1987-1991: undergraduate studies of biology at the University of Hohenheim / Germany
1991-1994: main and graduate studies of biology at the Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen / Germany (with focus on entomology, subsidiary subjects:
paleontology and parasitology)
1994: diploma degree (= M.Sc.) in biology with a diploma thesis (in
German) on the morphology of dragonfly wings titled "Morphologische Untersuchungen am Flügelgeäder der rezenten
Libellen und deren Stammgruppenvertreter (Insecta; Pterygota; Odonata) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Phylogenetischen Systematik und des Grundplanes der *Odonata" under supervision of Dr. Gerhard Mickoleit (Inst. Zool., Univ. Tübingen)
1994-1998: Ph.D. student under supervision of Prof. Wolf-Ernst Reif at the institute for geology and paleontology of the Eberhard-Karls-University in
Tübingen / Germany
1999: graduation as Ph.D. in geosciences with summa cum laude degree with the paleontological Ph.D. thesis "Phylogeny and
systematics of fossil dragonflies (Insecta: Odonatoptera) with special reference to some Mesozoic outcrops" under supervision of Prof. Wolf-Ernst Reif (Inst. Paleont., Univ. Tübingen),
co-refereed by Prof. Carsten Brauckmann (TU Clausthal-Zellerfeld) and Prof. Rainer Willmann (Univ. Göttingen). Parts of this Ph.D. thesis have been accomplished as guest researcher at MCZ,
Harvard University
Dec. 1, 1998 - Aug. 31, 1999: Scientific trainee in the department of paleontology at the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart
Sept. 1, 1999 - December 15, 2016: scientific employee as curator for amber and fossil insects in the department of paleontology at the State Museum of Natural
History (SMNS) in Stuttgart / Germany, as successor of Dr. Dieter Schlee and previously Prof. Willi Hennig
since October 8, 2016: Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture in Seattle, WA, USA
since April 25, 2017: Senior Scientist at Biologic Institute in Redmond, WA, USA
since May 30, 2019: Chairman of the Zentrum für BioKomplexität & NaturTeleologie
