About

I am a research biologist interested in the biodiversity and evolution of insects, in particular a very special group of insects: parasitic wasps.

I finished my Ph.D. in Comparative Biology at the American Museum of Natural History in 2016 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at  the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and as curator of Hymenoptera at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Now, I am a researcher at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. My interests are broad and range from cataloging and describing the impressive biodiversity of parasitic wasps to elucidating broader evolutionary questions related to themes such as morphological diversification, species limits, evolution and significance of color patterns and global patterns of wasp diversity. In order to address these issues, my research encompasses several components from the fieldwork in rainforests to collection rooms with thousands of specimens, microscopes and cameras, molecular biology laboratories and computer clusters.

I am also passionate about science education and have worked in outreach and education with students from middle school to graduate level.

This website presents some of my work, including ongoing projects, recent achievements and scientific output.