}Research:SAMPLE– Research on the Continental Margins

}Success-Story:Geotechmarkettakes flight

}Media:How to deal with Jounalists

} Interview:Cooperation between Science and Industry

Insight Issue 02/11

SAMPLE – a prime example of interdisciplinary researchA guest post by Prof. Michael Weber (GFZ, Potsdam)

The South Atlantic is the focus of the DFG priority program SAM-PLE (SPP 1357: South Atlantic Margin Processes and Links withOnshore Evolution). Here, where 200 million years ago a newocean opened up, the interactions between tectonics, climate, se-dimentation and sea currents are interdisciplinarily investigated.Researchers from the German Research Centre for Geosciences(GFZ), the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resour-ces (BGR), the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Re-search (AWI) and the Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) and various universities are involved here.An important aspect of this research is the investigation of dyna-mic processes in the mantle. Information on the composition andthe mechanisms of magma ascent are essential for understandingthe breakup of Gondwana and thus the origin of the Atlantic. Todate, surfacing crustal material and hot spots in the South Atlan-tic deliver various questions in this regard.In addition, the structures of the crust and upper mantle are to beinvestigated. The quantitative determination of lithology, strati-graphy and structure of today's coastal areas in a 3D model willhelp in reconstructing the geological evolution.The erosion of rocks on land and transport of the resulting sedi-ments gives an insight into the climatic history of the region. Theinteraction between climate variation and tectonic processes is ofparticular interest. In addition to the variations in rainfall, elevation

or lowering processes in the land mass also determine the erosionrate. Analysis of sediment cores and seismic data show how thisrelationship works in detail and what the quantitative proportionsof the individual processes are.The deposition of sediment into the South Atlantic also has an im-pact on the marine circulation patterns in the region. The way inwhich regional and national trends have changed is examined by

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Impressum: Coordination Office GEOTECHNOLOGIEN, Telegrafenberg,14473 Potsdam, Germany, Tel.: +49 (0)331 288 1071,www.geotechnologien.de, Dr. Ute Münch (VisdP)

GEOTECHNOLOGIEN is a geoscientific research and development pro-gramme, supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education andResearch (BMBF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).

You can find our newsletter in both English and German in the downloadarea. Our newsletter is published twice yearly. Should you no longer beinterested in receiving this newsletter, simply send us an email at:info@geotechnologien.de

Picture Source Header (left to right):SAMPLE-SPP.de, H. J. Boldt, J. Glass, clixIssue: 2/2011

Dear GEOTECHNOLOGIENprogramme partners,

the topic »Earth system – life« is to be addressed bythe R & D program GEOTECHNOLOGIEN in the nearfuture. Our concept script »Guaranteeing the futurefor man and the earth« already discussed the mostimportant issues of this topic. But in order to speci-fically develop ideas on the subject, over 20 scien-tists from various disciplines and institutes met atMARUM in Bremen for a round table discussion inearly May.

The main topic was the various and sometimes veryextreme habitats. Many processes occur in the bor-der area between the geosphere and biosphere andwill now be explored in a detailed manner, as theyare essential for understanding the Earth as a sy-stem. In this context the anthropogenic influence onthe different processes must also be understood andevaluated to plan sustainable, responsible actions forthe future.

Currently a tender by the BMBF with the scientistsinvolved in the round table is being prepared. Wewill inform you about the public notice in due time.

Sincerely, Ute Muench

Technology transfer gets a boost –completion funding a valuable instrument

Completion funding for marketing promising new tech-nical developments from GEOTECHNOLOGIEN has beenvery positive and will be made possible in the program-mes major research area »Mineral Surfaces«.This already enabled two projects to successfully applyfor additional funding.The additional funding must be applied to develop re-search results into marketable prototypes for applicationon an industrial scale. This is the second funding of thistype by the BMBF. Previously three projects from themajor research area »Early Warning Systems« used thisfunding to optimise their individual technologies for furt-her development together with industry partners as wellas adaptating them for new applications.Amongst other things, the technology platform Geo-techmarket supported the projects with market researchand scouting for suitable industry partners. For example,information flyers were created and potential customersidentified and contacted through industry exhibitions.Swift, early networking helps subsequently to integratethe expectations and requirements formulated by com-panies into the pre-industrial production processes.Thus sensor systems for landslide monitoring were ad-apted to oversee a ship lift. Initial tests reveal that thecustomer’s expectations are being successfully met.The technologies developed in »Mineral Surfaces« nowhave a chance to demonstrate their market suitability.Should this funding also help to reach its aimed target,it would be highly desirable to establish this promotionopportunity from the BMBF permanently in GEOTECH-NOLOGIEN. ¢

