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Technical University of Munich

Alfons Kemper

Prof. Dr. 

Former Professor and Chair of Computer Science III (Database Systems)
TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology

Born April 16, 1958

 alfons.kemper@tum.de

Research Profile

Alfons Kemper is a leading figure in database research. His work focuses on developing high-performance and scalable database systems that integrate transactional and analytical processing in large, distributed information systems.

A central focus of his research is main-memory database systems, query optimization, and the physical organization of data. Together with Thomas Neumann, he developed the HyPer database system, which established new architectural concepts for coupling OLTP and OLAP processing and achieved broad international recognition. Building on this work, the successor system Umbra was developed, combining in-memory performance with persistent storage.

In 2004, Kemper was appointed to the Chair of Computer Science III (Database Systems) at the Technical University of Munich. From 2006 to 2010, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science, followed by his role as Vice Dean. From 2022 to 2025, he headed the Department of Computer Science at the TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology.

Following his appointment as a TUM Emeritus of Excellence and his inclusion in the TUM Senior Excellence Faculty, Alfons Kemper remains closely affiliated with the Technical University of Munich.

 

Academic Career

1977–1980Study of Computer Science, University of Dortmund
1980–1984Graduate Studies in Computer Science, University of Southern California (USA)
1984Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Southern California
1984–1991Academic Assistant, University of Karlsruhe
1991Habilitation, University of Karlsruhe
1991–1993Professor (C3), RWTH Aachen University
1993–2004Professor (C4) of Computer Science, University of Passau
2001–2003Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Passau
2004–2025Professor of Computer Science III (Database Systems), Technical University of Munich
2006–2010Dean, Faculty of Computer Science, TUM
2010–2012Vice Dean, Faculty of Computer Science, TUM
2022–2025Head of the Department of Computer Science,
TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology
2025Retirement and appointment as TUM Emeritus of Excellence

 

Awards

  • VLDB Test-of-Time Award (2025)
  • ACM Fellow (2022)
  • ICDE Ten-Year Influential Paper Award (2021)
  • Fellow of the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI) (2016)
  • Best Paper Award, ICDE (2014)
  • Best Paper Award, BTW (2015)
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