Howdy ho, I’m Ludwig Winkler, a machine learner with a focus on stochastic processes and generative models.

I defended my PhD at the TU Berlin Machine Learning Group under Klaus-Robert Müller and Manfred Opper in November 2024 and got a nice new hat 🎓. During my PhD I worked on time-reversible dynamics of deterministic and stochastic systems. I went deep down the rabbit hole on stochastic processes with stochastic differential equations, autograd functions and diffusion models on geometric manifolds. You can read up on that on my Google scholar.

Over the course of my studies I gravitated towards machine learning fields with rigorous mathematics. Before I knew it, I ended up working on stochastic processes and stochastic differential equations. In particular, I have trained neural networks in stochastic differential equations in order to solve optimal transport problems and infer the corresponding stochastic process. The stochastic processes I tackled include SDE’s, CTMC’s, the connection between SDE’s and CTMC’s in generative modelling and the Schrödinger Bridge Problem. I especially enjoy the mathematical rigor of stochastic processes and probabilistic machine learning in general.

I spent time at Prescient Design within Genentech/Roche designing and implementing advanced sampling and sample optimization schemes for protein generation and manipulation with machine learning models.

Currently, I’m a senior research engineer with Microsoft Research in the AI4Science division. I’m part of the BioEmu team working on modelling the equilibrium distribution of biomolecules with generative machine learning models.

Besides my research activity, history in conjunction with economics and politics has been a long standing interest of mine. As I grew older the link between economics and history became more evident to me and my focus shifted to economic and financial history which often does a superb job at explaining the latent forces that shape history.

I have been remarkably lucky to be living in Berlin where I explore the multitude of different subcultures that exist so harmoniously in this city. Berlin represents something of an ideal city for me as its history has enabled subcultures to thrive while offering abundant intellectual goodies ranging from art&music, a lot of techno, to blockchain and machine learning.