In the frame of my new 3-year postdoc project “Modelling abiotic and biotic drivers of a plant radiation”, I will spend one year at the University of Colorado Boulder working in tight collaboration with Stacey Smith! My first couple of weeks in Boulder and in Stacey’s lab have been fantastic – a great scientific vibe, exciting new research questions and hypotheses popping up, learning a lot about other systems from my lab members and their students: the wealth of hitherto unexplored fruit and seed fossils in Solanaceae (Rocío Deanna), systematic considerations in Clematis (Jesse Harris), where to find Physalis (Chelsea Pretz), how to maintain a healthy collection of carnivorous plants (Sukuan Liu), pathways of flower color evolution (Luke Wheeler) and the mechanisms of producing structurally colored fruits (Miranda Sinnott-Armstrong) – still wondering about the ecological function of different mechanisms of producing blue fruits! It’s great to come into such an active and interactive working group and enjoying great mentorship by Stacey Smith!! 🙂 Can’t wait to plunge more deeply into my own project – and the fantastic mountains and rock climbing around Boulder!
CU Boulder – a new (scientific) adventure!
