Meet Sanne Wøhlk 🤝

A short intro: Who are you, and what is your professional background?
I hold a degree in mathematics-economics from SDU, where I specialised in operations research (mathematical optimisation) and theoretical computer science (algorithms) during my Master’s. I also completed my PhD at SDU, focusing on a routing problem used to model refuse collection vehicles as well as vehicles for road salting and snow clearance. Afterwards, I joined the Aarhus School of Business (later merged with AU), where I have been part of the logistics/optimisation group for twenty years. During this time, I was mainly involved in the HA/BSc programmes and the MSc in logistics programme (which now has a fancier name) and primarily taught operations management, programming, and distribution and transport.

What is your area of work?
In terms of research, I work on developing mathematical models for a variety of problems – especially within routing – and on designing algorithms that can extract solutions from the models. In recent years, I have become interested in the connection between engineering, IoT and optimisation; for example, how sensor data can be used for better planning. That is why I am also very keen on collaborations that bring these domains together.

As for teaching… we are still figuring that out. There are many exciting programmes here at AU Herning, and I look forward to getting involved.

Why did you choose to work at BTECH?
There are mainly three reasons:

1. I wanted to be in a place where internal collaboration, also in research, comes naturally.

2. I wanted to work more closely with industry so that my research could be applied in practice. The fact that the study programmes are also so business-oriented has turned out to be a bonus for me.

3. I wanted to move to a more engineering-oriented and creative, playful environment. Both because it suits my personality better and because I would ike to develop my profile in that direction.

And I had heard through the grapevine that BTECH is a really great place.

Would you like to share a bit about yourself, your family and your free time?
I live on the outskirts of Aarhus with my youngest son, who is currently attending HHX – on the innovation track, in fact. I also have a son studying to become an electrical engineer at AU.

It is important to me that the things I do are enjoyable. This applies both to my work and to my free time, which I mostly spend dancing, but also kayaking, climbing, and whatever else I can come up with that feels more like play than sport.