Background
I wrote my diploma thesis with Prof. W. Zwerger at the Physics Department of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany on the topic of mesoscopic quantum systems. Working on my PhD thesis with Prof. S. Dietrich at the University of Wuppertal in Germany—now at the Max Planck Institute for Metal Research in Stuttgart, I studied fluctuation-induced entropic forces between colloidal particles. After my PhD, I went to MIT for my postdoctoral studies where I worked with Prof. M. Kardar on problems of nanoscience and biological physics. In November and December of 2001, I visited the research group of Prof. M. Schick in Seattle before I moved to a postdoctoral position in Prof. John Cardy's group at the University of Oxford in England. From October 2002 until July 2003, I worked as a Research Associate in the group of Prof. U. Seifert in Stuttgart, working on problems of single-molecule biophysics. In August 2003, I returned with a Marie Curie Fellowship to John Cardy's group at the University of Oxford. In March 2004, I finally moved to my present position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC). I am also Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) and a member of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Technology (IBMST) at UT Dallas. My research includes summer appointments at the UT Dallas NanoTech Institute.
