Martin Gugat has studied mathematics at the RWTH Aachen, Germany. He graduated in 1990 with the degree `Diplom-Mathematiker'. Between 1990 and 2000 he worked at the Department of mathematics at the university of Trier, where he received his doctoral degree summa cum laude in 1994 and finished his habilitation in 1998. Between 2000 and 2003 he worked at the department of mathematics at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. Since 2003 he works at the department of mathematics of the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. His research focuses on optimization. He is a member of the `Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics' (SIAM).