Function and Responsibilities:

guest scientist

Research Interests:

As a mineralogist graduated in the field of petrology I am generally interested in the stability, phase relations, crystal chemistry and crystal physics of the Earth’s material.
 My research falls into four main areas: 

Career:

2007 adjunct Professor (apl) at TU, Berlin, Germany
1997 Habilitation (venia docendi) in Mineralogy, TU Berlin
1989 Doctor rer. nat. at TU Berlin
1983 Diploma in Mineralogy at FU Berlin

Education:

1976 – 1983 Freie Universität Berlin Study of Mineralogy, Chemistry and Geology
1983             Diploma in Mineralogy
1983 – 1985 Freie Universität Berlin - Research Scholarship, Richard-Winter-Foundation, Köln
1984 – 1985 Volkshochschulen Schöneberg/Steglitz, Berlin - Lecturer in Mineralogy
1984 – 1989 Technische Universität Berlin PhD position in mineralogy
1989             PhD in Mineralogy, TU Berlin
1990 – 1996 Technische Universität Berlin - Assistant Professor (C1 Position)
1996 – 1997 Technische Universität Belin - Scholarship Holder (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
1998 – 1999 German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) - Scientific Co-Worker
2000 – 2001 Geophysical Laboratory, Washington DC - Postdoctoral Research Associate
2001 – 2015 German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) - Senior Scientist
since 2007   adjunct Professor (apl.) Technische Universität Berlin 

Projects:

• structure and crystal-chemistry of nominally hydrous and anhydrous high-pressure minerals, e. g. superhydrous phase B, pyroxene, spinel solid solutions, natural and synthetic ringwoodite, Fe-Mg spinelloid, Fe-oxides, etc
• Kinetics and mechanisms of phase transitions, e.g. the coesite-quartz transformation as a function of intrinsic OH.
• Location and quantitative analysis of OH in nominally anhydrous minerals, e.g. coesite, stishovite, olivine, wadsleyite, ringwoodite, majorite, akimotoite etc.
• In-situ observations of dehydration reactions and solid state phase transitions of geomaterial using heating states,  conventional diamond-anvil-cells and internally heated diamond-anvil cells (DAC-HT).
• Stability of carbonates in the subsolidus region, determined by vibrational spectroscopy and molecular modelling
• Melt relations of carbonates
  
• Mechanism of high-spin to low-spin transition of Fe²⁺

Research Boards and Committees:

2007 – 2010 Secretary and Program Chair for Mineralogy within the European Geoscience Union (EGU)
2008            Member of the Board Review of the Austrian Science Foundation
2009 – 2011 Head of the Organisation Committee of the ECMS2011 Conference in Potsdam, Germany
2010 – 2013 Member of the MSA distinguished lecture committee
2011             Guest editor of the European Journal of Mineralogy
2011 – 2015 Member of the IMA Medal Committee
2012 – 2020 Member of the Board Review of the German Science Foundation (DFG) in FK 316 
2012 – 2020 Member of the Board of Trustees of the "Irmgard and Michael Abs-Foundation"
2013 – 2015 Advisory Board of the Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft
2015 – 2022 Associate Editor of the European Journal of Mineralogy

Awards:

2012            Appointed as Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America