About me

I grew up in a small town called Surhuisterveen in the province of Fryslân in The Netherlands. I have been interested in nature, particularly birds, since I was a small child.

Birding while young is best done lying down. Unfortunately, this is not what it looked like where I grew up. On holiday in France, ca. 1994.

As a young teenager, I joined the Jeugdbond voor Natuur- en Milieustudie (“youth club for the study of nature and the environment”). With the JNM, I went on countless excursions and camps across the country and beyond, looking for and identifying birds, butterflies, plants and so on.

Breeding bird survey with the JNM at the Duurswouderheide in The Netherlands in 2003.

This prompted me to study Biology in college, and since Fryslân doesn't have a single university, I moved to the rival neighbor province of Groningen to study at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. I did my PhD in evolutionary genetics at Uppsala University in Sweden, and next went to North Carolina in the US for postdocs at UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University. Nearly all of my research has revolved around speciation, genomics, and the intersection of the two — see my Research and Publications pages for more details.

After seeing a Hawk Owl, near Vendel north of Uppsala, Sweden, January 2010.
Playing soccer with OCASL in Chapel Hill, June 2018.

Contact me

  • 919-260-8253
  • 328 Biol. Sciences Building, 125 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
  • DM me