Education

2014–

Postdoc
BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, USA

with Jeff Hasty and Lev Tsimring

2013

Ph.D. in physics summa cum laude
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization
International Max Planck Research School for Biological and Complex Systems
Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany

Supervisor: Stefan Luther
Thesis title: Complex Structure and Dynamics of the Heart

2009

Physics diploma with honors
Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany

Supervisor: Ulrich Parlitz
Thesis title: Control of spiral wave activity in excitable media

 

Awards and Prizes

May 2014 – present Postdoctoral “Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship” awarded by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)
Dec 2014 Second prize of the “Deutscher Studienpreis” for Ph.D. theses with strong societal impacts (one first and two second prizes awarded nationwide in the natural sciences and engineering) awarded by the Körber foundation.
Jun 2014 Otto-Hahn medal of the Max Planck Society for outstanding scientific achievements
Dec 2013 Dr.-Berliner-Dr.-Ungewitter Prize of the faculty of Physics for the best Ph.D. thesis of the semester
Jul 2013 Participation in the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
May 2009 – Apr 2012 Excellence Stipend (PhD) funded by the International Max Planck Research School for Physics of Biological and Complex Systems, Göttingen, Germany
Mar 2009 Dr.-Berliner-Dr.-Ungewitter Prize of the faculty of Physics for outstanding graduation (Diplom)
Nov 2003 – Mar 2009 Scholar of the “Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes“ (German Academic foundation)

 

Experience

Jun 2016 – Jul 2016 UCSD Micro-MBA at the Rady School of Management, La Jolla, CA, USA
Jul 2012 – Oct 2012 Outreach: Presentation of the group’s theoretical and experimental work for the module “Complexity” of the traveling exhibition “Science Tunnel 3.0” by the Max Planck Society
May 2003 – Jun 2012 Freelancer at Klinikum Bielefeld: Programming and maintenance of a contract management software for the Human Resources Department, streamlining administrative processes
Nov 2009 – Dec 2009 Visiting Graduate Student at the Laboratory of Dr. R. F. Gilmour, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA working with Dr. F. H. Fenton on the numerical simulation of cardiac tissue
Jan 2008 – Dec 2008 Research Assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, in the Independent Junior Research Group “Biomedical Physics” of Prof. Dr. Luther: Analysis of experimental data, numerical simulations
May 2007 – Aug 2007 Research Assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, in the Network Dynamics Group, working with Dr. Marc Timme on synchronisation in neural networks
Feb 2006 – Mar 2006 MeVis Research GmbH Bremen, “Neuro“ division, working with Dr. Jan Klein, Topic: Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging data by clustering methods.
Summer 2003 Forschungszentrum Jülich, working with Dr. Paul Konopka, Institute of Chemistry and Dynamics of the Geosphere; ICG-I: Stratosphere

 

Teaching and Supervision

2009 – present Supervision of two M.Sc., three B.Sc. students and a long-term student group project
Summers 2014/15/16 Teaching and mentoring group projects at the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth q-bio Summer Schools, San Diego campus
Apr 2015, Mar 2016 Module at Math Modeling Tutorial Workshop, San Diego Center for Systems Biology
Oct 2013 – Feb 2014 Lecture Excitable Media (533040) in modules for biophysics and physics of complex systems, Göttingen University
Feb 2010 & Feb 2011 Nonlinear Dynamics Course, Third Institute of Physics, Göttingen University
2005 – 2007 Teaching Assistent at the Institute of Computer Science (lecture "Informatics I") and the Institute of Theoretical Physics (lecture "Quantum Mechanics I"), Göttingen University