Successful in the contest to secure the most highly endowed research award: The LMU-nominated mathematician Shahar Mendelson has been awarded one of the prestigious professorships.

How much training data does artificial intelligence (AI) need to be able to deliver sufficiently reliable outputs? How long does a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner need to measure to ensure the system has enough data to produce reliable, high-quality imaging?

These are by no means simple questions, even though great strides are being made in the development of such systems. But when it comes to the theoretical foundation of these kinds of topics in data science, there are plenty of crucial aspects that are far from being understood.

Shahar Mendelson is one of the world’s leading experts on mathematics of data science and the fundamental questions the area presents. He has now been awarded a prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, following LMU’s nomination.

“This Alexander von Humboldt Professorship—Germany’s most highly endowed research award—once again underscores the attractiveness of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich as a hub for groundbreaking research and international collaboration,” says LMU President Matthias Tschöp. “With Shahar Mendelson, we are bringing an internationally outstanding mathematician to Munich’s research landscape. His work exemplifies scientific excellence at the highest international level. We look forward to welcoming him to Munich!”

“Shahar Mendelson is one of the most distinguished mathematicians of his generation,” explains Francesca Biagini, Vice President for Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics and International Affairs and also a mathematician. “In his research, Mendelson combines fundamental theoretical questions with innovative methodological approaches, thereby opening up new avenues for world-leading international research. This is a perfect complement to our profile in mathematics.”

With the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, the AvH foundation and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space aim at attracting the very best scientists from around the world to come to Germany and conduct long-term research. The Professorship is endowed with up to ten million euros over a period of seven years. Thanks to the award - Germany’s most highly endowed research award - LMU can now conclude the negotiations and appoint Mendelson as a Professor at the Mathematics Institute. LMU regards Mendelson as the key figure who will enable the university to expand its research into the fundamental mathematical principles of artificial intelligence (AI), an area of central importance for LMU.

Shahar Mendelson: An Outstanding Academic Career

For more than three decades, Mendelson has been publishing groundbreaking research that has far-reaching implications in machine learning, high-dimensional statistics and related aspects of signal processing. He has been able to translate fundamental problems in machine learning and data science into questions in high-dimensional geometry. Through his research, he has enriched the theory of both fields, and thanks to the geometric view point he has introduced, Mendelson solved some of the most difficult, long-standing open problems in mathematical data science.

Mendelson is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and is currently a Professor at the Department of Mathematics at Texas A&M University. His academic career has also included professorships at the Australian National University, at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where he also did his Ph.D., at Sorbonne Université, and at the University of Warwick.

The university is enthusiastic to have Mendelson continue his groundbreaking research on the mathematical foundations of AI at LMU’s Mathematics Institute. He will also be involved with the Munich Center for Machine Learning (MCML) and the AI-HUB@LMU, as well as with future initiatives such as a DFG Research Training Group.