Sven Apel (born

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

Osterburg (Altmark) Osterburg (; ) is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, situated approximately northwest of Stendal. Geography The town Osterburg consists of the following 11 ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:

) is a German

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

and Professor of

Software Engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...

at Saarland University. His research focuses on the development of methods, tools and theories for the construction and analysis of reliable, efficient, and maintainable

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

with a particular focus on the human factor and on

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

research questions.

Career

Sven Apel studied

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

at the University of Magdeburg from 1996 to 2002. He completed his doctorate in Computer Science there from 2003 to 2007. His dissertation, which was graded

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

, received several prestigious awards (see

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

). After completing his doctorate, Apel was a research assistant (

post-doc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

) at the University of Passau until 2010. From 2010 to 2013, he headed th
Emmy Noether Research Group“Safe and Efficient Software Product Lines”
there, before being appointed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 2013 as part of DFG'
Heisenberg Programme
Since 2019, Sven Apel has been a Full Professor (W3) of Computer Science with a focus on

at Saarland University. Since 2022, he has been leading the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

-funded projec
“Brains on Code”
( ERC Advanced Grant), in which he uses

neurophysiological Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience concerned with the functions of the nervous system and their mechanisms. The term ''neurophysiology'' originates from the Greek word ''νεῦρον'' ("nerve") and ''physiology'' (whic ...

methods to investigate the foundations of program comprehension.

Main areas of research

Sven Apel's research focuses on methods, tools and theories for the construction and analysis of reliable, efficient, and maintainable

. He pays particular attention to the human factor in programming and

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

. He primarily conducts

basic research Basic research, also called pure research, fundamental research, basic science, or pure science, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenome ...

with a strong emphasis on

research questions. Apel combines

formal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements ( forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal atti ...

empirical Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law. There is no general agreement on how t ...

, and

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

methods in novel ways and is a leader in the development and promotion of rigorous empirical methodology in software research. He collaborates closely with scientists from various other disciplines, in particular,

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

, and

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. In 2013, Sven Apel and colleagues conducted the world's first study using

functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

(fMRI) to measure program comprehension, pioneering work in the field. This and a series of follow-up studies have identified key regions of the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

involved in program comprehension. In 2022, his ongoing work on the neuroscientific basis of program comprehension was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. Apel is one of the developers of the

paradigm In science and philosophy, a paradigm ( ) is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word ''paradigm'' is Ancient ...

of feature-oriented software development. He laid the conceptual and technological foundations for this, with a particular focus on programming language-independent abstractions, theory building, and tool support. Apel and colleagues introduced the concept of variability-aware program analysis, which extends existing basic analysis techniques such as

model checking In computer science, model checking or property checking is a method for checking whether a finite-state model of a system meets a given specification (also known as correctness). This is typically associated with hardware or software syst ...

type checking In computer programming, a type system is a logical system comprising a set of rules that assigns a property called a ''type'' (for example, integer, floating point, string) to every '' term'' (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Usu ...

, and

static program analysis In computer science, static program analysis (also known as static analysis or static simulation) is the analysis of computer programs performed without executing them, in contrast with dynamic program analysis, which is performed on programs duri ...

to take software variability into account. He was also one of the first to use

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

for modeling large configuration spaces of real-world software systems. His textbook on feature-oriented software product lines has become an international standard text for research and teaching in this field.

Awards (selection)

* 2022: ERC Advanced Grant * 2022: ASE Fellow * 2018: ACM Distinguished Member * 2016:

Hugo Junkers Hugo Junkers (3 February 1859 – 3 February 1935) was a German aircraft engineer and aircraft designer who pioneered the design of all-metal airplanes and flying wings. His company, Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (Junkers Aircraft and ...

Award for Research and Innovation * 2015: Appointment to the Young Academy of Europe * 2013
Heisenberg Professorship
of the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

* 2010
Emmy Noether Fellowship
of the

* 2007: Dissertation Award of the University of Magdeburg and th
Karin Witte Foundation
* 2007: Software Engineering Award of the Ernst Denert Foundation for the Best Doctoral Dissertation * 2006: Award of the School of Computer Science, University of Magdeburg for Outstanding Scientific Achievements * Most Influential Paper Awards: SPLC'19, ICPC'22, GPCE'23
ACM SIGSOFT
Distinguished Paper Awards: ICSE'15, ICSE'21 * Best Paper Awards: SPLC'11, Modularity'15, Academy of Management'18 * Distinguished Reviewer Awards: ASE'18, ICSE'24, FSE'24

References

External links

Website of Professor Apel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apel, Sven Academic staff of Saarland University 1977 births German computer scientists Distinguished Members of the ACM Living people European Research Council grantees Software engineering researchers Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg alumni