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Combinatorial Optimization and Logistics
The Combinatorial Optimization and Logistics (CSLog) group at the University of Bremen focuses on the analysis of discrete algorithmic problems that are computationally difficult. We analyze the structure of such problems and design efficient algorithms with provable performance guarantees for solving them. We are also interested in combinatorial optimization problems where the input is revealed only incrementally or where there is uncertainty in the parameters, and we develop online, stochastic or robust solution methods.
Combinatorial optimization is related to theoretical computer science, discrete mathematics, operations research, algorithm theory and computational complexity theory and has important applications in several fields. In our group we develop theoretic results and apply them to complex real-world environments. Typical applications include scheduling, production planning, logistics, network design, communication and routing in networks, and health care.
Contact
Combinatorial Optimization and Logistics
Faculty 3: Mathematics & Computer Science
Prof. Dr. Nicole Megow
Bibliothekstr. 5
28359 Bremen
Secretary office
Caroline Mintert
Telefon: +49 (0) 421 218 63580
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News
May 31, 2025: We’re saying goodbye to Felix Hommelsheim, who is leaving our group for a Postdoc in Santiago de Chile. Wishing him all the best, and we'll stay connected!
May 22, 2025: Great success for Bremen’s research community: the Cluster of Excellence The Martian Mindset has been approved, and we are proud to be part of it.
May 13-14, 2025: Bremen-Hamburg Colloquium on Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization at U Hamburg.
May 7, 2025: Felix gives a lecture on "Efficient Algorithms for Survivable Network Design" as a Junior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK).
Apr 25, 2025: We’re saying goodbye to Zhenwei Liu, who is leaving our group to complete his PhD at Zhejian University. Wishing him all the best, and we'll stay connected!
Mar 25, 2025: Nicole speaks about "Query Minimization for Stochastic Selection Problems" at the Dagstuhl Seminar on Approximation Algorithms for Stochastic Optimization .
Mar 18, 2025: Alex speaks about "A Little Clairvoyance Is All You Need for Minimizing Total Flow Time" at the Dagstuhl Seminar on Scheduling and Fairness.
Mar 16-21, 2025: Dagstuhl Seminar on Scheduling and Fairness organized by Claire Mathieu, Nicole Megow, Ben Moseley, Frits Spieksma
Mar 4, 2025: Zhenwei speaks about "Protecting the Connectivity of a Graph under Non-uniform Edge Failures" at STACS 2025
Feb 01, 2025: Our paper "A 5/4-Approximation for Two-Edge Connectivity" (Miguel Bosch-Calvo, Mohit Garg, Fabrizio Grandoni, Felix Hommelsheim, Afrouz Jabal Ameli and Alexander Lindermayr)got accepted at STOC 2025!
Jan 14, 2025: Alex speaks about "The Power of Proportional Fairness for Non-Clairvoyant Scheduling under Polyhedral Constraints" at SODA 2025.
Dec 13, 2024: Our paper "Protecting the Connectivity of a Graph under Non-uniform Edge Failures" (Felix Hommelsheim, Zhenwei Liu, Nicole Megow, Guochuan Zhang) got accepted at STACS 2025.
Nov 28-29, 2024: Bremen Workshop on Combinatorial Reconfiguration and Beyond, organized by Nicole Megow, Daniel Schmand, and Sebastian Siebertz as part of their MMM Seed Project.
Nov 22, 2024: Alex Lindermayr successfully defended his PhD thesis "Unrelated Machine Scheduling in Different Information Models". Congratulations!
Nov 18, 2024: We are very happy to have Annette Lutz (TU Darmstadt) as a guests. She gave a talk about the "Incremental Prize-Collecting Steiner Tree Problem" in our research seminar.
Nov 6, 2024: We are excited to have Sarah Morell (TU Berlin) as a guest. She gave an interesting talk about the submodular Santa Claus problem in our research seminar.
Oct 14, 2024: Our paper "A Tight (3/2 + ε)-Approximation Algorithm for Demand Strip Packing" (Franziska Eberle, Felix Hommelsheim, Malin Rau, Stefan Walzer) got accepted at SODA 2025.
Oct 14, 2024: Our paper "The Power of Proportional Fairness for Non-Clairvoyant Scheduling under Polyhedral Constraints" (Sven J?ger, Alexander Lindermayr, Nicole Megow) got accepted at SODA 2025.
