TU Darmstadt
TU DARMSTADT
Karolinenplatz5, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
www.tu-darmstadt.de
The Technical University of Darmstadt (TUD) is one of the major research universities in Germany that has a strong emphasis on technical and engineering areas. The focus is on technology - from the perspective of engineering, the natural sciences, humanistic and social sciences - from basic research questions to applications in everyday life. The TUD has 13 departments with approximately 20,000 students, of which about 20 % come from foreign countries.
The Institute of Applied Geosciences (IAG) is part of the Department for Materials- and Geosciences. It employs eight Professors, a staff of about 40 personnel and a varying number of postdoctoral researchers and PhD students depending on external funding. The IAG offers an international Masters Program ‘TropHEE – Tropical Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology, and Environmental Management’ with a focus on tropical and subtropical regions.
Research activities at the Institute are focussed on ‘Environmental Science and Engineering’ with a strong emphasis on the development of solutions for environmental problems.
The IAG has three main research targets
- Water
- (Geothermal) energy
- Basic environmental research
Funding is assured by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF), the European Community, the Hesse Ministry of Environment and Geology, various other agencies and industry.
The Hydrogeology Group is especially active in the water area. Groundwater management projects are currently under way in Saudi Arabia and in various areas of Germany with a special focus on contaminated areas. In addition, water treatment technologies were developed which can be tested on pilot demonstration facilities in the field. Therefore, this approach covers basic research as well as the implementation of the results in processes and products. Other activities include groundwater modelling, cycles of organic contaminants in the environment, and in situ subsurface characterisation methods.
The Hydrogeology Group runs a modern chemical laboratory with standard equipment to perform inorganic (AAS, IC, ICP…) and organic (HPLC, GC-ECD/FID/TCD, GC-MS…) analyses of soil, water, and gaseous samples. In addition, compound specific isotope analyses can be performed using a GC-IRMS.
