He will join the Mathematics and Computer Science (MCS) division in September, where he will be developing mixed-integer nonlinear optimization methods.

“I am honored to be named the 2020 Wilkinson Fellow and to have the opportunity to be working with optimization experts at Argonne,” Manns said. ​“I am especially interested in optimal control problems constrained by partial differential equations – problems found in many scientific and engineering applications.”

Manns received his Ph.D. from the Technische Universität (TU) Braunschweig, Germany, in 2019. As a graduate student he worked with Argonne researchers on the convergence of sum-up rounding schemes applied to the design of electromagnetic cloaking. He is currently on the faculty at the Institute for Mathematical Optimization at TU Braunschweig.

Manns’ work (with his colleagues) has been published in more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles that have appeared in IEEE Control Systems Letters and the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, among others.

The appointment as Wilkinson Fellow lasts a year and can be extended an additional year. Benefits include salary, moving expenses, and a professional travel allowance.