Environmental systems are complex structures defined by a high level of interaction and interferences of different parameters. Specific processes in chemical industry, biochemistry, pharmacy and even mechanical engineering and material machining are also characterized by an increasing level of elaborateness. For interpretation of trends and time-depending developments (e. g. environmental monitoring) as well as immediate decisions in process control and optimization reliable data are of essential importance.

Students are introduced to different methods and strategies for data acquisition, interpretation and drawing reasonable conclusions based on the facts available. They are especially sensitised to evaluate the (dis-)advantages of conventional (discontinuous) measuring techniques compared to modern process analytical methods, providing information about current process conditions or specific material characteristics, respectively.

Students are enabled to select analytical methods for specific measuring tasks, planning field campaigns – including instrumentation and data acquisition – and editing data sets obtained. They are able to identify chances and weaknesses of modern analytical approaches and evaluate quality and reliability of measuring data in comparison to information obtained from conventional analytical methods (offline/laboratory analysis).