Structure, Methods and Theory

The Virtual Center for Structure, Methods, and Theory (SMT) at Friedrich Schiller University brings together researchers from different departments who work on methods for understanding structure. Typically, researchers associated with SMT neither produce nor measure data, nor do they analyze it. Instead, they develop methods—ranging from theoretical frameworks to software and systems—that can be used to measure, process, and give meaning to data.

The center provides a platform for Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that bring together researchers with diverse backgrounds but shared interests. It also organizes events, typically half-day workshops on SMT topics, designed to be accessible to a broad audience, including students, PhD students, and senior researchers.

Events

Upcoming events:

• Workshop Facets of Probability: Speakers in the workshop approach probability from different perspectives: frequentist, subjective, computational, and physical

Special interest groups (SIGs)

At the moment, the following SIGs are active. Please follow the links for more details.

• Photonic Einsum: This SIG discusses if it is possible the implement tensor operations that are specified by einsum expressions on photonic hardware

• Proof Assistants: This SIG discusses the workings and applications of proof assistants, especially, LEAN 4

• Effective Learning Theory: This SIG tries to transfer techniques from theoretical physics for understanding generalization in machine learning

Associated Projects

• Interactive Inference: A project funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung within the program Scientific Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence