Dr. Adiël Klompmaker, postdoctoral researcher at the Museum of Paleontology of the University of California Berkeley (USA), studied Earth Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After graduating in 2006, he started a PhD research in Applied Geology at Kent State University in Ohio (USA) in 2008, on Mesozoic crustaceans. After completing his PhD dissertation, entitled “Mesozoic decapod diversity with an emphasis on the Early Cretaceous (Albian) of Spain” in 2012, he did a three year postdoc at the University of Florida (USA), associated to the Florida Museum of Natural History. From 2015 to present, he has been a postdoctoral scholar and assistant project scientist at the prestigious University of California Berkeley, at the Department of Integrative Biology and the Museum of Paleontology.
Adiël’s research in the last decade has focused primarily on understanding the processes that drive ecosystems on evolutionary time scales. To answer this question, he studies two model systems: (1) decapod crustaceans within and across sedimentary settings, and (2) the evolution of biotic interactions (predation, parasitism, and competition) in marine ecosystems through time. Over this period, Adiël Klompmaker has published 54 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including first-authored articles in high-impact journals like Science, Geology (2x), and the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and about 300 popular articles on earth sciences and paleontology. He has supervised 13 bachelor and master students and taught five courses and five labs in general geology and paleontology. In addition, he participated in collection management courses at UC Berkeley and the University of Florida.
Between 2007 and 2012, Adiël was a Popular Science Writer & Editor at the Earth & Climate webpage on Kennislink.nl. Since 2017, he is an Associate Editor of PALAIOS.