Jerónimo Castrillón-Mazo, Chair of Compiler Construction at the Faculty of Computer Science at TUD Dresden University of Technology (TUD) and principal investigator at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, has been awarded one of the European Union’s highly endowed ERC Consolidator Grants. His project, COMpilers for ExTreme Heterogeneity (COMETH), which will run for five years and receive EUR 2 million in funding, aims to develop a new generation of tools that will simplify the programming of increasingly complex computer systems for scientists, engineers, and other users.

Models capable of understanding different computing paradigms

As new technologies emerge – such as storage devices that can also perform calculations, or systems that utilize principles of quantum physics – computers are set to combine many fundamentally different types of hardware. This makes programming considerably more difficult. The COMETH project is building models capable of understanding different computing paradigms and knowing how they can work together to solve a task. This allows complex programming code to be automatically translated into the detailed instructions required by computers, which in the future will combine many fundamentally different types of hardware.

Prof. Angela Rösen-Wolff, Vice-Rector Research and Technology Transfer at TUD said, “With his research, Professor Jerónimo Castrillón-Mazo is making an important contribution to the continued development of emerging technologies such as those based on quantum physics. His work also extends to other areas of TUD and demonstrates how cutting-edge research is made possible primarily through strong networking.”

Professor Christel Baier, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science, offered her congratulations, “The ERC Consolidator Grant is one of the EU’s most highly endowed funding schemes. These grants honor outstanding scientists for their groundbreaking ideas. Jerónimo Castrillón-Mazo’s research is highly relevant to the efficient use of computer systems in the future. We extend our warmest congratulations to him on receiving the ERC Consolidator Grant and wish him and his team every success with the project!”

Award for the promotion of top researchers

The ERC Grants awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) are among the most prestigious European science awards and serve to support top researchers in conducting visionary fundamental research. In 2025, 349 ERC Consolidator Grants were selected from among 3,121 applications from across Europe and disciplines. They received a record-breaking EUR 728 million in funding.

Note: This text is a slightly modified version of the press release “2 million EUR to simplify the programming of computer systems: TUD researcher Jerónimo Castrillón-Mazo receives ERC Consolidator Grant” that has originally been published by TUD Dresden University of Technology. COMETH is not a project of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig, it is a project of the Chair of Compiler Construction.