We are looking forward to welcoming Jonas Stisen into our group as a Ph.D. student. His background is in Computer Science from SDU and more recently in Cheminformatics, initiating his Ph.D. studies at the University of Leipzig. Jonas is one of our TACsy Ph.D. students, who spend time at different European universities during their studies. He has been a Ph.D. student on this project since June 1, 2024, but has only now arrived in Odense. Jonas will work with his supervisors, Jakob Lykke Andersen, Rolf Fagerberg, and Daniel Merkle, on projects in Algorithmic Cheminformatics, as outlined in the TACsy goals. TACsy is an acronym for Training Alliance for Computational Systems Chemistry, which obtained funding as a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Joint Doctoral Network.

Less than a year after Lars Rohwedder started as an associate professor in the algorithms group, Lars has secured an ERC Starting Grant entitled Parameterized Algorithms and Polyhedra of 1.498.648 Euros. Lars is planning to combine his interests in parameterized complexity and linear programming to develop better and faster optimization algorithms. You can read more about Lars and the grant in the departmental news announcement.

We are looking forward to welcoming Anne-Susann Abel into our group as a Ph.D. student. Her background is in Cheminformatics from the University of Vienna. Anne is one of our TACsy Ph.D. students, who spend time at different European universities during their studies. She has been a Ph.D. student on this project since November 1, 2023, but has only now arrived in Odense. Anne's supervisor is Daniel Merkle, but here she'll work with Jakob Lykke Andersen and Rolf Fagerberg on projects in Algorithmic Cheminformatics, as outlined in the TACsy goals. TACsy is an acronym for Training Alliance for Computational Systems Chemistry, which obtained funding as a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Joint Doctoral Network.

We are excited to welcome Manuel Penschuck as assistant professor in the algorithms group. Manuel's interests include algorithm engineering, random graphs, and their application in cheminformatics. Manuel got his Ph.D. from Goethe University Frankfurt in 2021, followed by a long postdoctoral grant from the German Research Foundation. We look forward to working with Manuel!

Magnus Berg, Joan Boyar, Kim Skak Larsen, Lars Rohwedder, and Leo Wennmann attended ICALP - the 52nd EATCS International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming - and its satelite workshops. Lars had three papers at ICALP: 3.415-Approximation for Coflow Scheduling via Iterated Rounding, ETH-Tight FPT Algorithm for Makespan Minimization on Uniform Machines, and Cost Preserving Dependent Rounding for Allocation Problems, where the latter was joint with Leo. Both Magnus and Joan gave presentations at TAAP - the satellite workshop on Theory and Applications of Algorithms with Predictions. Magnus gave his Best Paper presentation from IJTCS-FAW, On the Complexity of Online Problems with Predictions, and Joan presented joint work with Kim and Faith Ellen on Distributed Graph Algorithms with Predictions from this year's PODC.

Thanks in particular to the local organizers, Joan Boyar and Kevin Schewior, the Ph.D. school on Intersections of Algorithms and Machine Learning Theory, held at SDU, July 1-4, 2025, was a great success. More than 30 Ph.D. students of 10 different nationalities had made their way to Odense, participating in the following program:

• Paul Duetting (Google Research): Prophet Inequalities
• Roi Livni (Tel Aviv University): Foundations of Machine Learning
• Nicole Megow (University of Bremen): Algorithms with Predictions
• Sahil Singla (Georgia Tech): Data-Driven Stochastic Optimization

Faith Ellen, professor at the University of Toronto and honorary professor at SDU, affiliated with the Algorithms group, received the Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 from Computer Science Canada. Among many other achievements, she is recognized for contributions to the areas of parallel and distributed computing and data structures, as well as her service to the community, including memberships in and chairing program committees for top conferences such as PODC and DISC, as well as memberships in steering committees, editorial boards of journals, and selection committees for various prestigious prizes. She has also acted as the vice president of the Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory under the ACM, of which she is also a fellow.

Lars Rohwedder wins the best paper award at the Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization (IPCO) for the paper Space-Efficient Algorithm for Integer Programming with Few Constraints, coauthored with Karol Węgrzycki.

Teresa Steiner wins the best newcomer award at the Principles of Database Systems Symposium (PODS) for the paper Differentially Private Substring and Document Counting, coauthored with Giulia Bernardini, Philip Bille, and Inge Li Gørtz.

Joan Boyar, Akbar Davoodi, Lene Favrholdt, and Leo Wennmann from the Algorithms group attended HALG - the IGAFIT Highlights of Algorithms conference, held at ETH Zurich this year. Akbar gave a presentation on Enumerating All Connected Maximum-Sized Common Substructure in Multiple Molecular Graphs and Leo on Solving Polynomial Equations Over Finite Fields. Furthermore, MS graduate from our group, Mads Anker Nielsen, presented Feedback Arc Sets and Feedback Arc Set Decompositions in Weighted and Unweighted Oriented Graphs, joint work with Anders Yeo from our group (among others). The photo is of Lene and Joan in front of the building where the conference was held. During this trip, they also visited Dennis Komm's group at ETH.

