierarchies are planned. "I am looking forward to exciting collaborations with the new colleagues at the faculty and the opportunities that Silicon Saxony offers in the area of operating systems."

We wish you, dear Prof. Schirmeier, much success in all your endeavors!