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Bio

ulno – You will know.

Ulrich Norbisrath is a Professor for Distributed and Edge Computing at HSBI (Hochschule Bielefeld – University of Applied Sciences and Arts), Campus Gütersloh, where he teaches everything from modern topics like the Internet of Things, distributed and embedded systems, and edge and cloud computing to classics like an introduction to databases. He connects research, open-source software, and hands-on teaching.

Before HSBI

For many years Ulrich was Associate Professor for Distributed Systems at the University of Tartu in Estonia, before which he taught and researched at institutions across Europe, Central Asia, and North and South America — including the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, George Mason University (USA), and Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan).

He studied at RWTH Aachen University, where he also earned his PhD in Computer Science with the dissertation “Configuring eHome Systems” (magna cum laude, advisors M. Nagl and A. Zündorf). Home automation and ubiquitous computing were already his subject then — long before they were called IoT.

Ulrich speaks several languages and has taught predominantly in English for many years. He holds German and US American citizenship.

Research & focus

His research centres on the Internet of Things, distributed and embedded systems, edge and cloud computing, security and privacy, and Extended Reality (XR) — always with a strong bias toward practical, applied results and toward making technology accessible.

A recurring theme is digital sovereignty. Together with colleagues at the University of Tartu he showed that old smartphones can be repurposed into tiny, remarkably inexpensive data centres, turning e-waste into local edge infrastructure. His portfolio here ranges from building the Tartu Hackerspace and self-hosted alternatives to cloud and Big-Tech services to on-premise AI — work supported by several grants, including the XRP Ledger Foundation.

Software & community

Ulrich is the creator of IoTempower, an open-source framework and environment that makes the Internet of Things accessible to students, makers, artists, and professionals alike — now used at several European universities. He is a co-founder of the open IoTempire association and of the teaching effort behind the iotempire-teaching course material, and the first ambassador of Brazil’s Caninos Loucos open-hardware initiative.

He is a published book author in software and requirements engineering and, not least, an active maintainer and teacher who would rather ship a working prototype than a slide deck about it.

Find me

Off the clock

Espresso, pour-over coffee, and good German cake — ideally combined with a lively discussion about open systems, teaching, or whatever you are building. Students and colleagues are always welcome to reach out.