Dirk Scherler

Biography

Academic Employment since 12/2014   Junior Professor (non-tenure track, fixed-term contract); Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany and Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany 08/2014 – 11/2014   Postdoc, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Germany 08/2012 – 07/2014   Postdoc, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, USA 12/2010 – 07/2012   Postdoc, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Potsdam, Germany

Research Interest

I study the topographic evolution of the Earth’s surface, the processes that shape it, and how these processes change in space and time. Important topics include the interplay of climate, erosion, and tectonics and assessing the geomorphic impacts of climate change. I’m furthermore interested in how glaciers respond to climate change and how they have shaped our planet over the Quaternary period, that is, the last two and a half million years. In my research, I typically combine fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and computer models. My favorite tools are cosmogenic nuclides, which are rare isotopes produced by cosmic radiation in the uppermost meters of the Earth’s surface, and which allow quantifying rates and dates of surface processes.