Messages

Dear colleagues, dear students,
with our beautiful Christmas tree in the background, the Dean´s Office wishes you and your families a happy and healthy Christmas and a relaxed start into 2022.A heartfelt thank you to all for the good and trustful cooperation.
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Dr. Sebastian Uhlemann (Lawrence Berkeley Nat Lab): Geoelectrical monitoring to assess natural hazards and to image the impact of climate change

Geoscientific Colloquium lecture on 22 December, 12:15 online via Zoom

Climate change is causing a shift in weather patterns leading to more frequent occurrences of intense weather events, like extreme rainfall or prolonged droughts. These changes have severe impacts on various subsurface conditions that in turn impact many communities worldwide, ranging from slope instabilities, to permafrost thaw in the arctic, to groundwater shortages.
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Graduation Ceremony Geosciences 2021

On December 03, 2021, the Department of Geosciences said goodbye to its graduates in a festive ceremony and awarded the prizes for the best theses. The happy award winners (f.u.l.t.r.d.): Sileola Joseph Akinbodunse, Clemens Simon Röttgen, Janin Scheplitz, Linda Langemann, Amanda Sylvia Stock.
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Dr. Baptiste Dafflon (Lawrence Berkeley Nat Lab): Coupling geophysical methods and remote sensing data to improve the quantification of Arctic permafrost dynamics in a changing climate

Geoscientific Colloquium lecture on 8th December, 16:15 online via Zoom

Understanding interactions between permafrost, soil, land surface, vegetation and atmospheric processes is critical for predicting the storage and flux of water and carbon, particularly in the changing Arctic environment.
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Dr. Brendan Reilly (Scripps, Uni California): Iceberg Alley Lithostratigraphy, Paleomagnetism, and the Plio-Pleistocene Rhythms of Antarctic Climate

Geoscientific Colloquium lecture on 1st December, 16:15 online via Zoom

For over 50 years, the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and its predecessor programs have recovered and archived long sedimentary records of Earth’s climate and geomagnetic histories for international scientific study. Together, these histories have been central to the study of the timing and pacing of Earth’s climate events.
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PD Dr. Karsten Gohl appointed as Honorary Professor of Polar Geophysics

Karsten Gohl has been working as a geophysicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Bremerhaven for 20 years and has gained a high international reputation for his successful research of the polar regions using seismic methods. At our faculty, he has been responsible for the introductory class on plate tectonics since 2008 and supervised numerous doctoral theses and dissertations. Karsten Gohl has long been an active and reliable contributor to the collaboration between the Alfred Wegener Institute and FB5. In recognition of his excellent achievements in research and teaching, the University of Bremen already granted him the Venia Legendi in 2015 and appointed him now on November 1st as Honorary Professor of Geophysics of the Polar Regions. The presentation of the certificate will be celebrated during the upcoming faculty council meeting.
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Dr. Kristina Tietze (GFZ Postdam): Active and passive electromagnetic surveying of drillable depths - Challenges and perspectives for exploration and monitoring

Geoscientific Colloquium lecture on 24th November, 12:15 in GEO 1550 and via Zoom

Exploration and monitoring of targets at drillable depths are becoming increasingly important to identify sustainable energy supplies (e.g., geothermal reservoirs), geo-resources (e.g. mineral, hydrocarbon, water) or underground storage sites (CO2, nuclear waste).
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Dr. Pritam Yogeshwar (University of Cologne): Boat-Towed Transient Electromagnetics - Investigation of the Furnas Volcanic Lake Hydrothermal System, Azores

Geoscientific Colloquium lecture on 17rd November, 12:15 online via Zoom

Water-covered areas may lead to gaps in surface electromagnetic surveys, causing reduced resolution and, as a consequence, increased uncertainty in derived subsurface models. Boat-towed floating central loop time-domain electromagnetic techniques can mitigate this problem. Our proposed system facilitates obtaining data with a spatial sampling density, which is rarely possible with standard instrumentation on land, and it only requires moderate logistical effort.
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Geoscientist from Bremen investigates volcanic eruption on La Palma

