Prof. Christel Baier awarded Honorary Doctorate by RWTH Aachen University

RWTH Aachen University has awarded Dresden’s Christel Baier an Honorary Doctorate today for her world-leading research achievements in the field of formal methods, specifically in the automated verification of computer systems. Known as model checking, this method is based on procedural systems models and combines concepts of logic as well as automata and graph theory. This enables algorithmic proof that a computer system satisfies user requirements with respect to security and performance.

Prof. Christel Baier is highly esteemed in her function as Chair of Algebraic and Logical Foundations of Computer Science at TU Dresden’s Faculty of Computer Science, where she has published many academic works. She has also played a pioneering role in the field of research now known as probabilistic model checking (PMC), which describes the behavior of systems and their environments in terms of probability. PMC methods enable the quantification of hardware component failure, signs of machine wear, the frequency of user queries and climate impact.

“We are thrilled that RWTH Aachen University has chosen to honor not just an outstanding researcher of international standing, but also a valued and dedicated colleague who is a role model for many, including me personally,” said Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science Prof. Ivo Sbalzarini.

Baier’s noteworthy contributions to the foundations of efficient, well-scalable PMC algorithms place her in a very exclusive group of researchers worldwide who dedicated their time and effort in the late 1990s to heighten PMC to a topic of research to be discussed at leading conferences on verification and logic. The conferral of an Honorary Doctorate is more than just an acknowledgment of her international achievements; it is also a landmark appraisal of her commitment to her local scientific community, which she represents in eminent committees.

Baier is a member of Academia Europae. She served as an elected member of the Computer Science Review Board of the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2012 to 2019, and has been a member of the DFG Senate and Grants Committees on Research Training Groups since 2020. Baier has co-authored proposals for outstanding research projects at TU Dresden, including the cfaed Cluster of Excellence (2012–2019) and the Collaborative Research Center CRC 912, as well as the CeTI Cluster of Excellence and the Collaborative Research Center CRC-TRR 248, the latter two of which have been in operation since 2019.

Christel Baier collaborates closely with the Department of Computer Science at RWTH Aachen University. Since 1998, she has co-published more than 20 academic papers with Prof. Joost-Pieter Katoen, with whom she has also worked on DFG projects. Their joint textbook “Principles of Model Checking” (MIT Press, 2008) has been established worldwide as the standard textbook in this field. One of their joint conference publications from 1999 has recently received a Test-of-Time Award.

Contact:
Prof. Christel Baier
Chair of Algebraic and Logical Foundations of Computer Science
Tel.: +49 351 463-38548