Sep 26, 2024: Our paper "Accelerating Matroid Optimization through Fast Imprecise Oracles" (Franziska Eberle, Felix Hommelsheim, Alexander Lindermayr, Zhenwei Liu, Nicole Megow, Jens Schl?ter) got accepted at NeurIPS 2024.
Sep 23-27, 2024: Our "Hands-On Tutorial on Optimization" will take place in MZH 5500, daily from 9am till 5pm. Special event on Wednesday: Talk with insights about Solving Optimization Problems in Practice by Industry Process Consultants from DELMIA Quintiq, Düsseldorf
Sep 1, 2024: PhD student Leoni Winschermann from the University of Twente joins our group as a research visitor for four months. Welcome!
August 1, 2024: Call for Papers for IPCO 2025 is out! Nicole Megow is the PC Chair. Please consider submitting!
July 31, 2024: We’re saying goodbye to Jens Schl?ter, who is leaving our group to join CWI in Amsterdam as a postdoc. Wishing him all the best, and we'll stay connected!
July 2, 2024: Paper accepted at APPROX 2024: Competitive Query Minimization for Stable Matching with One-Sided Uncertainty (Evripidis Bampis, Konstantinos Dogeas, Thomas Erlebach, Nicole Megow, Jens Schl?ter, Amitabh Trehan)
June 24, 2024: DFG funds our project on initiating new collaborations with researchers at Columbia University, NYU and Google.
June 23-28, 2024: Alex, Felix, Jens and former members of our group are participating in MAPSP 2024. This great event is being organized by our former group member, Kevin Schewior.
June 15, 2024: Kim Klause has the honor to present her Master's Thesis (supervised by Nicole Megow) at the Faculty's Graduation Ceremony 2024. She received one of the Faculty's Thesis Awards. Congratulations!
June 6, 2024: Nicole speaks about Minimalistic Predictions for Non-Clairvoyant Scheduling at Columbia University's Workshop on Algorithms with Predictions.
April 26, 2024: Our paper "The Bottom-Left Algorithm for the Strip Packing Problem" (Bart Zondervan and Stefan Hougardy) got accepted at IWOCA 2024.
April 19, 2024: Felix Hommelsheim became an Associate Junior Fellow at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) for a period of three years. As part of the program, he will organize an international workshop on the topic of “New Perspectives in Network Design.”
April 16, 2024: Paper accepted at ICALP 2024: Solution discovery via reconfiguration for problems in P (Mario Grobler, Stephanie Maaz, Nicole Megow, Amer E. Mouawad, Vijayaragunathan Ramamoorthi, Daniel Schmand, Sebastian Siebertz)
April 15, 2024: Nicole is visiting the Data Science Institute and IEOR (Industrial Engineering and Operations Research) group at Columbia University as an Adjunct Senior Research Scientist for three months.
April 10-12, 2024: Nicole speaks at the Workshop Women in Optimization 2024.
April 9, 2024: DSC Seed Grant supports a research stay at the Data Science Institute at Columbia University.
April 3-5, 2024: Nicole gives the EURO Plenary Talk at the 19th International Workshop on Project Management and Scheduling, PMS 2024.
April 5, 2024: Paper accepted at RTNS 2024: The Safe and Effective Use of Optimistic Period Predictions (Sanjoy Baruah, Pontus Ekberg, Alexander Lindermayr, Alberto Marchetti-Spaccamela, Nicole Megow, Leen Stougie)
April 2-3, 2024: Workshop on Matroid-Constrained Optimization Problems at Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris, organized by Kristóf Bérczi, Chien-Chung Huang and Nicole Megow.
April 1, 2024: Bart Zondervan joins our group as a new PhD student. Welcome!
April 1, 2024: We are proud that Felix Hommelsheim is serving as a interim professor at our faculty this semester.
Jan 23-26, 2024: Excited to have Moritz Buchem, Franziska Eberle and Jose Verschae as guests in Bremen for a small Workshop on Stochastic Scheduling.
Jan 22, 2024: Our paper Fast Combinatorial Algorithms for Efficient Sortation (Madison Van Dyk, Jochen Koenemann, Nicole Megow, Kim Klause) has been accepted for IPCO 2024.