PROFESSOR MATTHIAS WÄHLISCH IS THE NEW HOLDER OF THE CHAIR OF DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

We welcome Prof. Dr. Matthias Wählisch, who has held the Chair of Distributed Systems at our faculty since May 1, 2023.

Matthias Wählisch researches and teaches about distributed systems that are connected via wireless or wired networks. Scalable, reliable, and secure Internet communication is particularly important to him, since the Internet is the largest distributed and networked system that is currently deployed. His research includes the design and evaluation of networking protocols and architectures as well as Internet measurements and analysis. Together with his team, he aims for real-world impact based on first-class scientific results to improve the Internet, its services, and applications. This challenge was tackled several times successfully. The research results of his group helped to improve the security of the current Internet infrastructure, introduced new services, and enabled commercial products. Matthias is actively involved in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) since 2005 and coordinates multiple open-source projects. Among others he co-founded RIOT, the friendly operating system for the Internet of Things, and RTRlib, a library for route origin validation. He collaborates with small and large network and service operators and is a member of the Advisory Boards of BCIX, the Berlin Commercial Internet Exchange e.V., and INSO, the Internet Namespace Security Observatory, which is supported by the Internet Society (ISOC) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

The research results of Matthias Wählisch have been awarded multiple times, e.g., the first place of the International IPv6 Application Contest 2009, the Best of ACM SIGCOMM CCR Award 2018 and 2019, and the Best Paper Award and the Best Community Award of ACM CoNEXT 2022. 

Before joining TU Dresden, Matthias was a Juniorprofessor at the Institute of Computer Science at Freie Universität Berlin heading the Internet Technologies Lab. Before that, he studied Computer Science and Contemporary German Literature there, and received his PhD with distinction for his thesis about „Measuring and Implementing Internet Backbone Security: Current Challenges, Upcoming Deployment, and Future Trends“.

„The professional environment was the reason why I joined TU Dresden. My group and I work hard on cutting-edge research with practical relevance for an open, connected society, simply to have a positive impact on the lives of people on the long-term. TU Dresden is unique because it offers excellence across disciplines paired with many research institutes such as Barkhausen Institut and a vibrant microelectronics industry. This is the perfect ecosystem for our work,“ says Matthias Wählisch.

If he can spare some time, he likes to cook, for example for 150 colleagues from all over the world.