Theses

The chair typically offers various thesis topics each semester in the areas of computational statistics, machine learning, data mining, optimization, and statistical software. You are welcome to suggest your own topic as well..

Before you apply for a thesis topic, make sure that you fit the following profile:

• Knowledge of machine learning.
• Good R or Python skills.

Before you start writing your thesis, you must look for a supervisor within the group.

Send an email to the contact person listed in the potential thesis topics files with the following information:

• Planned starting date of your thesis.
• Thesis topic (from the list of thesis topics below or your suggestion).
• Previously attended classes on machine learning and programming with R.

Your application will only be processed if it contains all required information.

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Potential Thesis Topics

Below is a list of potential thesis topics. Before you start writing your thesis, you must look for a supervisor within the group.

Available thesis topics

Title	Type	Supervisor
Enhancing Diffusion and Flow Matching Models through Representation Learning	MA	Mina Rezaei
Calibrating Foundation Models for Reliable Applications	MA	Mina Rezaei
List of Topics in Interpretable Machine Learning and Empirical Machine Learning	MA	Casalicchio
Nutrition and time-to-event outcomes in critically ill patients: Multi-state modeling with cumulative effects	MA	Bender
Wildlife Image Classification - Detection of Outliers	MA	Bothmann
Wildlife Image Classification - Detection of New Classes	MA	Bothmann

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Disputation

Procedure

The disputation of a thesis lasts about 60-90 minutes and consists of two parts. Only the first part is relevant for the grade and takes 30 minutes (bachelor thesis) and 40 minutes (master thesis). Here, the student is expected to summarize his/her main results of the thesis in a presentation. The supervisor(s) will ask questions regarding the content of the thesis in between. In the second part (after the presentation), the supervisors will give detailed feedback and discuss the thesis with the student. This will take about 30 minutes.

FAQ

• How do I prepare for the disputation?

You have to prepare a presentation, and if there is a bigger time gap between handing in your thesis and the disputation, you might want to reread your thesis.

• How many slides should I prepare?

That’s up to you, but you have to respect the time limit. Preparing more than 20 slides for a Bachelor’s presentation and more than 30 slides for a Master’s is VERY likely a very bad idea.

• Where do I present?

Bernd’s office, in front of the big TV. At least one PhD will be present, maybe more. If you want to present in front of a larger audience in the seminar room or the old library, please book the room yourself and inform us.

• English or German?

We do not care, you can choose.

• What do I have to bring with me?

A document (Prüfungsprotokoll) which you get from “Prüfungsamt” (Frau Maxa or Frau Höfner) for the disputation.Your laptop or a USB stick with the presentation. You can also email Bernd a PDF.

• How does the grading work?

The student will be graded regarding the quality of the thesis, the presentation, and the oral discussion of the work. The grade is mainly determined by the written thesis itself, but the grade can improve or drop depending on the presentation and your answers to the defense questions.

• What should the presentation cover?

The presentation should cover your thesis, including motivation, introduction, description of new methods, and results of your research. Please do NOT explain already existing methods in detail here, put more focus on novel work and the results.

• What kind of questions will be asked after the presentation?

The questions will be directly connected to your thesis and related theory.