NFDI4Cat has reinforcement

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Geske as successor to Dr. Krähnert. Dr. Ralph Krähnert, leader of the task area “Data Analysis, Quality Management and Reuse”, left our NFDI4Cat consortium in January of this year. We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Krähnert, who has been part of the consortium from the beginning, for the successful cooperation. Dr. Geske will continue to work on the task area “Data analysis, quality management and reuse”.

Dr. Geske is group leader at the BasCat UniCat BASF JointLab with a focus on reactor and process analysis. He brings expertise in heterogeneous catalysis, reaction kinetics and characterisation. Dr. Geske studied chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin. In 2005, he started his Ph.D. in the inorganic chemistry department of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Plank Society. During that period, he noticed for the first time how important a common storage place and a common language helps in data handling. In 2012 he went back to the Technical University Berlin and joined BasCat – UniCat BASF JointLab as group leader. In addition to the various projects, Dr. Geske was and still is, always interested in lab digitalization. Although it was enough to automate self-built test facilities for an unattended 24/7 operation a decade ago, complete lab digitalization is the main challenge nowadays.

Within BasCat, data are collected, simple analysis is done online and meta-data from e.g., synthesis is linked and stored to the specific catalyst. Dr. Geske is the responsible person at BasCat for this digitalization process. Unfortunately, the information exchange between different collaboration partners is currently still often done by individual SharePoints. The idea of NFDI4Cat in creating one database for the collection of all kinds of data and using the same language is perfect to bring all scientists to the same level. Intelligent user management offers the possibility to handle open and restricted data. The implementation of analysis and quality management tools will help to trigger creative data analysis and ensure a high-quality database.

When we asked Mr. Geske what interests him most about this project Mr. Geske answered: “With the ongoing digitalization of our lab space at BasCat new ways of data analysis and interpretation appear, which were not possible without having access to all characterization and synthesis meta-data. Increasing now the amount of people from one lab to basically everyone is a huge chance for science. It will be an amazing place where all scientists speak one language and a hot spot for creative data analysis and new ideas. It will be fascinating not to work only with own, but also with data from all over Germany.”

We are convinced that Mr Geske will be an excellent addition to our team, as research data management is his favourite subject, and his scientific experience will be invaluable.