I am a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, leading a research group which uses numerical models to study atmospheric chemistry, transport and chemistry-climate interactions in the troposphere and stratosphere.

I currently lead the atmospheric modelling group in the Department of Atmospheric Chemistry. We work on a variety of topics, including gases and aerosols, both tropospheric and stratospheric, and our approaches range from theoretical developments and model tool development to applications such as process studies and providing support for field campaigns. The main three models developed or extended and employed in our group are the global coupled chemistry-climate model EMAC (ECHAM5/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry model), the global chemistry-transport model MATCH-MPIC, and a regional model including chemistry based on the WRF/Chem model.

For over ten years we have been providing chemical weather forecasts for field campaing planning; since 2001, the forecasting system, using the MATCH-MPIC model, has been running continuously, providing 3-day forecasts of various atmospheric trace gases such as ozone, carbon monoxide, reactive nitrogen, and a wide suite of hydrocarbons, as well as pollution tracers; the system has been used in the day-to-day planning of major field campaigns such as INDOEX, MINOS, CONTRACE, UTOPIHAN, ITOP, GABRIEL, and HOOVER, and the output is freely available on the internet for support and analysis of any field campaigns. The system is currently undergoing extensive upgrades and extensions, including a shift to higher resolution with MATCH-MPIC, and setting up operational forecasts with EMAC and WRF/Chem.

Since 2002 I have been teaching classes in the Institute for Physics of the Atmosphere (IPA) at the University of Mainz on various topics, including Atmospheric Thermodynamics, Deep Convection, Weather Systems, and Meteorological Transport Processes and their Effects on Tropospheric Chemistry. During the period of October, 2009 to October, 2010, I was on leave from the MPIC to spend a year as a "Vertretungsprofessor" at the University, teaching several courses during this period. The lecture notes and other material for some of these courses are available here, and material for the courses while I was on leave at the University are available at the IPA Website.

My former "junior research group" ("Nachwuchsgruppe"), which ran from 2000-2005, was funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), under a project called SAPHIRE: Southern Asian Photochemistry and Impacts of the Redistribution of Emissions.

For more about my academic background, click on the links to get a copy of my Curriculum Vitae or my publications list.