A place where interdisciplinary research is not just encouraged but embedded
Maria Franz brings a background in biochemistry, pharmaceutical modeling, and machine learning. She studied biochemistry at LMU Munich and obtained her PhD from RWTH Aachen, where she worked on pharmacokinetic modeling to predict how drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated in the body over time.
Through this work, she became increasingly interested in how data-driven and machine learning approaches can complement traditional mechanistic models, leading her to pursue postdoctoral research at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and artificial intelligence.
“My academic path spans biochemistry, pharmaceutical modeling, and data-driven methods, and I was looking for an environment where these perspectives could genuinely intersect,” Franz said. “The DAAD fellowship offered a unique opportunity to make that transition in a structured and internationally visible way, and ICSI stood out as a place where interdisciplinary research is not just encouraged but embedded in daily practice.”
At ICSI, Franz is working in Dr. Ben Erichson’s Deep Learning group, applying deep learning approaches to problems in drug discovery and pharmaceutical modeling. She notes that ICSI’s collaborative culture has made it an ideal environment for bridging fields that are not often connected in traditional research settings.
“ICSI provides a rare combination of intellectual openness, methodological rigor, and genuine interdisciplinarity,” she said. “Access to diverse expertise, regular scientific exchange, and a supportive environment for early-career researchers made it possible to explore ambitious ideas while still receiving constructive feedback.”
A convergence of deep expertise, academic rigor, and real-world relevance
Lea Gröber joined ICSI through the DAAD IFI postdoctoral fellowship to further her work in human-centered security and privacy. She is working with Dr. Serge Egelman’s group, where her research focuses on improving how privacy and security are implemented in real-world systems.
Before coming to ICSI, Gröber earned her PhD from Saarland University and the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, and spent a semester as visiting faculty at LUMS in Pakistan studying technology challenges for marginalized populations. These experiences motivated her to pursue international research opportunities that connect technical work with real-world impact.
“I wanted to deepen my expertise in usable security and privacy while expanding my international perspective,” Gröber said. “The U.S. is a global center of both internet policy and usable privacy research, and ICSI sits right at the heart of that. Serge Egelman’s work on human-centered privacy and his connections across academia and industry made this the obvious next step.”
At ICSI, her research focuses on developer-centered privacy engineering, studying the challenges practitioners face when implementing privacy features and designing new methods to help them build more secure and privacy-preserving systems.
“A few things converged here that you don’t find in many places at once: a host with deep expertise in exactly my area, a research culture that takes both academic rigor and real-world relevance seriously, and a location where the tech industry, policy world, and top universities are all within reach,” she said. “For research that aims to influence how privacy is actually practiced, not just theorized, that combination matters a lot.”
A mission to foster collaboration
Franz and Gröber’s fellowships are part of the long-running collaboration between ICSI and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which supports international researchers pursuing innovative, cross-disciplinary work. Over the years, the program has brought scholars from around the world to Berkeley to explore new directions in computing, data science, privacy, artificial intelligence, and beyond.
Read more about the impact of the program in our ICSI-DAAD IFI fellowship impact stories, and learn how to apply through the ICSI visiting researcher and fellowship opportunities page:
Welcoming international visitors has always been central to ICSI’s mission. By bringing together researchers from different disciplines, institutions, and countries, the institute continues to foster the kind of collaboration that leads to new ideas, new methods, and lasting scientific impact.