Michael Bortz studied Physics in Dortmund and Grenoble. He received his Ph.D. at Dortmund University in 2003. After that, he worked as a PostDoc at universities in Wuppertal, Canberra (Australian National University), Oxford, and Kaiserslautern. In 2009 he joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics in Kaiserslautern, where he is now leading the department for optimization of technical processes. His research interests are in modeling, simulating, and optimizing processes in different application domains, including medical therapy planning, mechanical, and chemical engineering.