Andreas Klügel from the department "Petrology of the Ocean Crust", who has been conducting petrological investigations of volcanic rocks from La Palma (Canary Islands) since 1993, visited the island from October 12-19 and observed the still ongoing volcanic eruption. A report and interview about his work was presented on 22 October on buten un binnen:
https://www.butenunbinnen.de/videos/vulkanausbruch-cumbre-vieja-la-palma-100.html
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Reinhard X. Fischer retires (not quite yet)

Prof. Dr. Reinhard X. Fischer has built up the Crystallography Section at our Faculty of Geosciences and led it very successfully for more than 26 years. He will officially retire on October 1, 2021 and has therefore already vacated his office on the second floor for the crystal physicist Dr. Ella Mara Schmidt (Oxford University), who will succeed him as Junior Professor in February 2022. During this transition period, Reinhard Fischer will kindly continue to teach crystallography and supervise student research projects in the Bremen Master´s program "Materials Science Chemistry and Mineralogy", which he developed. He also wants to push forward some of his still sparkling research ideas and will therefore be frequently present at our faculty and maintain a new office there. Thank you and all the best, Reinhard!
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Dr. Amir Haroon (Geomar Kiel): Integrated marine Controlled Source Electromagnetic applications for detecting freshened groundwater in coastal regions

Geoscientific Colloquium lecture on 3rd November, 12:15 in GEO 1550

Examples of seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers, groundwater dominated coastal ecosystems, and the potential use of offshore freshened groundwater as a resource in arid coastal communities highlight the intimate relationship between groundwater, oceans, and society.
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Geoscientific Colloquium - "Perspectives of non-seismic applied near-surface geophysics"

The Department of Geosciences has invited young, international geophysicists to present in our Geoscientific Colloquium this year entitled `Perspectives of non-seismic applied near-surface geophysics`.
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Oldest footprints of pre-humans were found in Crete and dated

with participation of Bremen paleomagnetist Edoardo Dallanave

The oldest known footprints of pre-humans were found on the Mediterranean island of Crete and are at least six million years old, as discovered by an international team of researchers led by Uwe Kirscher and Madelaine Böhme of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, with the collaboration of Edoardo Dallanave from the Faculty of the Geosciences of the University of Bremen. Their study, based on magnetostratigraphy and micropaleontology dating, has now been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Role reversal in the FB5 deanery

With the start of the winter semester 2021/22, the leadership of the Department of Earth Sciences rotated from Dean Prof. Wolfgang Bach and Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Cornelia Spiegel-Behnke to the newely elected team of Dean Prof. Simone Kasemann and Dean of Studies Prof. Heiko Pälike. This is a good time to recognize their activities, which are very significant for all of us:
The two previous and now deputy incumbents look back on two unexpectedly difficult, but also extremely successful years: In March 2020, the Corona crisis hit our study and research operations, against which they had to intervene with unprecedented measures: Almost overnight, all face-to-face teaching was switched to distance learning; a large part of the staff had to move to the home office. Nevertheless, our five reformed geoscientific degree programs could be succesfully accredited in May 2020 by virtue of a convincing new curriculum and well-managed evaluation.
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Orientation Week 2021

Prepare for your study start

From October 11 to 15, 2021, the StugA GEO and the Study and Practice Advisory Office will offer introductory events to all study programs. All first-year students are cordially invited to participate. The program is available here:
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Master project of Bremen students: one of Germany´s most beautiful Geotopes in 3D

Our students, Janin Scheplitz and Burhan Senyener, have worked on a 3D-model of the Piesberg stone quarry near Osnabruck in the frame of their Master project, that is shown as from 15th September on the website of „Digital Geology“. Watch it in any case!!
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Introduction to Geosciences – From Gravel to Continent

21. – 23. September 2021

The Department of Earth Sciences cordially invites its first-year students to the introductory event "From Gravel to Continent". During the three-day workshop, first-year students come together with advanced students. Together they discuss studies and geosciences, take part in a short excursion, solve smaller geological problems and present their results. Typical methods are used and first geoscientific knowledge is acquired.
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Why not dive now into Marine Geosciences studies?

