Dr. Susanne Benz

Dr. Susanne Benz

Research Interests

My work combines (big) data science with geospatial data to study the impacts of urbanization and climate change on society and nature. I am particularly interested in the role of the built environment on atmospheric, surface, and subsurface temperature disparities. Because of my trans-disciplinary background in physics, hydrogeology, geospatial data science, and public policy I use a variety of tools such as remote sensing, machine learning, and analytical and statistical models. A common thread in my projects is the use of large geospatial datasets and the development of tools for decision making that incorporate both built and natural environments.

My research to date focuses on four main areas:

  •     Environmental Justice
  •     Subsurface Heat Recycling
  •     Subsurface Temperatures
  •     Urban Heat

Teaching

Courses taught in the RSGI, GuG, and other Master programs:

  •     Designing Interactive Geo-Solutions with Python (WS)
  •     GIS-Analysen (SS)
  •     Big Data and Machine Learning (Grace)

A list of currently offered topics for student's thesis can be found at Suggested Topics for Student’s Thesis

CV

Since 10/2022 Freigeist Fellow,  Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), KIT
02/2021 - 09/2022 Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Water Resources Studies, Dalhousie University, Canada
01/2020 - 02/2020 Guest Researcher, Department of Geography, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
09/2018 - 01/2021 Postdoctoral Scholar, School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California San Diego (UCSD), USA
05/2018 - 08/2018 PostDoc, Institute of Applied Geosciences (AGW), KIT
10/2017 - 03/2018 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship, Research Institute of Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan
08/2015 - 10/2015 Guest Researcher, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
01/2017 - 05/2017 PostDoc, Institute of Applied Geosciences (AGW), KIT
15/12/2016 PhD, Institute of Applied Geosciences (AGW), KIT
21/03/2013 M.Sc. in Physics, Georg-August-University Goettingen
04/10/2010 B.Sc. in Physics, University of Konstanz

 

Publikationsliste