Sigg, Laura

Biography

Laura Sigg is head of a research group in bio-geochemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG). In 1991 she was given the title of Professor at the ETH Zurich. Prof. Sigg was born in 1951 and is from Dörflingen SH. She studied chemistry at the University of Bern. For her dissertation she transferred to the ETH, where she worked at the EAWAG in the field of aquatic chemistry on surface chemical reactions and completed her doctorate in 1979. After conducting research at the Chalmers University in Göteborg, Sweden, she returned to the EAWAG as a scientific staff member and head of an analytical group. With her work on the chemical interaction of metals in natural bodies of water she earned habilitation in 1986 in chemical limnology.

Research Interest

Prof. Sigg-s research focuses on the chemistry of natural waters, especially the cycles of trace metals in lakes, rivers and ground water. This includes the interaction of trace metals with natural and synthetic ligands as well as with the surfaces of particles and with algae. In order to understand these complex interrelations in natural systems, her group carries out field work in various bodies of water as well as experiments on model systems in the laboratory.