KIT welcomes George Macharia

George Macharia, a principle chemist at the National Water Harvesting & Storage Authority (NWHSA), Kenya, recently spent 3 months on secondment at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Campus Alpin in Garmisch, Germany.

George Macharia is the manager of the Environment and Social Safeguards Division at NWHSA. He is actively involved in research on water quality, climate change and water resources assessment, as well as preparing policy briefs and environmental impact statements for decision makers.

The main objective of George’s secondment was to learn applicable methods and technologies for the sampling and analysis of nitrogen. To this end, he participated in field sampling campaigns to measure 15N, and carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide fluxes using LGR. He also spent time in the lab, performing experiments focused on establishing conditions that favour the release of nitrogen oxides from terrestrial ecosystems.

During his secondment, George worked primarily with Dr Ralf Kiese, head of the Terrestrial Biogeochemistry Division and Ecosystem Matter Fluxes working group, and PhD students Mr Ricky Mwanake and Ms Elizabeth Wangari.

George reports that the secondment was very insightful, and that he will be able to apply the new sampling and analysis techniques learnt when analysing nitrates in water, especially groundwater. His only criticism is that the secondment was too short, he would have liked to stay longer to work on more experiments!