The Institute of Computer Science and the Bonn Computer Science Society (BIG) have once again honored students whose work advances the field of Computer Science. The awards cover a wide range of topics, from basic research to AI and robotics to security issues in digital systems. The Johannes Kepler Fellowship also focuses on geometric-algorithmic research with a strong mathematical component.
The Grace Hopper Award honors female students whose work demonstrates academic excellence and highlights diversity in computer science. In the spirit of Computer Science pioneer Grace Hopper, the award values not only excellence but also encouragement: to dare to explore new ideas, to think deeply about topics, and to be open and visible within the field.
This year's award winners are:
- Carla Münnich
Bachelor's Thesis „Mapping Phenotypic Similarity to Genetic Proximity in Rare Disorders“ - Muskaan Chopr,
Master's thesis titled “Compact Language Models for Reasoning and Information Extraction” and first author of the publications
- „How Small Can You Go? Compact Language Models for On-Device Critical Error Detection in Machine Translation“ (IEEE Big Data 2025)
- „Towards Reliable Machine Translation: Scaling LLMs for Critical Error Detection and Safety“ (ECIR 2026).
- Yasmin Schmiede
Master’s thesis titled “Open-Vocabulary and Semantic-Aware Search and Retrieval of Objects using the Stretch Robot”
- as well as co-author of papers on open-vocabulary reasoning and semantic object search in dynamic environments (IROS Workshop 2025, German Robotics Conference 2026).
The jury emphasizes how diverse and high-quality the submissions are each year and that the submitted work covers nearly all topics currently being actively researched at Bonn’s Computer Science institutes.
During the awards ceremony, the winners gave short presentations on their topics, in which they introduced applications of AI in medicine and robotics as well as new approaches to compact language models and reasoning. The award includes an official ceremony and prize money.
BIG-Abschlussarbeitspreise: Informatik mit Wirkung
The Bonn Computer Science Society (Bonner Informatik Gesellschaft e.V.) awards its BIG Thesis Prizes for the best bachelor’s and master’s theses of each graduating class. This year, the award-winning theses impressively demonstrate how closely scientific depth and societal relevance are intertwined — ranging from cybersecurity and data analysis to optimization, robotics, and AI-supported scene representations.
The following students were honored for their bachelor’s theses:
- Björn Carlberg, „Automating Asset Discovery for Penetration Testing“
- Christopher Neugebauer, „Übertragbarkeit von Benchmarkergebnissen auf reale wissenschaftliche Anwendungen“
- Lars Müller, „Effiziente Berechnung der Graph Edit Distance“
- Paul Johannes Jünger, „Solving the Feedback Arc Set Problem on Sparse Graphs“
- Simon Bartlmae, „Die Komplexität des Drone Delivery Problems“
The following students were honored for their master's theses:
- Niklas Mueller-Goldingen, „Evidential Learning of Semantic Scene Graphs for Pepper Plants“
- Gjergj Plepi, „Object-Centric Image to Video Generation with Language Guidance“
- Norman Bunk, „Bayesian Update Step using Adiabatic Quantum Computing“
- Bastian Abt, „Adaptive Fluid Cohomology“
- Michael Kaibel, „Design and Evaluation of Optimality Preserving Data Reduction for Maximum k Cut“
- Johanna Luz, „Bandits with Knapsacks and Switching Costs“
These projects illustrate how the Department of Computer Science at Bonn University integrates topics such as AI, data analysis, robotics, and efficient algorithms, thereby advancing both basic research and practical applications.
A special award recognizes contributions made in connection with participation in the international DARPA Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge (AIxCC). The award was presented to five bachelor’s theses and one master’s thesis that focus on AI-supported analysis and verification of digital systems and were supervised by Prof. Dr. Matthew Smith:
The following students were honored for their bachelor’s theses:
- Christoph Geron, „Evaluation of LLM and Fuzzing driven autonomous Cyber Reasoning Systems in the AIxCC“
- Annika Kuntze, „Leveraging Large Language Models for Bug-Directed Input Generation in Fuzzing“
- Julian Steffen, „Feedback-driven Proof of Vulnerability Generation with LLMs“
- Niklas Steffen, „Scientific Evaluation of an AI-based Cyber Reasoning System“
- Veit Eysholdt, „Tool-Augmented LLM Agents for Automated Vulnerability Detection“
The following student was honored for his master's thesis:
- Maxim Shevchishin, „Towards AI-powered automatic debugging“
The award-winning projects demonstrate just how firmly AI-based methods are now established in the field of security and in the analysis of complex software systems – yet another example of the connection between research and practical impact at the University of Bonn’s Department of Computer Science.
Johannes Kepler Scholarship: Strong Foundations in Mathematics
Scholarships are awarded from the Johannes Kepler Endowment Fund to support research in geometric-algorithmic mathematics, with a special focus on aspects of the history of science. This year, the following recipients will receive:
- Franziska Kehe
- Christoph Petzsch
a Johannes Kepler Scholarship for their work in the field of geometric-algorithmic and fundamental mathematical research. The grant provides monthly funding of approximately 300 euros for one year.
The scholarship underscores the central role that mathematics-oriented computer science plays at the University of Bonn – especially in areas where new ideas for algorithms, optimization, and data representation are emerging.
Encouragement for Future Applications
Overall, the award-winning projects demonstrate the versatility of computer science in Bonn: from theoretical models to algorithms and quantum technologies, all the way to AI applications in robotics, medicine, and cybersecurity. The awards raise the profile of these achievements and provide students with momentum for their next steps in research and professional practice.
Anyone who writes an outstanding thesis next year or demonstrates exceptional commitment as a female computer science student should consider applying for the Grace Hopper Award, the BIG Thesis Awards, or the Johannes Kepler Scholarship. The calls for applications and guidelines can be found on the websites of the Institute of Computer Science and the Big e.V.
Wie Grace Hopper sagte: „If in doubt – do it.“ – ein Motto, das auch für die nächsten Einreichungen gilt.