... continued report SAMPLE

a further focus group. For details and insights into thecurrent research in SPP 1357, visit the websitewww.sample-spp.de. The understanding of the variousgeological processes along continental margins is ofenormous importance, because key raw-materials areprevalent here. These regions are also prone to earth-quakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and erosion da-mage.Therefore these aspects have been promoted in GEO-TECHNOLOGIEN both by the BMBF the DFG as well asthe EU. ¢

PD Dr. Cornelius Fischer

completed his post-doctoral studies thisyear at the University of Göttingen andcurrently leads a junior research groupwithin the GEOTECHNOLOGIEN re-search programme „Mineral Surfaces“.Previously he investigated the kineticaspects of rock weathering as a fellowof the A. v. Humboldt Foundation at theRice University (Houston).

He is now proceeding with this research as the assistant professorof this research cooperation. The reactivity of rough, structured mi-nerals and rock surfaces with colloids is the focus of his current in-vestigations. On the one hand, these results show useful applica-tion for the retention prognosis of colloid-bound pollutants on rocksurfaces. On the other hand, this work delivers impulses for basic re-search, in particular the investigation of diagenesis processes. ¢

Who is Who –Young ScientistsIn this issue of Insight the coordinators of juniorresearch groups introduce themselves. Theyhead their joint projects with great success.

NACCHO

studied physics at the University of Milan (Italy) and completed hisdoctorate in 2005 at the Universidad Complutense Madrid (Spain).After that he worked at the University of Hamburg and the BGRin Hannover. His research dealt mainly with the development and application inverse algorithms for tectonically induced volca-noes and earthquakes. Dr. Cesca has lead the junior research group MINE in the GEO-TECHNOLOGIEN programme »Tomography of the Earth’s Crust«since July 2010. The research topic of the MINE project is the de-velopment and implementation of methods for continual wave-form analysis and inversion for monitoring and characterising mi-ning areas, mines and reservoirs with the aim of tracking smallscale weakness areas and pressure changes. ¢

is a mineralogist and head of the GEOTECHNOLOGIEN junior re-search group MIMOS at the Bavarian Geo-Institute in Bayreuth.After his doctorate at the University of Münster in 2005 he wor-ked at the Institute for Geoscience of the University of Jena.MIMOS investigates the influence of microstructure on changesin sulphides. The aim is to better understand the release and mo-bility of toxic elements from sulphides. Major topics are the cha-racterisation of crystal structures, boundary areas and nano-parti-cles with the help of transmission electron microscopy and the roleof micro-organisms on sulphide decomposition. From mid-2011Dr. Pollok will continue his work at the chair for Analytical Mine-ralogy of Micro- and Nanostructure at the University of Jena. ¢

GEOTECHNOLOGIEN on the Social Web

Since the 1st of June the research and development programme GEOTECHNOLOGIEN is now available on Facebook. Up to date informa-tion and events from the geosciences but also discussions and comments from users will help make research and development in the jointprojects of the programme more transparent for the general public. Links to current news from German as well as international partnersand organisations will help »friends« to stay informed about the latest news in the geo-community

Dr. Simone Cesca Dr. Kilian Pollok

} 4 - 7th September »Fragile Earth« in MunichGEOTECHNOLOGIEN session, lectureon public relations, information standGEOTECHNOLOGIEN

} 16th September Opening "Die Erde im Visier" (The Earthin Focus) in the Bochum observatory

} 20th - 21st SeptemberStatus seminar »CO2« Phase II,GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam

} 27th - 29th SeptemberINTERGEO in Nurnbergexhibit on satellite technology

} 11th Oktober 2011Status seminar »Space« Phase III,University Stuttgart

} 11th -13th Octoberaqua alta fair in Hamburg, Presentationof the sensor system alpEWAS

} 22nd OctoberNight of Science, Erlangen, informationbooth GEOTECHNOLOGIE

} 5th -9th December AGU Fall Meeting, e.g. »Earth Science Communication in a Changing Media Landscape«, Deadline for abstracts 4th August 2011

INTERGEO GEOTECHNOLOGIEN will be atthe INTERGEO in Nurnberg in theform of a video installation andinformation boards etc. about the satellite missions CHAMP,GRACE, GOCE and SWARM . ¢

aqua altaBetween October 11th and 13th,2011 Geotechmarket will be pre-senting the innovative GNSS sy-stem, which was developed underthe project alpEWAS (TU Mun-chen) at the international tradefair for climate change, flood pro-tection and water aqua alta inHamburg. This trade presence isan important step in order to re-port on the monitoring of riverand coastal dikes with the help ofsensor systems. ¢

