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Prof. Dr. rer. nat.   Sven Bertel Junior Professor of Usability Computer Science and Media Division, Faculty of Media Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Email:  sven.bertel (at) uni-weimar.de Mail:  Faculty of Media, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Bauhausstraße 11, 99423 Weimar, Germany Office:  B 11, Room 124   /   Coords:  50°58'28" N 11°19'45" E Phone:  +49 (3643) 58–3729 Secretary's Office:  Nadin Glaser and Maria-Theresa Hansens

News | Research interests | CV | Projects | Publications | Events | Teaching | Grants and fellowships

New coordinates as of mid-April 2011:  I have moved back to the Old World, to beautiful Weimar, where I joined the Computer Science and Media Division, Faculty of Media, at the Bauhaus-Universität and took up the position of junior professor of usability.

Research Interests:  Spatial cognition ++ Understanding and computationally modeling mental reasoning with spatial knowledge (e.g. involving spatial mental models, visual mental images, or diagrams) ++ Using cognitive models to improve the quality of human-computer interaction ++ Visual attention, eye movements and mental heuristics during spatial reasoning and problem solving ++ Interface design and representation of knowledge for spatial reasoning and problem solving ++ Human problem solving strategies in architectural design ++ Spatial concepts in WWW use.

Curriculum Vitae:  I gladly provide an extended version of my CV on request.

Main academic affiliations: Junior professor of usability, Faculty of Media, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (since 2011). ++ Post-doctoral research associate, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and Human Factors Division, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009-2011). ++ Researcher, teaching assistant, and doctoral student, Cognitive Systems Group / Informatics, Universität Bremen & Transregional Collaborative Research Center Spatial Cognition SFB/TR 8 (2002-2009). ++ Visiting researcher, Spatial Thinking Lab, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara (2004-2005). ++ Overseas Fellow & graduate studies in computer science and cognitive sciences, Indiana University Bloomington (1998-1999). ++ Diploma studies in informatics, minors in cognitive psychology and economics, Universität Hamburg (1994-2001).

Academic degrees: Dr. rer. nat. (summa cum laude) in informatics, Universität Bremen, 2009. ++ Diploma in informatics (emphasis on knowledge representation; minors in cognitive psychology & economics), Universität Hamburg, 2001.

Selected Research Projects:  

• Cognitive processes underlying mental imagery and problem solving, jointly with Jana Holsanova et al.; sponsored by the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study.
• Spatial updating and reasoning with object locations, jointly with Wai-Tat Fu and Hyunkyu Lee.
• Spatial language and mental representations, jointly with Dan Morrow et al.
• Older Adults’ Health Knowledge and Comprehension Processes of Multimedia Health Information, collaboration with Dan Morrow (PI) et al.
• DFG SFB/TR-8 Spatial Cognition: project R1-[ImageSpace] – Mental Representations of Spatial Environments
• Doctoral project in artificial intelligence and spatial cognition on 'Spatial structures and visual attention in diagrammatic reasoning' (Dr. rer. nat., concluded in Jan 2009; shortlisted for the ECCAI 2008 dissertation award for the best European thesis in artificial intelligence)
• DFG Spatial Cognition Priority Program: project Aspect Maps

Publications:  List of publications     Papers at scholar.google.com

Selected (Co-) Organized Events:  

• 2010, March 22–24:  AAAI Spring Symposium on Cognitive Shape Processing, Stanford University
• 2008, September 19:  Doctoral colloquium at the Spatial Cognition 2008 (SC'08) conference in Freiburg, Germany (ESRI student awards are available)
• 2006, July 9:  Constructing and Understanding Visuo-Spatial Representations in Design Thinking (VSDESIGN'06), workshop at the Design Computing and Cognition 2006 conference in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
• 2006, June 17:  50 Years AI — an artificial intelligence symposium to celebrate the golden anniversary of the Dartmouth Conference that marks the beginning of AI as a research field. Colocated with the 29th annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence (KI 2006) and RoboCup 2006.
• 2006, June 14–19:  KI2006 — 29th annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence
• 2004, July 18:  Workshop on "Mental conceptions of emergent spaces in architectural design", held in connection with DCC'04 at MIT, Cambridge, MA (call for papers, workshop notes, program)
• 2003, September 01–02:  International workshop on spatial and visual components in mental reasoning about large-scale spaces (held at the ISCSI, Bad Zwischenahn)

