On November 17, 2023, Caixia Wei (魏彩霞) accomplished a pivotal milestone by successfully defending her thesis titled “Morphometrics of Modern and Fossil Poaceae Pollen from South America” at the distinguished Agnietenkapel (University of Amsterdam). During the defense ceremony, Caixia showcased her professional knowledge and expertise in the field of paleoecology in a relaxed and cheerful manner. The committee members, promoters (Carina Hoorn, William Gosling, Phillip Jardine), and attendees (~50 people) responded with frequent smiles, laughter, and numerous rounds of applause! After the defense, a delightful reception and dinner were held, where Caixia was showered with an abundance of hugs, kisses, heartfelt wishes, and thoughtful gifts. These wonderful memories will support Caixia on her journey ahead…
For a glimpse into the event, you can watch Caixia’s insightful 10-minute project presentation here:
Additionally, most of Caixia’s thesis is available for download at this link:
- Wei, C. (2023) Morphometrics of modern and fossil Poaceae pollen from South America. PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam.
Below is a brief introduction of Caixia. She was born on 1994 May 25th, in Shanxi, China. She has had a deep interest in Natural Science since she was a child. In June 2016 and 2019, she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the fields of Biology and Biogeography in China. Since September 2019, she has been dedicated to her Ph.D. research at the Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics (University of Amsterdam) in the Netherlands, with a specific focus on the diversity of grass biomes from a palynological perspective. Grasses are, in terms of palynology, a notoriously difficult group. Under the supervision of Dr. Carina Hoorn, Prof. William Gosling, and Dr. Phillip Jardine, she tackled this challenging group by exploring the frontiers of palynological research. This involved high-resolution pollen analysis combined with innovative numerical methods that integrated multiple morphological features into statistical models. The results of these studies are presented in her thesis.
Ecology of the past 