Our new B.Sc. degree program invites last-minute applications

The port and science city of Bremen is known worldwide for excellent marine and polar research. In the coming winter semester, we are now opening Europe´s first international bachelor´s degree program in "Marine Geosciences" - for all those who are interested in the exploration, significance and conservation of the oceans, like to discover and create, and have a good knowledge of natural sciences and English (level B2.2). There are still study places available, which can be taken online from September 15-26, 2021. Important for all prospective students: the University of Bremen is now returning to face-to-face studies!
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New study programs get started soon

The Department of Geosciences has expanded and improved its degree offerings. As of October 2021, 2 Bachelor`s programs - Geosciences and Marine Geosciences are open to choose from, as well as 3 Master`s programs - Applied Geosciences, Marine Geosciences, and Materials Chemistry and Mineralogy. You will find all information about the study programs and application under "Studies".
You will also find a link to the expiring study programs under "Studies".
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Geoscience Colloquium on Wed 30 June, 12:15

In the fourth geoscience colloquium Marcello Gugliotta, lecturer in the "Sedimentary Systems" group of our faculty, will speak about "Sedimentology of modern and ancient tidal clastic systems".
The colloquium will take place as a Zoom conference:
https://uni-bremen.zoom.us/j/99730407728?pwd=UGo2N0FnK1hJM0RVZEZtMW1uMDJMQT09.
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Information Days for Prospective Students

Find out ISI - this year as a virtual info week

You want to study geosciences or marine geosciences? On June 22, 2021 we inform about our study programs in some video conferences:
10 am and 2 pm: Information on the Bachelor`s program Marine Geosciences.
11 am and 3 pm: Information on the Bachelor`s program Marine Geosciences.
12 am: How to study geosciences - impressions from excursions and from our student life.
Join us and register at
https://www.uni-bremen.de/isi/informationstag-fuer-studieninteressierte-isi/isi/events/5
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Geoscience Colloquium on Wed 9 June, 12:15

The next talk of this year´s Geoscience Colloquium will be given by Thomas Laepple, head of a Junior Research Group at the AWI and professor for Earth Systems Diagnostics at our faculty. Title: Beyond mean climate change: Using paleoclimate archives to better constrain climate variability.
The colloquium takes place as a Zoom conference:
https://uni-bremen.zoom.us/j/99730407728?pwd=UGo2N0FnK1hJM0RVZEZtMW1uMDJMQT09.
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Vera Schlindwein is a new AWI cooperation professor for ´Polar and Marine Seismology´

Jointly with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, the department of Geosciences at Unviersity of Bremen appointed Prof. Dr. Vera Schlindwein as professor for “Polar and Marine Seismology”. Vera Schlindwein is a geophysicist and a renowned specialist for seismology. Her main research addresses ultra-slow spreading deep-sea ridges, and she is expert for deployment of geophysical instrumentation in polar marine areas. She also works interdisciplinary at the interface between geophysics, glaciology and vulcanology.
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Open Campus 2021 am 11. Juni

From June 7 to 11, 2021, the traditional OPEN CAMPUS of the University of Bremen will take place for the first time as a digital OPEN CAMPUS WEEK. The Faculty of Geosciences will be part of it again. Visit our department with virtual tour, our pagoda with videos and information, and our live events on June 11! For organizational reasons, pre-registration is required for the online formats. For more information, click here:
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Geoscience Colloquium on Wed 26 May, 12:15

The first talk of this year´s Geoscience Colloquium will be given by Frank Oliver Glöckner, head of the division "Data" at the AWI and professor for Earth Systems Data Science at our faculty. Title: The National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and NFDI4BioDiversity.
The colloquium takes place as a Zoom conference:
https://uni-bremen.zoom.us/j/99730407728?pwd=UGo2N0FnK1hJM0RVZEZtMW1uMDJMQT09.
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Geoscience Colloquium