Teaching Activities:  

• Winter 2011–12:  Usability Engineering (lecture + labs)
• Winter 2011–12:  Zeitmaschinen: Kontextbasierte Unterstützung intelligenter Interaktion durch Zeit und Raum (Projekt)
• Summer 2011:  Usability: Grundlagen von Wahrnehmung und Kognition (Vorlesung im Bachelor Medieninformatik)
• Fall 2009:  Human Factors (Psychology/Aviation 358 / Industrial Engineering 340)
• Spring 2009:  Engineering Psychology (Psychology / Aviation 527 — course material, login required)
• Winter 2008–09:  Cognitive Systems 2
• Winter 2007–08:  Tutorium zur Theoretischen Informatik 1
• Winter 2007–08:  Cognitive Systems 2
• Summer 2007:  Tutorium zur Theoretischen Informatik 2
• Winter 2005–06 – Summer 2007:  MaX — MazeXplorer. Projekt im Hauptstudium Informatik
• Winter 2003–04 – Summer 2005:  CooPLanD — Assisting cooperative planning of land use. Projekt im Hauptstudium Informatik
• Summer 2003:  Tutorium zur Theoretischen Informatik 2
• Winter 2002–03:  Tutorien zur Praktischen Informatik 1

Selected Grants, Honors, and Fellowships:  

• 2011–2012:  Seed grant for project 'Reaching below the surface level of human-computer interfaces: Anticipatory cognitive computing for spatial problem solving', Anschubfonds, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
• 2011:  2-months fellowship at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst
• 2011:  Travel grant, GAIN – German Academic International Network, European Career Fair @ MIT
• 2010:  GSO Scholarship at the 10th Annual GAIN Meeting, MIT, Cambridge, MA
• 2010:  DAAD travel grant to Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
• 2010:  Twin Fellowship, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (Hanse Institute for Advanced Study), Delmenhorst
• 2010:  Travel grant, GAIN – German Academic International Network, European Career Fair @ MIT
• 2009:  Grant at the Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality in Psychology and Economics, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
• 2008:  Shortlisted for 2008 ECCAI Dissertation Award (best European dissertation in artificial intelligence)
• 2007:  AAAI student grant at the 2007 AAAI Spring Symposium Series, Stanford University
• 2007:  Travel grant by BFK Natural Sciences, Universität Bremen, ECEM 2007 conference
• 2006:  DFG travel grant to Stanford University and to UC Santa Barbara
• 2006:  Google Inc. travel award at Diagrams 2006, Stanford University
• 2005:  Travel grant, ECEM 13 conference at Bern, Switzerland, by the German Research Foundation / DFG
• 2005:  Student grant at the AAAI 2005 Spring Symposia, Stanford University
• 2004–2005:  Grant by the SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition for a ½-year research visit to UC Santa Barbara (Hegarty Spatial Thinking Lab, Department of Psychology)
• 2004:  Scholarship at the Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'04) conference, MIT, Cambridge, MA
• 2003:  ESRI Student Award at the COSIT'03 conference in Ittingen, Switzerland
• 2003:  DAAD stipend for the 10th International Summer School in Cognitive Science at NBU, Sofia
• 2002:  Grant by Hansische Universitätsstiftung, 9th Intl Summer School in Cognitive Science at NBU, Sofia
• 1998–1999:  Overseas Fellowship and stipend by Indiana University, Bloomington