About me

I studied computer science at the University of Würzburg, Germany, where I received my diploma degree in 2012. After this I joined the Chair of Communication Networks, lead by Prof. Wolfgang Kellerer, at the Technische Universität München in June 2012. In Mai 2018, I received the degree Doktor-Ingenieur (Dr.-Ing.) from the Technische Universität München with highest distinction (summa cum laude, Link). I am currently working as a postdoctoral-researcher and associate lecturer at the Chair of Communication Networks. From March 2019 to January 2022, I was a Senior Research Fellow at the Communication Technologies Group, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Vienna. My research is focused on flexible and predictable network virtualization, virtualizing software-defined networks, as well as data-driven networking, including architecture, system, and algorithm design.

Teaching

Lectures with full responsibility.

WS 2021/2022

• Data Science Grundlagen und Anwendung

SS 2021

• Praktikum Data Science und Grundlagen zum Maschinellen Lernen

SS 2020

• Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation of Communication Networks

Certifications and Attended Seminars

• Virtuelle Meetings professionell und interaktiv gestalten (two-day workshop)
• Qualification Program at the Graduate Center Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering
• Effektives Führen von Studierenden (14 Stunden)
• Scientific Writing (16 hours)
• PhD Supervisor Training (two-day workshop)
• Teaching in English
• Project Management for Researchers (two-day workshop)
• Führend Wissen Schaffen (6 Stunden)
• Serious Creativity - Develop New Solutions in a Systematic Way (two-day workshop, 14 hours)

Awards

• Best Student Paper Award at IFIP/IEEE IM for the paper “sfc2cpu: Operating a Service Function Chain Platform with Neural Combinatorial Optimization”, Bordeaux, France, Virtual Conference, 2021
• Best Demo Award at NetSys, Munich, Germany, 2019
• Nominated for Best Paper Award IFIP Networking, Warsaw, Poland, 2019
• Best Dissertation in Network and Service Management 2018, awarded by IEEE IM 2019 Dissertation Committee
• Kurt Fischer Promotionspreis 2018, awarded by Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Munich
• Accepted for postdoc grant of the internationalization program at the Technical Faculty of IT and Design, Aalborg University, 2018
• Best-In Session Presentation Award, awarded by IEEE INFOCOM 2018 TPC
• Student Travel Grant CNSM, 2016
• Student Travel Grant IM, 2015

Selected Publications

• NetBOA: Self-Driving Network Benchmarking. Zerwas, J.; Kalmbach, P.; Henkel, L.; Rétvári, G.; Kellerer, W.; Blenk, A.; and Schmid, S. In Proc. Workshop on Network Meets AI & ML (NetAI’19), pages 1-7, 2019.
• NeuroViNE: A Neural Preprocessor for Your Virtual Network Embedding Algorithm. Blenk, A.; Kalmbach, P.; Zerwas, J.; Jarschel, M.; Schmid, S.; and Kellerer, W. In Proc. IEEE INFOCOM, pages 1-9, April 2018.
• o’zapft is: Tap Your Network Algorithm’s Big Data!. Blenk, A.; Kalmbach, P.; Schmid, S.; and Kellerer, W. In Proc. ACM SIGCOMM Workshop Big-DAMA, of Big-DAMA ‘17, pages 19-24, August 2017. ACM
• Control Plane Latency With SDN Network Hypervisors: The Cost of Virtualization. Blenk, A.; Basta, A.; Zerwas, J.; Reisslein, M.; and Kellerer, W. IEEE Trans. on Netw. and Serv. Manage., 13(3): 366-380. September 2016.
• Survey on Network Virtualization Hypervisors for Software Defined Networking. Blenk, A.; Basta, A.; Reisslein, M.; and Kellerer, W. IEEE Commun. Surveys & Tutorials, 18(1): 655-685. 2016.

Selected Community Work

• Chair, NetSys 2021 PhD Forum Link, Sep. 16, 2021, L"ubeck, Germany (online)
• Chair, Machine Learning in Networking (MaLeNe), NetSys Workshop, Sep. 13, 2021, L"ubeck, Germany (online)