About us Innovations arise at the interfaces of disciplines

Research and teaching at the Cybernetics Lab represents consistent interdisciplinarity and cybernetic research methods since four decades. As an interdisciplinary research association, it is an institute of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the RWTH Aachen University. The Institute for Information Management in Mechanical Engineering (IMA) with its integrated approach to information and knowledge management is supplemented by the methods of the Assoc. Institute for Management Cybernetics e.V. (IfU).

Interdisciplinarity is not a strategy but our way of thinking

The main areas of research of the "Data Intelligence" department are data analysis and artificial intelligence in the context of industrial big data. The main focus is applied machine learning for automated and interactive systems in different domains taking into account the digital transformation aspects within working environments.

Taking into account the dimensions of human, organization and technology, the department “Socio-Technical Systems” focuses on research and technologies of knowledge systems as well as sustainability aspects. This comes along with the research on information and communication technologies of hybrid systems as well as the optimization of engineering education.

We are drivers of innovation, research partners and trainers for young academics. We look forward to cooperating with you: in publicly funded projects (DFG, EU, BMBF, AIF and more), bilateral industry research or through services and expertise (for example, consulting, preparation of studies, conception and moderation of organizational processes).

The Institute for Information Management in Mechanical Engineering is headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Schmitt as director and his deputies Prof. Dr. habil. Ingrid Isenhardt (Academic Director) and Dr. rer. nat. Frank Hees (Deputy Director). Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Frank Thomas Piller is the scientific director of the Institute for Management Cybernetics e.V.

Together, the two institutes form the Cybernetics Lab.

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Management Board

  • Prof. Dr.-Ing.
    Robert Schmitt
    Leiter WZL-MQ / IMA
  • Prof. Dr. phil.
    Ingrid Isenhardt
    Akademische Direktorin IMA
  • Dr. rer. nat.
    Frank Hees
    Stellvertretender Direktor IMA
  • Prof. Dr. rer. pol.
    Frank Thomas Piller
    Wissenschaftlicher Leiter IfU
  • Dr.-Ing.
    Anas Abdelrazeq
    Abteilungsleiter Data Intelligence
  • Dipl. Inform.
    Daniel Lütticke
    Abteilungsleiter Data Intelligence
  • Dr. rer. nat.
    Esther Borowski
    Abteilungsleiterin Socio-Technical Systems
  • Dr. rer. nat.
    Sarah Müller-Abdelrazeq
    Abteilungsleiterin Socio-Technical Systems
    • Anas Abdelrazeq
    • Susanne Alves
    • Hans Aoyang Zhou
    • Pia Benmoussa
    • Esther Borowski
    • Nina Collienne
    • Lea Daling
    • Cathrin Deutz
    • Maike Diesburg
    • Christopher Eck
    • Constantinos Florides
    • Tabea Förster
    • Marcos Galdino
    • Aymen Gannouni
    • Rami Ghebor
    • Eimen Hamedat
    • Frank Hees
    • Christoph Henke
    • Kerstin Hesse
    • Kathrin Hohlbaum
    • Francesco Huber
    • Ingrid Isenhardt
    • Robert Jungnickel
    • Marco Kemmerling
    • Samira Khodaei
    • Anja Koonen
    • Dennis Kreutzer
    • Jonas Kuhn
    • Johanna Lauwigi
    • Daniel Lütticke
    • Antonia Markus
    • Nicolai Mathar
    • Ben Mayer
    • Sonja Mertens
    • Mario Moser
    • Sarah Müller-Abdelrazeq
    • Sven Münker
    • Alexander Nasuta
    • Sylwia Olbrych
    • Thomas Otte
    • Bruna Pereira de Souza
    • Petra Rogic
    • Ralf Schmitz
    • Sandra Stockem
    • Camélia Taha
    • Margit Werden
    • Jonas Werheid
    • Johanna Werz
    • Konstantin Zähl
    • Michael Zeng
    • Johannes Zysk
    • Adrian Azemi
    • Abisman Balachanthiran
    • Lisa Brüggemann
    • Semi Cete
    • Maciej Combrzynski-Nogala
    • Arlind Damjani
    • Cher Dao Tan
    • Shubham Das
    • Gabriel de Almeida Coelho Cruz
    • Yannik Dietz
    • Shams Dulaimi
    • Mohamed Eldriny
    • Chenyan Feng
    • Nils Frahm
    • Elif Genc
    • Mats Gesenhues
    • Whitney Hachenberg
    • Bernd Hankammer
    • Zahidi Betül Hisim
    • Arif Hosan
    • Melissa Igneci
    • Felix Janßen
    • Siddhant Kadwe
    • Vasilena Koleva
    • Klesti Kurti
    • Silyu Li
    • Yasin Masmoudi
    • Jaro Matt
    • Biliana Naumova
    • Frederik Jonas Oelert
    • Mihail Padev
    • Anders Petruschke
    • Aditya Pradhan
    • Maziar Rezvani Baboli
    • Huang Rui
    • Kamil Rurkowski
    • Aron Schliep
    • Benedikt Schütz
    • Andrey Stadnichuk
    • Mouhidin Tarakji
    • Zi Xuan Tung
    • Sebastian Ulrich
    • Menghan Yu

    Employees

    55

    Student Co-workers

    10+4

    Technical and Administrative Staff (including Azubis)

    37

    Scientists

    Disciplines

    35%

    Natural Sciences

    Naturwissenschaften
    35%

    Engineering

    Ingenieurswissenschaften
    30%

    Humanities

    Geisteswissenschaften

    Progressive since 1974

    On 01 May 2021, the Chair of Production Metrology and Quality Management and the IMA will merge under the direction of Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Schmitt. The merger will open up new opportunities and perspectives for our interdisciplinary research topics.

    Wzl

    IMA/ZLW & IfU becomes the Cybernetics LAb IMA & IfU. The interdisciplinary research continues to focus on knowledge and information management and corporate cybernetics.

    Logos Ifu Ima Aufkleber

    Within the field of production engineering, the analysis of industrial big data is gaining importance and is being established as stand alone research group. Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Sabina Jeschke is appointed by the Deutsche Bahn as the board member for digitization and technology.