I like working with computers and applying math to biological problems that are difficult to solve. I teach computational evolutionary biology, inferences in conservation genetics, introduction to scientific computing, and discrete computer algorithms. My lab seminars revolve around understanding the methods in maths and computer implementations of population genetic inferences or phylogenetic inferences.

I grew up in Switzerland on the lake of Constance, during my studies at the University Zurich I was programming for a Bank, running the Amphibian inventory in the Canton Thurgau, and then was running with two friends an ecological consulting firm; my research revolved around the waterfrog complex and my doctoral thesis estimated an average molecular clock using 31 nuclear markers (allozymes). The populations for this study were located in the Mediterranean (Greek mainlands, Greek islands, and Turkey). During my thesis I was quite unhappy that in the early 1990 I could not analyze my data they way I wanted. As a result I wanted to develop my own methods, and 1994 I started a postdoc with Joe Felsenstein in Seattle, who helped me to achieve my goal. Ever since I develop programs and methods in population genetics.

When I do not work on computers, write papers, etc, I enjoy fancy cooking (and eating), hiking, and looking for snakes and other critters.