SHORT PROFILE
Wilke studied chemistry and mathematics at the University of Oldenburg in his bachelor’s degree and subsequently chemistry in his master’s degree. Until 2018, he did his PhD in Theoretical Chemistry embedded in the transregional research group NAGOCAT and investigated oxidation reactions on nanoporous gold and other bi-metallic catalyst surfaces using quantum chemical calculations. From 2018 to 2020, he worked as a PostDoc at Aarhus University at the Institute for Physics and Astronomy. Here he learned and further developed methods from the field of Global Optimization such as Evolutionary Algorithms and on-the-fly trained ML methods e.g. based on a Gaussian Process.
Since May 2020, Wilke has been working for the MAPEX Center of the University of Bremen in various interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with the departments 1 to 5. His focus is on the further development of new methods for global optimization of solids and molecular structures as well as interfaces. In this context, he is investigating new methods for the complete description of so-called potential energy surfaces using ML techniques. In particular, Wilke is embedded in the APF project „Materials on Demand„ and works there together with other researchers from Bremen on the possibility to characterize regolith and make it utilizable.