María Chapela Lara was awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers and is currently guest in Section 3.3. Earth Surface Geochemistry. This fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables a 23-month stay at the GFZ.

She is greatly interested in tropical weathering and the bio-geochemical cycling of mineral nutrients which takes place in the ‘skin’ of Earth and ranges from aquifers to treetops. While at the GFZ, she will investigate the role that climate and vegetation play on weathering processes along a latitudinal gradient in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera.