Biography

• 08/2020 - present:
  Earth Scientist (Hydrology)
  Earth & Environmental Sciences Area at the Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
• 08/2018 – 07/2020:
  Visiting Researcher
  Ryan Emanuel's lab at the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
  North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
• 07/2018 – 07/2020:
  Postdoctroal Research Fellow
  Surface Hydrology and Erosion Group of the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
• 04/2018 – 06/2018:
  Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  ​Chair of Hydrology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau
• 09/2015 – 03/2018:
  Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  Northern Rivers Institute, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen
• 2012 – 2015:
  PhD student in Hydrology 
  Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau
  Graduate School "Environment, Society and Global Change”
  Thesis title: “Spatio-temporal effects on vadose zone water transit times”
• 2012 – 2015:
  Research Assistant
  ​Chair of Hydrology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau
• 2009 – 2011:
  Master of Science in BioGeosciences 
  University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz
  Thesis title: “Modelling the water balance of a tropical plantation considering biodiversity effects“
• 2008 – 2009:
  Exchange studies
  Environmental and Resource Management 
  University of Iceland, Reykjavik
• 2005 – 2008:
  ​Bachelor of Science in Geoecology 
  University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth.

Field visit at the East River catchment in Colorado

Drilling campaign in Colorado in 2021

On a field trip in the Pyrenees with CSIC-IDAEA

VeWa team at a meeting in the Yukon

VeWa postdocs in the Scottisch Highlands

After my PhD defense with the dissertation committee (Markus Weiler, Christine Stumpp, Fritzi Lang, Kevin McGuire via Skype)

Editor service

Associate Editor of Vadose Zone Journal
Guest Editor of a Research Topic in Frontiers in Water on “Stable Isotope Ecohydrological Research of the Critical Zone” (with Poca M, Allen ST, Nie Y-P) in 2021
Guest Editor of Special Issue in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences on “Water, isotope and solute fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere interface: Investigations from the canopy to the root zone” (with Orlowski N, Geris J, Llorens P, Wang L, Coenders M) in 2019 - 2021
Guest Editor of Special Issue in Water (MDPI) on “Hillslope Hydrology: Towards Improved Process Understanding Using Modeling and/or Field Observations” (with Dusek J, Ameli A, Wang S) in 2018 - 2019

Peer-review service

Hydrological Processes (21), Water Resource Research (13), Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (9), Rapid Communications of Mass Spectrometry (9), Ecohydrology (7), Journal of Hydrology (9), Science of the Total Environment (5), Water (MDPI) (5), Catena (4), Vadose Zone Journal (3), New Phytologist (3), Environmental Modelling & Software (3), Journal of Arid Environments (3), Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (2), Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2), Biogeosciences (2), ACS Agricultural Science & Technology (2), Geophysical Research Letters (1), Advances in Water Resources (1), Scientific Reports (1), Hydrology Research (1), Plant and Soil (1), Scientific Data (1), Applied Geochemistry (1), Soil and Tillage Research (1), Journal of Mountain Science (1), Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica (Journal of Geographical Research, 1)
113 reviews in total (https://publons.com/author/1179341/matthias-sprenger#stats)

Organisation of International conferences

Scientific Committee of 2nd edition of the workshop on "Isotope-based studies of water partitioning and plant-soil interactions in forested and agricultural environments" EGU Galileo Conference,  July 2022 in Hannover, Germany (with Penna D, Beyer M, Geris J, Hopp L, Scandellari F)
Co-organizing and establishing the EGU Hydrology Blog (2018-2021)
Deputy Chair of AGU Technical Committee Catchment Hydrology (since 2021)
Scientific Committee of the EGU Leonardo Conference 2017 on “Water stable isotopes in the hydrological cycle”, 16.-18.10.2017 in the Black Forest, Germany
Session Convener
AGU 2022 session: “Stable Isotopes in the Critical Zone: Methods, Applications and Process Interpretations” (with Orlowski N, Allen ST, Olson EL)
​"Workshop: Connecting water ages and biogeochemical processes in critical zone studies" (with Sylvain Kuppel) at AGU Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting 2022 workshop: 
"Stable Isotopes in the Critical Zone: Methods, Applications, and Process Interpretations" (with Good SP, Orlowski N, Allen ST) at AGU 2020
"Water, isotope and solute fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere interface: Investigations from the canopy to the root zone" (with Orlowski N, Geris J, Coenders-Gerrits M, Friesen J) at EGU 2020
"Stable Isotopes in the Critical Zone: Methods, Applications, and Process Interpretations" (with Good SP, Orlowski N, Allen ST) at AGU 2019
"Water, isotope and solute fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere interface: Investigations from the canopy to the root zone" (with Orlowski N, Geris J, Hildebrandt A, Friesen J, Coenders-Gerrits M) at EGU 2019
"Stable Isotopes in the Critical Zone: Methods, Applications and Process Interpretations" (with Orlowski N, Dawson T, Good SP) at AGU 2018
“Stable isotopes to study water dynamics in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum” (with Geris J, Llorens P, Hissler C, Orlowski N) at EGU 2018
“Methods and Process Interpretations in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum” (with Levia D F, Volkmann T, Van Stan J T) at AGU 2016

Presenting at AGU 2018

Field visit in Luxembourg with attendees of the Chapman Conference 2014

AGU 2018

Session on "Stable Isotopes in the Critical Zone" well attended

Presenting a poster at AGU 2015

Grants and awards

2022-2024: USGS Powell Center and Critical Zone Network synthesis effort
2021-2023: Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project
​2021: France-Berkeley Fund (together with Sylvain Kuppel)
2020: Outstanding paper award 2020, Vadose Zone Journal
2020: EGU Roland Schlich Travel Support to attend EGU 2020
2019: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Travel fund to attend EGU 2019​
2018: Research Fellowship awarded by German Research Foundation (DFG), Project 397306994 on "Water age dynamics in a Mediterranean catchment and their ecohydrological implications in a changing environment"
2018: Research proposal awarded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence by the European Commission
2018: German Hydrological Society (DHG) Fieldwork Scholarship for research in Finland
2018: British Hydrological Society travel grant to visit EGU 2018
2017: SAGES Pools Engagement in European Research for presenting at the EGU Leonardo Conference 2017 on “Water stable isotopes in the hydrological cycle”
2017: EGU Early Career Scientist's Travel Support for attending EGU conference 2017
2016: Travel fund SAGES for attending AGU Fall Meeting 2016
2015: Travel fund „Förderverein Hydrologie“ at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg to attend AGU Fall Meeting 2015
2015: Travel fund Graduate School “Environment, Society and Global Change” to attend AGU Fall Meeting 2015
2014: DAAD-RISE scholarship to host an undergraduate for an internship (6 weeks)
2014: EGU Early Career Scientist's Travel Support for attending EGU conference 2014
2013: Travel fund Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Freiburg im Breisgau for presenting at AGU Fall Meeting 2013
2013: Fahnenberg-Scholarship of the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources for a research visit at the McGuire lab at Virginia Tech
2013: EGU Early Career Scientist's Travel Support for attending EGU conference 2013
2011: PROMOS-Grant of DAAD for field work in Panama
2008-2009: ERASMUS-Grant of DAAD for studying in Iceland