About me

Beginning my academic training in classical biology I was drawn in by the fields of marine biology, ethology and computational biology. I received my interdisciplinary PhD at the Humboldt University in Berlin working with Pawel Romanczuk and David Bierbach as part of the Science of Intelligence Excellence Cluster on the properties of collective information processing and learning. The questions being asked were experimentally tested in natural systems such as fish groups (Poecilia reticulata, Poecilia formosa, and Amatitlania nigrofasciata) which interact with their physical and social environment. After working the past years in the lab of Albert Kao at the University of Massachusetts Boston investigating collective learning, I am currently a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the lab of Pete Buston at the Boston University. Here I am working on the evolution of complex societies and division of labor in the clown anemonefish (Amphiprion percula).

My interests revolve around aquatic systems, as I have always been drawn towards water in any form. Bridging across all natural systems are the complex interactions and mechanisms governing a single organism, groups of animals, or even our societies. With my work, I want to shed light on the underlying rules in order to add to a more holistic view on the world and what surrounds us. The goal is, to learn from these systems and transfer this knowledge to various fields of research, ranging from artificial intelligence and optimization algorithms to socioeconomic implementations such as electoral outcomes and crowd control. My general motivation is to uncover possible manipulative and maladaptive characteristics in our own behaviour in order to work towards a reflected way we may interact with our environment as a people.