Professor Dr Monika Henzinger

Research Priorities: Algorithms, algorithmic game theory, data structures, search engines
Monika Henzinger is a computer scientist. She develops and researches algorithms for computers, in particular optimisation and graph algorithms. She also focuses on algorithmic game theory and computer-assisted verification.
For every calculation, for every task, a computer needs an algorithm – an instruction how to solve a problem. An algorithm is made up of many individual steps. Each step leads to a specific further step. Graphs model the relationship between data. Graph algorithms play a large role in social networks because elements with connections can be represented in graphs. However, the connections in social networks are changing constantly and thus also the graphs. Despite this, an algorithm must be able to accurately and quickly solve a search request, for example for a specific user group within the network. Monika Henzinger develops graph algorithms and algorithms for computer-assisted searches for complex content (information retrieval) and web data mining. Data mining consists of searching for interconnections in large amounts of data.
In further research work she focuses on internet adverts, specifically “sponsored search auctions”. For every search request, using these auctions determines what advertisement will be shown to users alongside the search results. In order to develop optimal strategies for providers, Monika Henzinger and her team analyse new auctions for search machines.
With her research, Monika Henzinger wants to develop fast and memory-efficient algorithms. In doing so she wants to contribute to computers using less electricity and fewer raw materials. During her time at the American technology company Google Inc., she was responsible for the algorithms of the Google search engine. She continually optimised the algorithms and was thus instrumental in the search engine’s advancement.