Interview with BTU Alumna Dr. Birgit Futterer (doctoral studies)

The geo-physicist Dr. Birgit Futterer received her doctorate from 2002 to 2006 at the BTU in Cottbus at the Chair of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics and was awarded the Post-Doc Young Scientist Prize of the State of Brandenburg in 2009. After her doctoral studies, she worked on several projects at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, as well as at the University of Magdeburg and for Vattenfall Europe Mining AG/Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG. In the meantime, she is head of department in the Geological Service at the Brandenburg State Office for Mining, Geology and Raw Materials (LBGR). In addition to the Geological Service, the LBGR also acts as a technical and enforcement authority for the supervision of mining operations in the states of Brandenburg and Berlin and is a special regulatory authority for the prevention of hazards in the area of old mining operations. The tasks of the LBGR range from the collection, evaluation and provision of geological data to admissions for the exploration, extraction and processing of raw materials and permits for the construction of electric power and gas pipelines. Through her work in the Geological Survey, parts of the exciting water explorations in the vicinity of the Tesla plant also fall into her area of responsibility.

Hello Ms. Futterer, how did you get into geophysics and doctoral studies at BTU?
I studied geophysics at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Professionally, I wanted to do something with Math, Physics and Geography in any case, and I didn't want to study close to home in order to become self-employed. The geophysics degree in Freiberg included an elective subject, which in my case was numerics. So I specifically looked for a doctoral position afterwards and came directly to the BTU in Cottbus, because a doctoral position with numerics and geophysics was advertised here. I ended up doing my doctorate in the GeoFlow project, an interdisciplinary fluid mechanics experiment.

What do you miss most from your doctoral time in Cottbus?
To be honest, I don't miss anything. But please don't misunderstand that. It was a good time, but where I was afterwards and am now is all well and good. My main reason for changing employers was to be able to take on new tasks and often more responsibility, in the sense of my own further development. I had a half-time job during my doctoral studies, started a family, was involved in a great project and had certain freedoms compared to working for a company. I see it more like this, that everything has its time. I would rather say that I think very fondly of the time of the doctoral studies, because it was partly crazy what I managed to do.

You now head the Geological Service of the State of Brandenburg. How can one imagine your daily work?
To answer this question, I'll start with what the Geological Survey does. The Geological Survey is responsible for the state geological survey, which means mapping from the ground to the deep underground in order to create geological maps or update existing ones. In addition, with the Geoarchive, we are the data and archive holding body from the topsoil to the deep subsoil. The geological data collected for more than 100 years are technically combined in the geological archive and the geological databases. Furthermore, the drill core storage in Wünsdorf is part of it. The department is subdivided into the chairs Soil Geology, Cenozoic/Geoarchive, Hydrogeology and Water Balance, Raw Material and Deep Geology. This provides the basis for fiscal soil evaluation, the soil condition, for example in agriculture, the geological structure of the first 100 to 200 meters with raw materials and near-surface geothermal energy, hydrogeology with drinking water protection and general water management, and deep geology with geothermal energy, deep-lying raw materials such as copper, petroleum natural gas, as well as making corresponding specialized information systems such as the geothermal portal freely available to users. We are also talking about services of general interest here. The Geological Survey also has a scientific claim. However, we are not talking about International Peer Review Publications, but about the scientific method of working as such. Besides, German is an official language. We are also involved in supervising scientific papers and in third-party funded projects. The day-to-day work as a director is first and foremost that of a manager and leader. This begins with the transfer of employer duties to enforce occupational health and safety, continues with strategic orientation, and ends with representing the specialist authority externally and on various committees. I'll try to describe it more concretely: The LBGR is undergoing a transformation due to a change of generations and a change in professional focus. This has to be evaluated regularly and a written record kept of where the journey is going. To this end, I also push personnel development topics. It is important to me that my colleagues enjoy coming to work. I also represent Brandenburg's affairs with regard to the Geological Survey from the ground to the deep subsurface in various committees at the federal and state level. This means that I try to keep an eye on the issues of soil geology, the Cenozoic, the geoarchive, hydrogeology and raw material and deep geology. For this purpose, I either request reports from my department heads or am involved accordingly. In some cases, I also make or confirm higher-level decisions on the work directions. While my colleagues prepare very in-depth geological expert opinions, this is not necessarily my daily business as Head of Department. My opinions are of a technical nature but also of a disciplinary nature in the case of assessments and can also be prepared in the direction of ministries or other authorities. I also receive input and have to compile everything accordingly. This is very often very superordinate. I am currently in charge of defining the area for the Lausitz groundwater model. Here, too, we are compiling structural and hydrogeological fundamentals in the Geological Survey, but also interdisciplinary with the hydrology department in the State Office for the Environment and cross-state with Saxony. All of this takes place mainly in the form of coordination, e-mails, and the drafting of internal and external documents. In short, I spend a lot of time sitting at the computer and dealing with the geological space below us together with others. The professional range is very wide in the geoscientific sense. This includes sometimes teaching about geoelectrical mapping and the Service Motor Vehicle Directive.

In the context of the Tesla settlement in Grünheide also again and again the topic water is spoken. You yourself are busy with new water investigations in the area. How can one imagine such a water exploration in concrete terms? What were your specific tasks?
According to the Brandenburg Water Act, the Geological Service, as a department of the LBGR, is responsible for the hydrogeological groundwork. Within the scope of this activity, we were involved in orienting investigations, the so-called preliminary exploration. This preliminary investigation was carried out together with the State Office for the Environment. In addition, various contractors were involved on site. The overriding objective of such a preliminary investigation is to determine whether a particular aquifer is present in the geological soil strata. A pumping test, which must be carried out by the developer, then decides whether the aquifer is suitable for production and whether it can supply the estimated quantities of water.

What advice would you give to female students who also want to go into Physics or Geo-Physics?
Regardless of the subject, I would advise female students to choose smaller university locations such as Cottbus or Freiberg. This is not only due to possible costs, but I myself found it good that you have a very personal contact to fellow students and to the lecturers. You don't get lost if, for whatever reason, you are in danger of losing your connection. And: From today's perspective, it is unfortunately still true that women are proportionately less represented in STEM subjects. That's why you shouldn't let yourself be deterred. The most important thing for me is my personal statement that you shouldn't use your education just to raise your children. For me, being a professional is also a vocation.