Robert is a data and AI systems expert with foundations in process systems engineering and numerical optimization, holding degrees from RWTH Aachen University and Imperial College London. He began his career in process R&D within a multinational chemical company, where he designed and led transformative cloud and data initiatives that shaped the organization's digital landscape. As Chief Technology Lead, he was responsible for global data and AI platform engineering.

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Robert’s open-source journey began with deep contributions to Delta Lake and Delta-RS and later expanded into the broader Rust and Apache Arrow data ecosystems. Today, as part of Databricks, he serves as a Developer Advocate dedicated to fostering a modern, high-performance data ecosystem for all. Through his work on projects such as Delta Kernel, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, and Apache Iceberg, Robert remains committed to advancing the Open Lakehouse vision and facilitating the next generation of data infrastructure.

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