At this year´s Geo-Colloquium we can expect four inaugural lectures on very different topics by Frank Oliver Glöckner (May 26), Thomas Laepple (June 09), Vera Schlindwein (June 23) and Marcello Gugliotta (June 30). As we did not want to give up the colloquium for a second year, the lectures and subsequent discussions will take place as a Zoom conference. The link is -- https://uni-bremen.zoom.us/j/99730407728?pwd=UGo2N0FnK1hJM0RVZEZtMW1uMDJMQT09. As usual, we will meet on Wednesdays at 12:15pm.
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Heisenberg-Program funds Michael Fischer´s zeolite research

Dr. Michael Fischer was recently awarded a DFG Heisenberg grant to conduct “Comparative, modelling-based investigations of pharmaceutical adsorption in zeolites“! In the funded project, he will use his experience in the field of atomistic modelling to study the adsorption of pharmaceuticals in zeolites. We sincerely congratulate Michael on this great success and are very pleased that he can continue to work in the department with his intellect and commitment and provide valuable impulses .
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Huanying ni Zhang Yang! You are cordially welcome, Yang Zhang!

To our great joy, Dr. Yang (Wendy) Zhang managed her way from USA via China to Bremen despite worldwide Corona restrictions. Starting March 1, she holds a 3-year research associate position in our Marine Geophysics / Paleo- and Environmental Magnetics Section. She will take over the teaching of Janna Just, who now works at the Bremen ZMT. After her master’s degree in Marine Science from China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, Yang Zhang went to Purdue University (USA) for PhD research on "cycle-scaled magnetostratigraphy for global correlation of selected major paleoclimatic events in the Triassic, Cretaceous and Quaternary". As shipboard paleomagnetist of IODP Expeditions 367-368 (South China Sea) and 378 (South Pacific Paleogene Climate), Yang Zhang would like to gain new insights into the "Eocene-Oligocene transition" using paleo-, environmental and biomagnetic methods at Bremen.
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Faculty welcomes Tanja Koppen

The department´s examination office has had a new employee since October 1, 2020: Ms. Tanja Koppen has succeeded Ms. Susanne Steinfeld. In addition to the master’s courses, Ms. Koppen also oversees the doctoral committee. Ms. Koppen has been at the university since September 1, 2012. Initially, she worked in Department 07 before moving to Department 08 in March 2018. Department 05 is pleased that we were able to win Ms. Koppen for the examination office and looks forward to further cooperation.
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New topics as well as information, application and test portals

for our geoscience master programs

Our faculty´s successfully re-accredited geoscientific master programs will start with new structures and contents in the fall semester 2021/22. Information on our future study programs was made available five weeks ago under Education 2021 in the FB5 web portal. All web information on the current bachelor and master programs will remain under Education until their expiration. Applications for our two new bachelor programs will not be available until June. In contrast, the application period for our three geo-master programs is now from January 16 to February 28. Applications must be submitted to the new MOIN application portal (My Online Information Network) of the University of Bremen.

In order to evaluate all applications to our master programs more uniformly and ensure sufficient basic knowledge, our department from now requires the successful completion of an online aptitude test for admission to the MSc programs "Applied Geosciences" and "Marine Geosciences". A personalized aptitude test can be downloaded any time from February 1 to 28 after registration in the FB5 aptitude test portal; the answers are to be uploaded in the following 3 days (72 hours). The test result will be automatically determined and certified. Only one participation is possible per academic year.
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Science and Ethics

Master Conference 25th and 26th of February 2021

The Master students organize another joint Conference in the first year of the master programs Geosciences & Marine Geosciences. The 8th International Master Conference deals with the topic science and ethics and will be held online from 25. to 26.02.2021.
Master Conference Topics and Website
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Elda Mira­montes re­ceives Ro­land Goldring Award 2020

Elda Miramontes García, professor at the Department of Geosciences and head of the working group "Sedimentology", receives the Roland Goldring Award 2020 of the British Sedimentology Research Group. This prize recognizes research contributions across the spectrum of sedimentology, and is aimed at scientists at the beginning of their academic careers. With this award, the BSRG recognizes Elda Miramontes García´s outstanding publication record, leading to a better understanding of sedimentation processes and deep-sea systems. We warmly congratulate her for this recognition of her work.
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