Success Stories – Meet Our Selected Alumni

b-it’s highly selective study programs attract top global talent and produce alumni who excel in internationally renowned careers at leading tech firms, research institutes, and innovative startups. These high-potential graduates demonstrate the transformative power of our elite education in informatics.

Our programs – Autonomous Systems (MAS), Human-Centered Information Systems (HCIS), and Life Science Informatics (LSI) – equip students with cutting-edge expertise and hands-on experience, preparing them for leadership roles in AI, robotics, digital media, and computational medicine. Expect rigorous training, industry collaborations, and real-world projects that build confidence for groundbreaking achievements.

Or as one of our alumi puts it themselves : “The MAS provided me with a strong foundation and the confidence to take on challenging roles in research and development.”

We congratulate all our graduates on their outstanding achievements and look forward to staying connected as valued members of the b-it alumni network.

Alumni of Human-Centered Intelligent Systems & Media Informatics

Tsovinar Chugaszyan

While at b-it, Tsovinar Chugaszyan served as the elected Student Representative on the Media Informatics Study Committee. Following her studies, she translated her proactive nature into an international career bridging technology, innovation, and education. Her journey at SAP – the largest tech company in Europe – has started as a software developer and progressed to Product Manager and Ecosystem Development Lead, where she was responsible for global enablement programs and expanding innovation communities across Europe and Central Asia.

Alumni of Life Science Informatics (LSI)

Elizaveta Popova

Elizaveta joined the LSI program in October 2023 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from the Department of Medical Physics of the Lomonossov University in Moscow, Russian Federation. She entered the group of Professor Hofmann-Apitius as a research student in November 2023. In her Master Thesis she works on “Leveraging Multimodal Large Language Models to Extract Mechanistic Insights from Biomedical Visuals: A Case Study on COVID-19 and Neurodegenerative Diseases”. Her work is pioneering the extraction of scientific information from graphical abstracts (science cartoons); with a special focus on the putative co-morbidity between COVID-19 and neurodegenerative diseases.

Astha Anand

Astha started her studies in LSI program at b-it in 2021 with a Master’s Degree from Mysore University in India in Biotechnology. During her time at Mysore University, she was a JNU-CEEB Fellowship holder from 2017-2019. She joined the group of Professor Martin Hofmann-Apitius as a research assistant and worked during her Master thesis on a new, innovative approach (LLM-RAG) that powers an expert answering system for pest control decisions.

Bariş Yapiçi

Bariş joined the LSI program with a Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, in October 2023. In 2024 he worked temporarily as student assistant at the University of Cologne and later on joined Fraunhofer SCAI as a research student. Currently, he works on his master thesis in the group of Professor Hofmann-Apitius, where he uses knowledge graphs and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to establish a brokering system for data collaborations and science domain portfolio management.

Endri Gupta

Endri graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Delhi, India, one of India’s top Universities. She joined the LSI program in October 2022. Endri worked as a student assistant in HPCA lab of the University of Bonn, then became a research student at ZBMed in Cologne and joined the research group of Professor Hofmann-Apitius at Fraunhofer SCAI for her Master thesis on the topic “Towards Co-Morbidity-Aware Clinical Guidance: Integrating AI, Knowledge Graphs, and Biomedical Evidence for Mechanism-Informed Decision Support“. Underlying is a co-morbidity aware vector store for clinical guidelines; a system that is highly innovative and completely without precedence in translational science. On 1st October 2025, Endri joined Gesis, a Leibnitz Institute for the Social Sciences in Cologne.

Alumni of Autonomous Systems (MAS)

Bharath Santhanam

Bharath graduated from H-BRS with a master’s degree in Autonomous Systems (MAS) in December 2024: The program provided a strong foundation in robotics and AI, enhanced by hands-on experience with platforms like the Toyota Human Support Robot (HSR) and the Kinova robotic arm. His thesis focused on improving robot safety in anomalous environments. He remembers: “During my studies, I also gained valuable industry experience through various research projects at Fraunhofer IAIS. The excellent education I received prepared me well for my current role as an AI Application Engineer at Neura Robotics. What truly set H-BRS apart was the supportive environment created by the professors and staff, who were always willing to collaborate on innovative projects and allowed students the autonomy to pursue their research interests.”

Samuel Wiest

He graduated from the MAS program at H-BRS in February 2024. During his time there, he had the opportunity to work on various hands-on projects, including ontology development for robot failure analysis with Kelo Robotics GmbH. His master’s thesis at Fraunhofer IAIS focused on Bayesian optimization for the design of experiments: “These experiences from MAS are vital to my work at the

Shalaka Satheesh

She started the MAS program during the COVID-19 pandemic and attended the first semester remotely from my home country: “Even with all the uncertainty due to the pandemic, right from the start, I felt supported and found the MAS staff to be approachable. This also eased my transition to a foreign country.” Later, the research and development project provided her with the opportunity to explore collaborations with external research institutes, and she was able to start her research work in speech processing at Fraunhofer IAIS. She continued her research for her thesis on evaluating language models at the same institute and have continued to work there full-time since graduating in April 2024: “It is the MAS program that provided me with the foundation for my current research and I am grateful for this.”

Suhasini Venkatesh

She graduated from the MAS program at H-BRS in 2024. The program offered a unique combination of theoretical depth and practical exposure. Through its well-structured coursework and hands-on approach, she was able to deepen my understanding of intelligent systems and strengthen her software engineering skills: “The academic environment, along with the support from faculty and peers, played a key role in shaping my professional development.” Today, she works at ZB MED, where she contributes to the development of AI-based solutions in the life sciences domain. “The MAS program provided me with a strong foundation and the confidence to take on challenging roles in research and development.”