Theses

Topics for Theses

Here, we offer a list of topics for potential theses. If you have individual ideas for a thesis, feel free to contact us in this regard. We request the successful participation in at least one course concerned with mathematical optimization.

Topis for Master Theses

Warehouse location via ADMM: In this thesis, warehouse location problems have to be considered where, given the locations of diverse shops and some weights representing their importance, the location of a potential warehouse whose distance to all these shops in an associated weighted norm is minimal has to be determined. Therefore, ADMM shall be applied to a suitable reformulation of the problem. The theoretical foundations of this method have to be worked out, and it has to be tested via numerical experiments.
A solution method for bilevel optimization problems with a nonsmooth lower-level problem: Here, bilevel optimization problems have to be considered whose lower-level problems do not possess constraints but a composite objective function which involves a structured nonsmooth term. After replacing the lower-level problem by suitable first-order optimality conditions, a problem with geometric constraints is obtained that can be solved with a problem-tailored multiplier-penalty method. Its convergence theory has to be worked out and applied to the reformulated bilevel optimization problem. The method has to be tested with numerical experiments.
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Topis for Bachelor Theses

Duality in linear conic optimization: The class of linear conic optimization problems has to be introduced, and its duality theory has to be examined. A special focus is on strong duality which merely holds in the presence of additional assumptions. The thesis has to be illustrated by several simple examples.
Solution methods for linear bilevel optimization problems: First, the class of linear bilevel optimization problems has to be introduced. These are hierarchical linear optimization problems whose feasible set explicitly depends on the solution set os a second parametrized linear optimization problem. Using ideas from linear optimization, it is possble to construct solution methods for such problems. Two of them have to be worked out and compared in detail.
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Completed Theses

Here, we present a list of completed theses related to the chair.

Master Theses

Timm Baake. Second-order sufficient optimality conditions for nonsmooth optimization problems. Marburg University 2026
Calvin Lukas Speiser. A comparison of relaxation and smoothing methods for optimization problems with complementarity constraints. Mannheim University 2023
Jakob Wagner. Optimality conditions for optimization problems with generalized equation constraints. Freiberg University of Mining and Technology 2027, Diploma Thesis

Bachelor Thesis

Paula Becker. Fractional knapsack problems. Marburg University 2026
Emilie Schafmeister. A comparison of exact and heuristic methods for the bounded knapsack problem. Marburg University 2025
Dennis Winter. On bounds of the vertex-chromatic number. Mannheim University 2023
Clemens Schröter. Optimization problems with switching constraints. Freiberg university of Mining and Technology 2018