Institute for Experimental Mathematics

Managing Director: Prof. Dr. A. J. Han Vinck

To enable mathematicians, computer experts and telecommunications engineers to engage in uncomplicated and transdisciplinary collaboration under one roof, the Institute for Experimental Mathematics (IEM) was founded, with the support of the Volkswagen Foundation, as a central scientific facility of the former University of Essen in 1989. With the addition of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation Chair on 1 January 1999, the Institute was expanded in the area of “Computer Networking Technology. The areas of finite mathematics, digital communications, computer networking technology and theory of numbers are all represented at the IEM.

The primary objective of the Institute is to foster interactions between the fields of mathematics, computer science and the engineering sciences. Several of the activities carried out by scientists at IEM in pursuit of this objective are listed below:

basic research in algebra, theory of numbers, and algebraic and technical coding theory
improvement of possibilities for using computers in mathematic research by development algorithms and more efficient software
development of methods for digital communication data backup for theoretical and practical applications.