Born 1966 in Augsburg. Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, Iowa State University, USA (1990), PhD in Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, USA (1996), Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Advanced Study Program of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, USA (1996 - 1998), Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (1998 - 1999), University of California (UCLA), USA, Department of Atmospheric Sciences: Assistant Professor (1999), Associate Professor (2003), Professor (tenured, 2007), Affiliate Scientist at NCAR (since 2000), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (since 2008).