Hamburg IRES 2026 — Week 3

During week three of the Hamburg IRES program, my group made great progress on our project and had the chance to explore the city more. I’ve focused my effort on developing our predictive model for estimating container dwell time, which will eventually be integrated into our digital twin. We got initial results using our real data and have started brainstorming how to modify our model to better accomplish the predictive task. We also have started considering how to integrate this into an optimization process for container placement and retrieval. Additionally, we began working on developing another predictive model for handling vessel lateness prediction, which will simultaneously run in our finished digital twin.

Real vs. Miniature views of Hamburg (Heinrich Hertz Tower)

Additionally, our cohort visited the International Maritime Museum and Miniatur Wunderland, and we presented our projects to UHH master’s students. We had a great time exploring these museums — I especially loved seeing all of the places we had already explored in Miniatur Wunderland, both in Germany and in the US! I could’ve spent all day in that museum :) After work, we also watched the water show at Planten un Blumen, walked through Stadtpark, and visited the St. Pauli Night Market.

Stadtpark, Night Market, and Maritime Museum with the cohort

Over the weekend, we stayed in Hamburg and explored the city. We spent Saturday at the Timmendorfer Strand (the beach nearby) and then took the train back to Hamburg in time to watch the World Cup game. Germany beat the Ivory Coast in an exciting finish, it was such a fun game! On Sunday, I went to the Fishmarkt, walked along the canals of the warehouse district, spent the afternoon at Alster Lake, then climbed to the roof of the Hamburg Bunker to the garden and got a great view of the city!

Weekend excursions — beach, bunker, warehouse district

It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway done with our IRES research program. I’ve already had such an amazing time, both through learning so much and having so many great experiences. I can’t wait to see what the next three weeks bring me!