Current Position:  Professor, Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Techniology (KIT)
Web-page(s):  http://www.gpi.kit.edu; http://www.cedim.de; http:// www.emi-megacities.org

Tertiary Education: HSC (Abitur) 1970, 1970 – 1979: Student of Geophysics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Topic of ‘Diploma’ thesis: Methods for high resolution spectral analysis with applications of the Maximum Entropy Method to the 1970 Columbia earthquake.

Postgraduate education and degrees: 1985 Dissertation at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Karlsruhe; title of doctoral thesis: Synthetic seismograms in 2-dimensional media; Academic degree: Dr.rer.nat. 1990: ‘Habilitation’ at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Karlsruhe; title of thesis: Born stack – towards a unified theory of reflection seismic data processing; Academic degree: Dr. habil.

Present appointment: since 1994 professor at Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Techniology (KIT).

Previous appointments:

1979 – 1980: Research scientist at Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, New York

1980 – 1985: Wissenschaftlicher Assistent (full-time research assistant) at the Geophysical Institute Karlsruhe

1980 – 1987: Wissenschaftlicher Angestellter (research scientist) at the Geophysical Institute Karlsruhe

1988 – 1990: Hochschulassistent (C1) (Associate Professor) at the Geophysical Institute Karlsruhe

1990 – 1992: Principal Research Scientist for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Division of Exploration Geoscience, Sydney, and Fellow at School of Earth Sciences of Macquarie University, Sydney.

1992 – 1994: Director of the department ‘Structure of the Earth’ at GeoForschungs Zentrum Potsdam, and Professor of Geophysics at Potsdam University.

1994 -           Professor at the Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe University

Responsibilities. awards and memberships: Since 2006 coordinator of the University Center of Excellence CEDIM (Center for Disaster Mangement and Risk Reudction Technology); from 1996 to 2006 coordinator of the Collaborative Research Center (Sonderforschungsbereich) 461: ‘Strong Earthquakes – A Challenge for Geosciences and Civil Engineering’ at Karlsruhe University; between 1996 and 2001 Editor in Chief of TECTONOPHYSICS; since 1998 co-leader (jointly with Dr. Fouad Bendimerad, U.S.) of the ‘Earthquake and Megacities Initiative’ operating under the umbrella of UNESCO and ICSU; between 1999 and 2001 member of the European Union of Geoscíences Council; between 2000 and 2004 vice-chairman of the German Committee for Disaster Reduction and chairman of its Scientific Board; since 2002 member of the Heidelberg Academy of Science and Humanities; 2003 professor Honoris Causa of Bucharest University; since 2006 member of the Academia Europaea. Member of various professional societies: Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft (DGG), American Geophysical Union (AGU), Seismological Society of America (SSA), German Society of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (DGEB), Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).