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A Cullen College of Engineering professor will be extending his stay in Germany to collaborate with international researchers, after being picked for the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, which started in January 2022. 

Aaron T. Becker, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, will have the opportunity to conduct research in Germany for six to 18 months, which can be divided into three sessions within three years. The fellowship is typically granted to five to 10 applicants per year – only about 25 to 30 percent of the total pool, according to the Humboldt Foundation.

Since the summer of 2021, Becker has been the guest of professor Sándor Fekete at the Institut für Betriebssysteme und Rechnerverbund, Abteilung Algorithmik, Technische Universität Braunschweig – The Institute for Operating Systems and Computer Networks, Algorithms Department, at the Technical University in Braunschweig, Germany. He taught the fall 2021 semester remotely, and has taken a sabbatical to focus on the fellowship opportunity.

Becker said the seeds for earning this fellowship were planted when he was a post-doctorate researcher at Rice University in 2013.

“I met Sándor Fekete, my current host at Braunschweig, and we made a video about controlling a swarm of robots,” Becker said. “This video led to a string of papers. My lab is dedicated to building robots and robot prototypes, while his lab is a world leader at algorithm design and proofs of complexity. It has been a fruitful partnership for almost a decade.”

Becker noted that the collaboration has worked in both directions, as he hosted Fekete in the past. This connection and another led to what he felt was a strong application for the fellowship.

“He stayed at UH at the Hilton for a week while my family were Faculty in Residence at Moody Towers, and I think almost everyone in my lab got at least one new research idea from him,” Becker said. “We talked about my upcoming sabbatical and the merits of Germany. Also, a collaborator of mine at UT Dallas – Dr. Min Jun Kim – explained how he had been awarded the von Humboldt fellowship several years ago and offered to support my application as a letter writer. Dr. Fekete also wrote a strong letter.”

Becker added that he was told that he had won the fellowship in an amusing way.

“The Alexander von Humboldt organization sent a large box containing a map, a Germany phrase book, a German travel book, and a ‘von Humboldt necktie,’” he said. “It felt like Christmas! The first thing I did was tell my wife, and the next was to thank my letter writers!”

Exploring internationally isn't new to Becker, and he does have German roots in his family.

“As a Ph.D. student, my wife Elana and I took a summer off for an eight-week backpacking trip across Europe. Elana loves languages, and was excited about spending my sabbatical in Germany,” he said. “On both my mom and dad’s side, our most recent immigrant ancestors came from Germany in 1906.  For as long as I can remember, my grandpa had a picture on his wall of the ship his mother came across the Pacific on as a 6-year-old. My dad still loves his 1967 VW bus. As I child I remember being fascinated by the German engineering that enabled an engine the size of a dorm microwave to propel a family, and the canoe we would strap to the roof.”

While Becker doesn't speak German, he's been doing his best to pick the language up when he can. His family managed to get a head start on him in this regard. 

“My Grandma taught be how to sing 'Oh Tannenbaum,' but that was the extent of my language learning,” he said. “For the last 560 days I’ve been using Duolingo to pick up a little German. During the pandemic everyone in my family except me enrolled in the Deutsche Samstagsschule Houston for a school year. I was the designated school bus driver, so I couldn’t attend class.”

Once he was in Germany, with his kids settled in school there and the research projects growing in November, he and his wife took - and passed - an eight-week intensive language course.

While he completes the fellowship, Becker said he hoped he and his family could take advantage of the opportunities it will provide.

“My goal is that my family will grow closer as we face the challenge of learning a new language and culture,” he said. “I’d like to use the opportunities this award offers, in particular, the chance to visit world leaders in robotics in Europe. Due to Covid-19 canceling several years’ worth of conferences, it has been a long time since I’ve seen robotics experts outside of Texas, so this is a great opportunity. I’m also hoping to study some deep learning, and some calculus of variations.”