I am a software engineer trapped in the career of a scientist, always aiming to extend existing functionality or to write new libraries. I care about functionality, quality and team spirit. To me, any temporary solution is undesirable.

Experience

Doctoral Candidate
University of Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau
since 08/2021
  • Development and Implementation of novel agent-based simulation framework cellular_raza in Rust
    • Induced more development in the broader Rust ecosystem
  • Applications in cell-based systems; bacterial branching patterns, mechanics of rod-shaped bacteria
  • Theoretical methods for individual-based numerical simulation frameworks

Tutor
University of Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau
since 04/2020
  • Lectures: Elementargeometrie, Analysis I, Analysis II, Analysis III, Einführung in die Systembiologie, Experimentalphysik I, Theoretische Physik III, Höhere Mathematik II
  • Preparation and correction of mandatory work sheets and exams, lecture substitute for Prof.

HiWi
Fraunhofer Institute ISE Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau
02/2020 - 04/2021
  • Uncertainty estimation for heat pumps and sensors, eco-label validation and assignment

Internship
SAP
Walldorf
08/2017 - 10/2017
  • Machine Learning, AI, Natural Language Processing, Python

Skills

Programming Languages: Rust, Python, C++, C
Other Tools: $\LaTeX$, Typst, Github CI, Hugo

Selected Projects

cellular_raza
since 08/2021

cellular_raza is a library to construct numerical simulations cellular systems. It is written in Rust with templates and generics and thus allows for user-defined designs of agents from a clean slate. It is well-documented (see cellular-raza.com) with guides and showcases as well as peer-reviewed and published. Throughout my PhD, my own use-cases and requirements by collaborators required me to frequently extend and maintain the package which taught me valuable lessons in the mid and long-term support of software. Its development sparked many more contributions in the broader Rust ecosystem (github.com/jonaspleyer/cellular_raza.

cr_mech_coli
since 10/2024

This Python package allows to simulate rod-shaped bacteria as well as automatically estimate their mechanical parameters by fitting to time series of microscopic images. It uses the packages cellular_raza,ndarray,nalgebra in the numerical Rust code and numpy,scipy,matplotlib,pyvista for analysis, initialization and visualization. Bindings between Rust and Python are generated using pyo3 and maturin.

peace-of-posters
since 10/2023

I created this package since I was unsatisfied with existing solutions to create scientific posters. It uses the new typst typesetting system and is being used frequently by other PhD students.

approx-derive
04/2024

This extends the existing crate approx which enables approximate comparison of floating point operations. It allows users to very quickly implement its functionality by using derive macros.

vtk-rs
05/2025

This crate provides interoperability between Rust and a subset of the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) C++ library. It uses multiple technologies such as cmake, cxxbridge and WrapVTK to automate boilerplate generation of the bindings.

Education

University of Freiburg
Doctoral Candidate (Computational Systems Biology)
since 08/2021
University of Freiburg
MSc. Physics
04/2020 - 07/2021
Heidelberg University
MSc. Physics
04/2018 - 04/2020
Heidelberg University
BSc. Physics
09/2013 - 03/2018
Ottheinrich-Gymnasium
High School
09/2005 - 06/2013
Schillerschule Wiesloch
Elementary School
09/2001 - 06/2005

Publications

Further Commitment

iGEM

Supervisor
2023 - 2024

2024
Top 10 Overgrad, Gold Medal, Best Infectious Diseases, Nominated for: Best Wiki, Best Presentation, best Integrated Human Practices, Best Measurement, Best Composite Part

2023
Top 10 Overgrad, Gold Medal, Nominated for: Best Foundational Advance Project, Best New Composite Part, Best Wiki

Badminton

State-recognized Coach for the competitive Sport Badminton License level B
Deutscher Badminton Verband (DBV)
2019
State-recognized Coach for the competitive Sport Badminton License level C
Deutscher Badminton Verband (DBV)
2018
Honorary Trainer of Children and Adults
FT Freiburg 1844
since 01/2020
Honorary Trainer of Children and Adults
TSG Wiesloch
2016 - 2019

Camp KjG Wiesloch

Board Member (Lagerleitung)
KjG Wiesloch
11/2020 - 11/2021
Active honorary member in organizing and conducting the yearly camp and further events
KjG Wiesloch
10/2011 - 01/2024

FIRST LEGO League

Participation at Competitions of the "FIRST LEGO League"
Nemo Kids
2008 - 2011

2011 7th in Germany

2010 3rd in Germany, 9th in Europe