🌍 GEMS: Community
The GEMS codes and thermodynamic databases (TDBs) form a open-source ecosystem used worldwide for geochemical modeling, experimental data interpretation, and process simulation. Over the years, GEMS tools have supported numerous PhD and Postdoc research projects at institutions ETH Zurich, EPFL, University of Bern in Switzerland, NTNU in Norway, DTU in Denmark, as well as universities and research labs across Europe, North America, and Asia.
They are also actively used in industry — by companies such as Sika, HeidelbergCement, and Holcim-Lafarge — and in national waste management organizations like Nagra (Switzerland) and SCK-CEN (Belgium).
Originally co-developed at LES PSI, GEMS software has long-standing collaborative roots with the Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology (IGP ETHZ), University of Bern in Switzerland, RWTH Aachen, and research centers like KIT, FZJ, and HZDR in Germany, Colorado School of Mines, and New Mexico Tech in the USA.
🤝 Contribute
We welcome contributions from the scientific and user community to help expand and improve the GEMS! Whether you're a researcher, student, developer, or advanced user, there are many ways you can get involved:
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📁 Share Example Calculations
Help others get started by contributing example GEMS projects, input files, and workflows that showcase specific applications, from simple speciation to complex reactive transport modeling. -
⚙️ Develop & Extend Models & Thermodynamic databases
Enhance the capabilities of GEMS by contributing custom thermodynamic models, solid solution definitions, or by providing and maintaining thermodynamic databases for specific applications. -
📚 Create Tutorials & Documentation
Contribute user guides, how-to tutorials, teaching materials, or walkthroughs that help others understand and use GEMS more effectively. -
🔌 Integrate with Other Tools
Help build bridges between GEMS and other geochemical, transport, or statistical modeling software by developing wrappers, APIs, or plugin modules.
We believe in open scientific collaboration and are happy to support your efforts in contributing back to the GEMS platform. Feel free to reach out via GitHub, email!
🐛 Report Issues/discussion
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github issues
If you encounter issues with GEM-Selektor, GEM-Standalone, GEMSFITS, or other please use
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github discussions
If you would like to share ideas for new features or ask the community for help please use our new
⏳ History of development
GEMS was initially developed by Prof. Igor Karpov in USSR starting 1975, and since 2000 it was maintained and provided to the public by the Laboratory of Waste Management (LES) under the lead of Dr. Dmitrii Kulik who retired from PSI in 2024. During this period GEMS ecosystem grew into a widely applied and internationally renowned and cited interactive thermodynamic modelling framework. Since his retirement GEMS development is overseen by Dr. George-Dan Miron (scientist at LES/PSI) with financial support and guidance from the GEMS support consortium.