Electronic Material Properties - und Geowissenschaften ...

difference of numerical and analytical theoretical approaches vs. Beethoven’s and
Mozart’s approach to well defined musical masterpieces.
Finally, we also want to announce special honours of members of our department. First of
all Prof. Riedel was honoured as Honorary Doctor (Dr. h. c.) of the Slovak Academy of
Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republik. The students’ price of the best MaWi student was
given to Dipl. Ing. Taek Lim followed by E. Mankel, B. Siepchen and A. Gassmann who
presented their Diploma theses during the yearly Summer Party of the Material Science
Institute. The MRS Graduate Student Gold Medal was awarded to Dr.-Ing. Paul Erhart for
this PhD-thesis on point defects in zinc oxide at the MRS Fall Meeting 2006 in Boston.
The year 2006 in the Materials Science Institute was brought to an end with the traditional
Christmas Party to which very many people contributed in a more or less active way.
Again a number of high level of art, music, and comedy performances has proven that
materials scientists have talents beyond their scientific abilities. The party was finished
again very late this year after the early visit of Father Christmas.
The Institute of Applied Geosciences finally filled all vacant positions and finished its
restructuring process by the appointment of Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Kleebe, who is
heading the Geomaterial Science group since January 2006. Moreover, with the retirement
of Prof. Fuess, Prof. Kleebe took over the administration and responsibility of the
transmission electron microscopy facility. Thereby, electron microscopy and x-ray
diffraction techniques are no longer in one hand. It is anticipated to strengthen the TEM
group and create a state-of-the-art electron microscopy facility which is strongly supports
research at the geo- and material science community as well as other faculty on campus.
The research focus Geothermal Energy was established by the Engineering Geology
Group of Prof. I. Sass. Geothermal energy is one of the few regenerative energy systems,
capable of providing a base load with potentially enormous resources. In July 2006, the
first Geothermal Summer School with about 50 participants was held in Darmstadt, in
cooperation with the Institute and Laboratory for Geotechnics. In addition, in cooperation
with the "Hessisches Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Verkehr und Landesentwicklung" the first
Forum on Deep Geothermal Reservoirs took place at TUD with about 150 participants.
The Hydrogeology Group together with the Applied Sedimentology Group initiated a
second new research focus on groundwater management in arid regions. In cooperation
with the GTZ, a first project was started on groundwater resources in Saudi-Arabia. We will
strengthen our efforts to play a significant role in this area as a qualitative and quantitative
approach to manage regional groundwater resources based on the principal of
sustainability is one of the crucial topics in the field of applied geosciences in the future.
In 2006 we could celebrate the award of a prestigious price to one of our young scientists.
Dr. Martin Ebert from the Environmental Mineralogy Group of Prof. Weinbruch, who
received the ‘Adolf-Messer-Award’ 2006 of the Messer Foundation for his groundbreaking
research on atmospheric aerosols and their importance for climate and health. The award
was presented to Martin Ebert in a ceremony by Stefan Messer, owner and CEO of the
Messer Group. We congratulate Martin Ebert on his achievement and the attention his
research has attracted.
Our International Master Course TropHEE (Tropical Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology
and Environmental Management) started in October 2006 with the enrollment of the first
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