PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Markus Weber

Markus Weber is a computer scientist whose Caltech research helped computers recognize objects in cluttered images. He coauthored work on soft-part face detection and object models learned from unlabeled scenes, and photographed 126 rear views of cars for the Caltech Cars 1999 dataset. He earned a PhD in Caltech's Computation and Neural Systems program in 2000, published a method for independent component analysis in 2001, and shared the 2010 Koenderink Prize with Max Welling and Pietro Perona. After strategy roles at McKinsey and SAP, he is Director of Supply Chain Analytics (EU) at Amazon EU SARL in Luxembourg, a role he has held since November 2015.

Now at
Amazon EU SARL
Badges

Timeline

  1. 1998

    Face detection with soft parts

    At Caltech, he coauthors a paper presented at ECCV'98 in Freiburg in June 1998 with Michael Burl of the Jet Propulsion Lab and Pietro Perona. The paper models human faces as characteristic parts in a variable spatial configuration. Soft part detectors improve recognition in cluttered scenes.

  2. 1999

    The Caltech Cars dataset

    For the Caltech Cars 1999 dataset, he takes 126 photographs of cars from the rear in Caltech parking lots while a PhD student under Pietro Perona.

  3. June 1999

    Reconstructing geometry from shadows

    In June 1999, he coauthors the CVPR paper “What do planar shadows tell about scene geometry?” with Jean-Yves Bouguet and Pietro Perona. It reconstructs 3D scene geometry from projected shadows.

  4. 2000

    Unsupervised object models

    In 2000, he coauthors “Unsupervised Learning of Models for Recognition” with Max Welling and Pietro Perona at ECCV. The method learns object models from unlabeled, unsegmented cluttered scenes as flexible constellations of rigid parts, fits their shape with expectation maximization, and classifies human faces and rear views of cars.

  5. 2000

    A Caltech PhD

    He studies electrical engineering at RWTH Aachen from 1989 to 1992, then computer science at École Normale Supérieure from 1992 to 1995. From 1995 to 2000, he studies in Caltech's Computation and Neural Systems program and completes a PhD there under Pietro Perona, with the dissertation “Unsupervised Learning of Models for Object Recognition.” The Perona Lab's PhD alumni from 2000 also include Luis Goncalves and Mario Enrique Munich.

  6. March 2001

    Independent component analysis

    In March 2001, he and Max Welling publish “A Constrained EM Algorithm for Independent Component Analysis” in Neural Computation. The method models sources as one-dimensional mixtures of Gaussians and uses a soft-switching parameter to choose between sub- and supergaussian sources.

  7. 2010

    The Koenderink Prize

    In 2010, his 2000 ECCV paper with Max Welling and Pietro Perona wins the Koenderink Prize alongside a paper by Hedvig Kjellström, Michael J. Black, and David Fleet. The prize recognizes fundamental contributions to computer vision and honors papers from 2000 that have withstood the test of time.

  8. 2000–2026

    McKinsey, SAP, and Amazon

    From July 2000 to September 2006, he works as an engagement manager at McKinsey. At SAP, he serves as director of market strategy from September 2006 to June 2008, then holds vice president posts from June 2008 to October 2015. Since November 2015, he is Director of Supply Chain Analytics (EU) at Amazon EU SARL in Luxembourg, a role he still holds as of October 2026.

Career

  1. Since 2015Amazon EU SARLDirector of Supply Chain Analytics (EU)
  2. 2006–2015SAPDirector of Market Strategy, Vice President
  3. 2000–2006McKinsey & CompanyEngagement Manager

Education

  1. 2000California Institute of TechnologyPhD
  2. 1995École Normale Supérieure
  3. 1992RWTH Aachen University

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes SAP. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes California Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes California Institute of Technology. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes École Normale Supérieure. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Markus Weber yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. A probabilistic approach to object recognition using local photometry and global geometry | CaltechAUTHORS authors.library.caltech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Caltech Cars 1999 | CaltechDATA data.caltech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. What do planar shadows tell about scene geometry? | CaltechAUTHORS authors.library.caltech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Unsupervised Learning of Models for Recognition | ML Anthology mlanthology.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Markus Weber - The Mathematics Genealogy Project mathgenealogy.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Dr Markus Weber - Director Supply Chain Analytics (EU) - Amazon EU SARL, Luxembourg | XING xing.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Perona Lab - Team vision.caltech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. A Constrained EM Algorithm for Independent Component Analysis | CaltechAUTHORS authors.library.caltech.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. David J. Fleet: Koenderink Prize cs.toronto.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.