My focus areas are, e.g. Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorial Optimization, the design of randomized and derandomized Algorithms in Combinatorial Optimization, Algorithms for Big Data, Combinatorical Discrepacy Theory, Combinatorical Games and Applications of Mathematical Optimization in Marine, Life Sciences and Medicine.

Since my habilitation at the Free University in Berlin in 1996 I am interested in derandomizing concentration inequalities and to find their impacts in algorithm design.

I find Discrepancy Theory exciting as it brings together many different areas in Mathematics and Computer Science, like Harmonic Analysis, Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Geometry, Number Theory, Numerical Integration and Advanced Algorithmics for High-Dimensional Problems.

Please see also my book A Panorama of Discrepancy Theory, co-edited with William Chen and Giancarlo Travaglini, which was published in 2014 with Springer Heidelberg, new York. I am in particularily interested in the discrepancy of hypergraphs with arithmetic or vector space structures, e.g. arithmetic progressions, half planes, solutions of sytems of lienar equations. This also connects to my pure mathematics interests and my mathematical roots in functional analysis.

Since 2017 I started work on combinatorial games, like Mastermind and the existing theory of Maker-Breaker Games, in particular randomized and deterministic strategies for the Maker-Breaker-Subgraph Game. I refer to a breakthrough resultfor the Maker-Breaker Triangle Game published in the European Journal of Combinatorics (Glazik, Srivastav, 2022).

On the more algorithmic side, I am convinced that Algorithm Engineering is a comprehensible and dynamic approach for the design of practically good, as well as theoretically analysable algorithms in Combinatorial Optimization. Since 2013, I am also working in the design of memory efficient algorithms for Big Data problems, like graph matching, Euler paths and long paths in streaming models, bioinformatics application in external memory and parallel computing models.

Since my postdoc time at the Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics at the University of Bonn in the 1990ties I am facinated in real world application of Mathematics. In Kiel, I am working on multicriteria optimization in marine science, for example the calibration of complex biogeochemical models under global circulation for the prediction of marine traces gases, like CO2 or oxygen minimum zones in the ocean.

In Life Sciences and Medicine I am interested in the design of new and memeory efficent algorithms for de novo Genome Assembly, Metagenome Assembly and counting of k-mers.  Since 2016 I am also working on efficient algorithmes for solving inverse problems arising in EEG-based diagnosis of neurological disorders in brain, e.g. childhood absence epilepsy.

Many of my research projects I pursued as a PI in the priority programs of the German Research Foundation (DFG), such as DFG priority programme 1736 „Algorithms for Big Data“, the DFG priority programme 1307 „Algorithm Engineering“ (2007- 2016), the DFG SPP 1126 „Large and Complex Networks“ (2000-2007), in the DFG cluster of excellence at Kiel University „The Future Ocean“ (2017-2019) and the DFG research training group (DFG GRK 357) "Efficient Algorithms and Multiscale Methods" (1998-2005).

I was born in Dayalbagh, Agra, India. After primary education in Dayalbagh and school education in Germany, I studied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Münster, Germany, where I received the master’s degree in mathematics as well as in Physics. In 1988 I received the doctoral degree Dr.rer.nat. from the University of Münster with a thesis in Functional Analysis concerned with the characterization of real C*-Algebras, and the Radon-Nikodym theorem for weights and traces in W*-algebras. From 1988–1993 I was Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics, University of Bonn, Germany, and from 1993–1994 Visiting Professor at the Univ. of Minnesota, New York University and Yale University.

In the years 1994–1996 I wrote my Habilitation Thesis on Derandomized Algorithm in Combinatorial Optimization at the Free University (and the Humboldt University) of Berlin. Since 1997 I have been a professor and chair for Discrete Optimization at Kiel University. My research interests are not only Combinatorial Optimization, Combinatorial Games, Discrete Harmonic Analysis and Discrepancy Theory, Randomized and Derandomized Algorithms, but also applications of optimization and graph theory in Marine Science, Life Sciences, and Nano and Interface Sciences.

I am member of the focus areas of Kiel University, namely Kiel Marine Science (KMS), Kiel Life Science (KLS), and Kiel Nano, Surface and Interface Science (KiNSIS). I have been speaker of the research training group (RIG) of the German Research Foundation (DFG), GRK 357 "Efficient Algorithmes and Multiscale Methods" from 2001-2005.

I have been PI and speaker of the research platforms in the Kiel cluster of excellence “The Future Ocean” founded by the DFG from 2007 to 2019, and member as PI in three priority programs of the DFG, namely SPP1304 “Algorithmics of Large and Complex Networks” (2001-2007), SPP 1307 “Algorithm Engineering” (2007-2013) and SPP 1736 "Algorithm for Big Data” (2013-2022).

From 2012-2021 I was speaker of the Council for Scientific Computing and Digital Research Infrastructures at Kiel University.

I was awarded the stipend for habilitation work by the German Research Foundation in 1995, a research stipend by the Japan Society of Science in 1997, the Indo-German Guest professorship in 2013 at the IIT Delhi by the Max-Planck-Society, and the DEI Distinguished Alumni Award of the Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed to be University), Agra, India, in 2019.

I published more than 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and have accumulated a third-party funding mainly from DFG of approx. 5 Million Euros for research personal and instrumentation (e.g. computing plattforms).