Courage to embrace the gaps. Inspired by a chance encounter with university president Eva Martha Eckkrammer, it’s my new productivity mantra for the year: *Mut zur Lücke*.

Excited to share the bulk of my postdocotoral work from the @ditalialab.bsky.social on how cells interpret dynamic morphogen signaling during development! Many thanks to our collaborators & coauthors @shelbyflies.bsky.social, Massimo Vergassola, Jacqueline Janssen, and Anna Chao.

Excited to see new work on the politics of Covid border closures—smart design, rich data, and important findings. Grateful to see my borders papers contributed, and even more so to see the research carrying the torch forward with more fine-grained data. This is how knowledge builds. 👏

What bring together an American, a Brit, and Puccini? German sausage We will miss you in Mannheim @nspmartin.bsky.social !

Today’s a big day: I’m at an appointment to officially swap my US-based driver’s license for a Germany-based one. The first time I took my partner with me, and we were not successful. Second time, I asked a colleague to come with since I do not speak much German. But he threw up otw! So..

From the streets to her very own tufted chaise.. Happy National Rescue a Dog Day! -- which is every day in Pepper's apartment.

On Friday, I finally got a formal (rejection) letter for an exchange EU-US Fulbright Fellowship I applied for (pre-Trump), was interviewed for, and selected for—but ultimately, the State Department de-selected me without any explanation. They didn't award anyone else the position either..

📣 new fellowship at the MZES, University of Mannheim! Deadline 26 April 2025. Come join us 👇🏻

I am excited to get back into conferencing and workshopping new ideas this year--after a hiatus last year to finish my dissertation. First stop: Stockholm! "Contemporary Politics in the Western Balkans" hosted by Sweden's Institute for International Affairs.

Since I moved to Germany from the US academic environment, people have asked me how Trump's attack on science has affected people here. I honestly wish I did not have a concrete, shocking example to share. I knew a Trump presidency would, again, have far-reaching impacts, but I didn't expect this.