Biography

Career history:

  • Recipient of a specialization grant (equivalent to Ph.D. grant) by the Belgian Institute for Scientific Research in Industry and Agriculture (now Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology - Flanders) from October 1st 1988 till September 30th 1989. Ph.D. project: Terrestrial nematodes from the Galápagos Archipelago.
  • Research assistant of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (equivalent to Ph.D. grant) from October 1st 1989 till September 30th 1993. Ph.D. project: Terrestrial nematodes from the Galápagos Archipelago.
  • Postdoctoral researcher of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (Belgium) from October 1st 1994 till September 30th 1999. Research project: Molecular phylogeny of nematodes.
  • Plant nematode taxonomist at the International Institute of Parasitology, St Albans, UK (now CABI Bioscience, Egham, UK) on outplacement agreement with the Fund for Scientific Research, from April 1st till September 22nd 1995 and again from April 1st till September 30th 1996.
  • Full-time lecturer in invertebrate systematics and phylogeny at Ghent University, Belgium, from October 1st 1999 till October 31st 2000.
  • Assistant Professor and Assistant Nematologist at the University of California – Riverside, from November 1st 2000 till present.

Other scientific activities:

  • Volunteer participant in Team I (April 23rd - May 6th 1994) of the paleontological Earthwatch project "Triassic Park" in Valle de la Luna, Argentina.
  • Visiting scientist from September 5th till October 8th 1994 at the Wellcome Research Centre for Parasitic Infections, Department of Biology, Imperial College, London (funded by the British-Flemish Academic Research Collaboration Programme 1994/1995)
  • Member of the organizing committee of the 22nd International Nematology Symposium (August 7-12th 1994, Ghent, Belgium).
  • Co-presenter of the "Nematode Workshop: Identification of Freeliving Nematodes" held on July 6-10th 1998 at the University of California – Riverside; co-author of the accompanying 104-page workshop manual.
  • Visiting scientist at the Nematology Department of the University of California – Riverside from October 1st 1998 till September 30th 1999 through a Mobility Grant of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (Belgium).