Research and Teaching

Research Interests:

• Trace metals in seawater: analytics, chemical speciation and (bio)geochemical cycling
• Marine minerals: genesis, resource potential, and paleoceanographic information
• Solid-solution reactions (adsorption of metals on mineral phases, etc.)
• Geo-bio interfaces in marine systems (e.g. metal-biota interactions)
• Hydrothermal fluids and hydrothermal metal fluxes into the ocean
• Environmental geochemistry (including soil geochemistry)
• Environmental consequences of future deep-sea mining

Research Positions:

• Participation in numerous research cruises within the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, the Sea of Marmara and the North Sea; chief scientist of several cruises: e.g. SO106B, M68, SO253, M147, M169, see latest cruises:
  • M169, TRAM, Input of critical high-tech metals from the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems into the North Sea https://www.jacobs-university.de/blog-post-m169
  • SO253, HYDROTHERMADEC, Geochemical and ecological effects of hydrothermal processes at intraoceanic volcanic arcs using the example of the Kermadec Arc (SW Pacific)  http://geschichten.ptj.de/so253 or http://geschichten.ptj.de/so253-en
  • M147, Amazon-Geotraces, Interactions of trace metals, DOM, and particles in the Amazon estuary and associated plume as key processes for trace metal and DOM fluxes into the Atlantic

• Participation in marine joint research projects and programs, such as:
  • 2019-2026 Cluster of Ex­cel­lence ›The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Un­charted In­ter­face‹ https://www.marum.de/en/The-Ocean-Floor.html
  • 2018-2022 JPI Oceans “Ecological Impacts of Deep-sea Mining”, MiningImpact2, Environmental Impacts and Risks of Deep-Sea Mining  https://miningimpact.geomar.de/de
  • 2015-2017 JPI Oceans “Ecological Impacts of Deep-sea Mining”, MiningImpact, Ecological Aspects of Deep-Sea Mining  https://miningimpact.geomar.de/de
  • 2007-2018 Cluster of Ex­cel­lence ›The Ocean in the Earth System‹
  • 2003-2010 Special Priority Program 1144 on hydrothermal systems on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge https://www.geomar.de/en/research/fb4/fb4-muhs/projects/spp1144/
  • GEOTRACES http://www.geotraces.org

• Geochemistry of marine precipitates and fluid geochemistry; analytical, experimental and thermodynamic geochemistry
• Analyses of trace metals in seawater (electrochemical and spectroscopic methods)
• Environmental projects on contaminants and processes in soil and water

Teaching Positions:

since 2015	Teaching in the Jacobs undergraduate program Earth and Environmental Sciences
since 2010	Teaching in the Jacobs undergraduate program Integrated Environmental Studies
since 2003	Teaching in the Jacobs undergraduate and graduate programs Earth and Space Sciences / Geosciences
1990-2001	Teaching of courses in geosciences, field and lab courses at TU Clausthal and FU Berlin