Dirk Baker

I am a Research & Software Engineer with a degree in Computational Engineering. My main focus is scalable software infrastructures for scientific computing - but I have done work in various topics, particularly Virtual Reality, Visualization, an Plant Science. The interplay of large software stacks that are designed by specific domains is one of the main challenges I tackled since starting to work in the research environment in 2014. Do reach out to me if you are interested in any of the topics below, or for collaboration requests. My background is broad, but with 10 years of Visualization/VR experience, ask me anything.

Work

Since 2024
Research Software Engineer
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany
Research Software Engineer for the Helmholtz Federated IT Services (HIFIS)
2021 - 2024
Researcher for Virtual Worlds and Machine Learning
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Researcher for the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC)
2020 - 2021
Master Thesis: Immersive Root System Annotation
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Master Thesis in the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG-3)
2014 - 2020
Software Engineer: Virtual Reality and Immersive Visualization
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Software Engineer at the Visual Computing Institute (VCI)

Education

2025
PhD in Computational Engineering
University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
PhD Thesis: Development and Evaluation of Data Analysis and Augmentation Approaches for Functional-Structural Plant Models
2021
Master of Science in Applied Mathematics
Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Germany
Master Thesis: Immersive Root System Annotation
2017
Bachelor of Science in Scientific Programming
Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Germany
Bachelor Thesis: Data-Set Based Evaluation of Feature Tracking Algorithms

Teaching

Featured April - May 2025
Data Analysis and Visualization: Pandas and Matplotlib
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany
Practical course on data visualization techniques using Python libraries
2023 - 2024
Virtual Worlds for Machine Learning
PhenoRob Graduate Course
Since 2020
Introduction to Unreal Engine
Annual JSC Course