The right and privilege to independently represent two disciplines in both research and teaching In February 2023, I successfully completed my postdoctoral habilitation qualification and was awarded the “Lehrbefugnis” (academic license to teach) in two academic disciplines: botany and bioinformatics. The certificate of habilitation confers upon the recipient the right and privilege to independently represent […]
Archiv der Kategorie 'myself'
Academic freedom is a highly valuable and precious commodity
“A good sign as to whether there is free speech is, is someone you don’t like allowed to say something you don’t like? If that is the case, we have free speech.” Elon Musk (2022) I strongly support initiatives that advocate free speech in general and academic freedom in particular. Given that a Marxist student […]
Talks at public events
One of the by-products of being a scientist: Talks at public events
Morone chrysops at Inks Lake State Park, TX
Notes from the outdoors
Teaching in spring
In the lab with teachers-to-be and high-school students One of the master-level courses I teach at the Freie Universität Berlin during spring semester, the NatLab Evolution, is geared towards a comprehensive teaching education for upcoming high-school teachers. During this course, we invite high-school students from across Berlin to spend a day in the lab and […]
Teaching freshmen
Currently, I am teaching a class on botany and global biodiversity to freshman-level students. Although the total number of students signed up for my course is large, and thus I have to guide dozens of students through the course materials every day, I love academic teaching and I hope that the students enjoy the course […]
Collecting plants for my lab course
Selecting what my be pedagogically valuable Currently, I am teaching a lab course on plant morphology and biodiversity. In order for my students to work on live plant material, I have spent a lot of time in the greenhouses of the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem to select appropriate study objects. Here are some […]
Teaching about the Verts and the Peas
“On the Birds and the Bees” for botanists Currently, I am teaching a class on the biodiversity and evolution of flowering plants, particularly from a phylogenetic perspective. I love academic teaching, and I hope my students enjoy the course as much as I do.
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