Night of ScienceNights of Science (Lange Nachtder Wissenschaft), or similarevents are meeting with increa-sing public interest in. If youwould like to present your pro-ject, GEOTECHNOLOGIEN canSUPPORT you with the prepara-tion or participate if necessary inyour Presentation/Stand.Mail us at: geotech@geotechnologien. de ¢

GEOTECHNOLOGIEN

On the Road

Calendar

Touring Exhibition–an interim reportThe first ten months of the tour have al-ready shown that the current traveling ex-hibition »Die Erde im Visier« (The Earth infocus) fits seamlessly into the successfulseries of exhibition projects of the coordi-nation office GEOTECHNOLOGIEN. Thenew show, with exhibits from satellite

Guided tours for school classes, »Die Erde im Visier« (The Earth in focus) in Karlsruhe

technology, hands-on objects from re-search and fascinating photographs andvisuals attracted over 80,000 visitorsalone at the first location in Munich.The exhibition runs until 28th of August2011 at the Museum of Natural History inKarlsruhe. Then from the 16th of Septem-ber 2011 to 15th of April 2012 in BochumObservatory before the tour continues toKiel and Chemnitz.www.die-erde-im-visier.de ¢

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Scientific public relationsKey findings and exciting topics are presented on both project websites as well asthrough GEOTECHNOLOGIEN. The coordination office is happy to support you in buil-ding your website. Mail us at: geotech@geotechnologien. de ¢

Dr. Rolf Becker is a former developmentmanager for the environmental depart-ment of IMKO Micromodultechnik GmbHand currently professor for Communicationand Environment at the University Rhine-Waal in Kleve and Kamp-Linfort. He is fa-miliar with both sides of research and de-velopment projects: not just the industrialrequirements but also the scientific expec-tations.

GEOTECH: Mr. Becker, you have madethe leap from industry into universityresearch. What differences have younoticed between research and deve-lopment departments in industrycompared with universities?

Becker: There is no clear answer to thisquestion as research and development ac-tivities are highly individual, both in indu-stry and in universities. There are for ex-ample companies who concentrate solelyon application-oriented development andthere are those who invest in basic-re-search departments which are hardly di-stinguishable from research and develop-ment laboratories in universities. Conver-sely, at universities both academic issuesare handled as well as specific research anddevelopment contracts from companies.The company, for which I worked was, andis still active in several R&D projects. Onecase involved the development of a low-

cost sensor for irrigation applications whichwas assisted by the University of Mann-heim with a thesis. Another project withthe University of Hohenheim had the aimto develop a humidity sensor that could bepulled through a field like a plow.You can see from these examples the distinctions and differences between R&Dat universities and companies are diffuse.

GEOTECH: Who benefits from inte-grating R & D projects with partnersfrom science and industry? Compa-nies, universities or do both partnersdraw a positive balance in the end?

Becker: For SMEs, well selected researchand development projects can be very va-luable in order to develop new technolo-gies and to implement prototypes, whichcan be rapidly expanded if necessary tomarketable products. Frequently, however,the means of an SME to apply R&D pro-jects is critically viewed, because applica-tion and approval often takes too long tofullfil short-term goals. Furthermore, theextensive reporting requirements can alsobe an obstacle.The success of a joint research project de-pends largely on the project managementand the team that forms from the indivi-dual project partners. Amongst the impor-tant questions in this context, in my opi-nion are: Is there a chemistry between thepartners? How intensive is the communi-cation? Are the "right" partners on board,i.e. are the necessary competencies for allthe objectives of the project available? Isthe project plan well thought out? Are theindividual goals clearly stated and respon-sibilities clarified?If the team spirit and the project plan areokay, success is very likely and all partiescan draw a positive balance.

GEOTECH: In the GEOTECHNOLOGIENyou were involved in the researcharea »Early warning systems againstnatural hazards«. How would youevaluate the cooperation between

science and industry in the ILEWS Pro-ject (Integrative Landslide Early War-ning System) today, at the end of theprojekt funding?

