Growing up in a family of mountaineers, I spent much of my time outdoors. Besides enjoying myself, I developed a curiosity and fascination for nature and at university continued what I began in high school - studying natural sciences, with a major in Geography.
 
During my studies at Dresden University of Technology (Germany), I developed enthusiasm for research and teaching. Soon I was involved in several international research projects and had the chance to undertake leadership positions in research expeditions. My long-term experience in community services with the German Alpine Association was a great benefit to me in this role. To strengthen my scientific expertise, I also spent time at Simon Fraser University (Canada), investigating mountain pine beetle infestations. After returning from Canada, I studied landscape fragmentation and soil erosion using modeling techniques and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (Germany).
 
Having completed my degree (MSc) in Dresden, I continued with a PhD in sciences at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Grassland Sciences Group. During my PhD, I investigated the carbon and water cycling of tropical ecosystems (Sardinilla, Panama) with micrometeorological flux tower measurements using the eddy covariance method. Following my PhD, I worked as a Postdoc at ETH Zurich within the projects GHG-Europe and Swiss FluxNet.
 
Since November 2011, I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Biometeorology Lab at UC Berkeley (CA, USA). My current research on the partitioning of ecosystem carbon dioxide and water vapour fluxes is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). Recently, I was awarded a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship by the European Commision to conduct further research at UC Berkeley and ETH Zurich on water vapour fluxes and spatiotemporal effects of extreme events.