The algorithms group sent eight people to ARCO at ITU: Magnus Berg, Joan Boyar, Rolf Fagerberg, Lene Favrholdt, Kim Skak Larsen, Teresa Steiner, Leo Wennmann, and our visiting honorary professor Faith Ellen. Faith gave the talk Distributed Graph Algorithms with Predictions that represented joint work with Joan and Kim.

Today's reception celebrated Professor Jørgen Bang-Jensen who has been employed at the department since 1991, where he started as an associate professor after his assistant professorship at the University of Copenhagen. He has now retired and become a professor emeritus. Jørgen also earned his Ph.D. degree at SDU (when it was Odense University) with Bjarne Toft as his advisor. Jørgen has an impressive publication record with more than 150 articles - primarily in journals, he has advised many succesful Ph.D. and M.S. students, has taught several different theory courses, and is very well-known in graph theory - among many other things for his book with Gregory Gutin on directed graphs. At the reception, the head of department, Martin Svensson, and Bjarne Toft, himself an emeritus here, gave speeches, thanking Jørgen for his service to the department and detailing his many achievements. The graph on the hammer and the table decoration depicts the smallest 2-regular tournament. You can find more information via Jørgen's home page or read a more personal interview in the feature Problemknuserens livsrejse i grafteori.

Today Simon Erfurth defended his Ph.D. thesis, giving the address Slightly Homomorphic Digital Signatures and Privacy Preserving Folding Schemes. For the last three years Simon has been at IMADA, but has also been associated with the Digital Democracy Center (DDC). Simon was advised by Joan Boyar, Kim Skak Larsen, and Ruben Niederhagen from IMADA, together with Claes de Vreese (head of DDC). Simon's work was assessed by Professor Claudio Orlandi (Aarhus) and Associate Professor Tjerand Silde (Trondheim), together with the local member and chair, Lene Favrholdt. Simon gave a very nice talk, subsequently entering into a mature scientific discussion with the committee about the prospects as well as the limitations of his work. The committee unanimously recommended that Simon be awarded the Ph.D. degree. Congratulations from the Algorithms group!

We are looking forward to welcoming Aleksandra Olshanova into our group as a Ph.D. student. Her background is in Cheminformatics from the University of Strasbourg. Aleksandra is one of our TACsy Ph.D. students, who spend time at different European universities during their studies. She has been a Ph.D. student on this project since September 15, 2024, but has only now arrived in Odense. Aleksandra's supervisor is Daniel Merkle, but here she'll work with Jakob Lykke Andersen and Rolf Fagerberg on projects in Algorithmic Cheminformatics, as outlined in the TACsy goals. TACsy is an acronym for Training Alliance for Computational Systems Chemistry, which obtained funding as a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Joint Doctoral Network.

The members of the algorithms section, Joan Boyar and Kevin Schewior, are among the five co-organizers of a Ph.D. school on Intersections of Algorithms and Machine Learning Theory to be held at SDU, July 1-4, 2025. The headlines for the four days are the following:

• Paul Duetting (Google Research): Prophet Inequalities
• Roi Livni (Tel Aviv University): Foundations of Machine Learning
• Nicole Megow (University of Bremen): Algorithms with Predictions
• Sahil Singla (Georgia Tech): Data-Driven Stochastic Optimization

More details can be found on the home page for the event.

We are excited to welcome Leo Wennmann into our group as a Ph.D. student. Her background is in Computer Science from the University of Kiel, while most recently she has been at Maastricht University where she developed her interest in algorithmic topics such as approximation algorithms and fine-grained complexity. Leo will work on the project The Twilight Zone of Efficiency: Optimality of Quasi-Polynomial Time Algorithms, funded by the Dutch Research Council, with Lars Rohwedder as her advisor and PI for the project.

We are excited to welcome Teresa Steiner as assistant professor in the algorithms group. Teresa's interests include differential privacy, stringology, and algorithms in general. Teresa got her Ph.D. from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2022. She has held a postdoc position at the University of Vienna and later at DTU. We look forward to working with Teresa!

Magnus Berg, Rolf Fagerberg, Kim Skak Larsen, and Lars Rohwedder attend ARCO (Algorithmic Research: Cooperation around Oresound) in Malmö. The workshop had 57 participants and a nice and varied program. Lars gave the talk Sensitivity, Proximity and FPT Algorithms for Exact Matroid Problems, Rolf discussed LPS via LCS, and Magnus Online Bin Covering with Frequency Predictions, while Kim was session chair of the final session of the day.

With success rates having been around 10-12% for years, things are never certain, but FNU has granted us another nice travel grant, which they have done continuously for more than 25 years. Kim Skak Larsen, together with Joan Boyar, Lene Favrholdt, and Kevin Schewior are looking forward to working on the many interesting ideas in the project, Trade-Offs for Algorithms Facing Uncertainty.

We are excited to welcome Lars Rohwedder as associate professor in the algorithms group. Lars is interested in approximation algorithms, parameterized algorithms, integer programming, and combinatorial problems in general. Lars got his Ph.D. from the University of Kiel in 2019. He has held a postdoc position at EPFL and a tenured assistant professorship at the School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University. We look forward to working with Lars!