Dr. Stephanie Spahr is a tenure track research group leader at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin. Her research focuses on the sources, fate, and removal of organic contaminants such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals in natural and engineered aquatic ecosystems. Stephanie holds a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and worked at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag). Following her passion for research and water, Stephanie was a postdoctoral scholar at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University in California and led a junior research group at the University of Tübingen before joining IGB in Berlin.
I want to protect our freshwater ecosystems and drinking water resources from harmful synthetic chemicals. I want this because chemical pollution of freshwater threatens ecological and human health globally. I can do this because I run a laboratory for organic contaminant analysis and collaborate with researchers around the world to develop strategies for improved water purification and sustainable water management.