Becker: Due to the integrated nature ofthe project the consortium consisted of thespecialists from different disciplines: hard-ware developers, computer scientists, geo-physicists, historians, geographers, physi-cal and social geographers, to name just afew. For me, an exciting mix of interestingpeople from areas with which I partly hadso far professionally little to do, and fromwhich I have personally learned a lot. Thefrequent project meetings contributed si-gnificantly to team building. The languageand the academic interest of the scientiststhemselves sometimes differ from those ofpractical necessity-oriented companies. Itis important here to learn to respect yourpartner, to listen to him, accept his posi-tion and understand his language. We ma-naged to do this very well.The cooperation between the project part-ners in the project was extraordinarilygood, even though the key position of pro-ject co-ordinator responsible for the pro-ject for the guidance had been stricken.This function was then taken on by a mem-ber of the scientific staff with appropriateskills, an enormous task alongside his day-to-day scientific duties.

GEOTECH: Who had the initial idea forthe ILEWS project? Did the project pro-posal come from the scienctists or rat-her from industry?

Becker: The main impetus for the initiationof the project came from the universitiesthat could demonstrate the actual need forsuch an early warning system. The compa-nies involved clearly benefited from this.The industry partners provided, operatedand further developed technology, andprocessed scientific questions sometimes incollaboration with colleagues from the uni-versities. The companies gain valuable in-sights through the practical application ofnew technologies in the field, that are thenincorporated into the cyclic developmentprocess. Scientists and industry partners

GEOTECHNOLOGIEN in Conversation … with Dr. Rolf Becker

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have thus advanced the early-warning-sy-stems together with mutual benefit. Thecompany I worked for a time, has its stra-tegic objectives for which it has joined theresearch group, was fully achieved. in myeyes, ILEWS is a perfect example of a suc-cessful cooperation between universitiesand companies.

GEOTECH: From your practical experi-ence you know the requirements of

users and customers in the market. Towhat extent do you incorporate theseinsights into your teaching and re-search activities? How do your stu-dents benefit from your practicalknow-how? Are there perhaps tipsyou can give to your students for spin-offs or technology transfer?

Becker:The University of the Rhine-Waalputs great emphasis on communication,cooperation and intercultural competencein all its courses. Therefore appropriate

communication abilities are also essentialfor the organisation's internal exchange.An organisation must be able to rely onthe cooperative capabilities of its em-ployees in order to be efficient and suc-cessful. With respect to spin-offs I can onlyrecommend students, to take advantageof offers where they can develop their en-trepreneurial skills and while studying toask themselves at an early stage whetherself-employment is an option. It is onething having a good idea, marketing it is acompletely different challenge. ¢

... continued conversation with Dr. R. Becker

Me and the Media – How to deal with the media

Geoscience is »in«. Newsrooms and independent journalists arenow clearly recognising that geoscience plays a leading role in the21st century. Therefore, geoscientists and geologists are now moreoften in contact with the media. To successfully take advantage ofeffective public relations some basic principles should be adheredto. We would like to give you some tips on dealing with journa-lists:

When distributing press releases the key to accessibility is inclu-ding a direct contact with clear contact information (phone ex-tension and email address) in it. It is also important that your con-tact details can be found on the website of your institution or com-pany – there, where the journalist would expect to find you as anexpert of that area. If the journalist doesn’t find your contact de-tails, he often –under extreme time pressure– moves on to thenext available expert.

Deliver information reliably. Journalists often require more back-ground information than already on offer. Then quickly gatherthese facts together. Try not to promise journalists anything youcannot deliver in a timely manner. Otherwise, you will quickly losecredibility and disappear from their list of experts.

Accept the journalistic approach. Journalists are usually neutraland report independently. If you are invited to an interview (in per-son or by phone) you assume that the journalist does not want to»blow you away«. The journalist usually wants to maintain a su-stained contact with you. A fascinating subject is –after all– gold

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for a journalist. If you can provide everyday life applications fromyour research, then present them, because relevance is often thekey.

On controversial topics, give journalists the opportunity to learn adifferent standpoint as opposed to yours. Refer to criticised or con-troversial elements of your work. This not only increases your reputation – but also gives an additional motive for journalists topresent the issue sustainably in the media.

If you are not sure you can provide the right answers to a journa-list’s questions then state so clearly. Possibly refer to colleaguesand other research partners who might be more familiar with thepoint in question. Make the limits of your expertise clear, the jour-nalist will be grateful.

Do not expect that the journalist to present his final article to youfor »correction«. But do offer to look over the finished article.Often errors and misunderstandings sneak into the article.

In the download section of the web-site of the R&D program GEOTECH-NOLOGIEN you can find a tip sheet asa pdf file on dealing with journalists.www.geotechnologien.de ¢