CV

August 2022

Carolina Diller
dillercarolina[at]gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/carolina-diller-phd
carolinadiller.weebly.com
WORK EXPERIENCE
Post-Doctoral Researcher 2020-2022
Principal investigator: Johan A. Stenberg
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Alnarp, Sweden
Project topic 2020: Reproductive assurance in Fragaria vesca.
Project topic 2021: Climate change effects on the plant-insect interactions in
Fragaria vesca.

Post-Doctoral Researcher
2017-2020
Principal investigator: Steven D. Johnson
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Project topics: Pollination efficiency of birds and honeybees in Aloe ferox;
Conservation genetics of and endangered South African daisy (Gerbera
auranticata); Delayed selfing in Hibiscus species; Pollination biology of the
Kalahari desert Nerine laticoma.
EDUCATION
Doctorate of Biology, PhD 2009-2016
University of Maryland, College Park, USA
Supervisor: Charles B. Fenster
Dissertation title: Evaluating the effects of pollinator mediated selection on floral trait
variation.

Undergraduate of Biology (5 year education + thesis) 2003-2008

Biology Program, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina
Supervisor: Andrea A. Cocucci
Dissertation title: Resupination effects on pollinator behavior in Clitoria cordobensis
(Fabaceae).

Oral Scientific Communication

2022-July Conference: International Congress of Entomology, Helsinki, Finland.
Talk: Why honeybees are poor pollinators of a mass flowering plant.
2020- Jan. Conference: South African Association of Botanists, Qwa Qwa, Free State,
South Africa.
Talk: New method for identifying effective pollinators.
2016- Aug. Conference: Botanical Society of America Meeting, Savannah, Georgia,
USA.
Talk: Evaluating the effects of pollinator mediated selection on floral trait variation.
2016-May Conference: Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, Washington DC, USA.
Poster: Evaluating the effects of pollinator mediated selection on floral trait variation.
2015- Aug. Conference: Ecological Society of America Meeting (ESA), Baltimore,
 Maryland, USA.
Lightning Talk: Right and left chiral flowers in Hypericum perforatum (Hypericaceae)
do not contribute to directed pollen movement.
2014- June Conference: American Society of Evolution Meeting, Raleigh, North
Carolina, USA.
Poster: Selection response for stamen accuracy (bias and precision).
2008 - Nov Conference: XXIII Ecological Meeting (AsAE), San Luis, Argentina.
Talk: Resupination effects on pollinator behavior in Clitoria cordobensis (Fabaceae).
2007 - Nov Conference: XXXI Congress of the Argentine Botanical Society (SAB),
Corrientes, Argentina.
Talk: Resupination effects on pollinator behavior in Clitoria cordobensis (Fabaceae).

Awards/Grants/Funds/Fellowships
2020 Award: Postdoctoral Scholarship USD 12,700
Sponsor: University of KwaZulu-Natal, College
of Agricultural, Engineering and Life Sciences

2018 Award: Botanical Education Trust

Sponsor: Botanical Society of South Africa USD 698
2015 Award: Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship USD 10,000
Sponsor: University of Maryland

2014 Award: Howard J. Brinkley travel award USD 200

Sponsor: University of Maryland
2014 Award: Eugenie Clark Summer Fellowship, USD 4,200
Sponsor: University of Maryland
2014 Award: Pre-doctoral Fellowship USD 12,500
Sponsor: Committee on Institutional
Cooperation/ Smithsonian Institution (CIC/SI)
2012 Award: Margaret Walton scholarship
Sponsor: Mountain Lake Biological Station USD 913.25

2011 Award: Eugenie Clark Summer Fellowship USD 4,200

Sponsor: University of Maryland
2011 Award: Funds to cover costs for USA)
microMORPH workshop
Sponsor: NSF (National Science Foundation,

2010 Award: Post-course field work grant USD 615

Sponsor: Organization for Tropical Studies
(OTS)

TEACHING
2019 – Aug. One substitute lecture on pollination biology for first-year
undergraduate class (‘Life on Earth’), University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
2009-2016 Teaching Assistant for Human Anatomy and Physiology Labs at
University of Maryland, College Park, USA– (12 semesters)

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OUTREACH AND SERVICE
2021 – Dec. Popular article in Veld & Flora Magazine Issue107(4): ‘Colour them
beautiful- The Hilton daisy is iconic and endangered – Carolina Diller
and Isabel Johnson tried to find out what might help it survive’.
Page:12-17. Dec 2021. https://botanicalsociety.org.za/veld-and-flora-dec-
2021/
2021 – May Blog article on the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
facebook page. http://bit.ly/Pollinering – ‘Samspel mellan pollinatörer och
skadegörare i smultron studeras i europeiskt projekt.’
2018 - June Outreach talk at the Ashburton Aloe Festival, South Africa: ‘Why are
honeybees such poor pollinators of Aloe ferox, despite being frequent
visitors?’

2015 – Feb. Blog article on the Unearthed blog, National Museum of Natural
History (NMNH), USA.
2013- Feb. Judge at Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s Science & Engineering Fair,
Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION & INTERNSHIPS

Graduate level
2022 – Febr. Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration
101- edX online course.
2021 – Sept/Oct Mindful Scientific Writing online course from ‘I focus and write’
by Ana Pinedo.
2020 – Dec. Physalia online course in Speciation Genomics (4 th Edition)
2016 – Sept. BioData Training Workshop
(https://biodatatraining.wordpress.com/ ), College Park, Maryland,
USA
2014 – June Conservation Genetics – Graduate level intensive course – OTS
(Organization for Tropical Studies), Costa Rica
2014 – March Workshop in Applied Phylogenetics, Bodega Bay, California (UC
Davis), USA
2010 –June/July Tropical Plant Systematics – Graduate level intensive field course
– OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies), Costa Rica.
2009 – March Ecological Evolution – Graduate level intensive course – National
University of Tucuman; PROIMI CONICET, Argentina.
Undergraduate level
2007 – Jan/Febr. Internship at the Federal Biological Research Centre for
Agriculture and Foresty, Institute for Plant Protection in Fruit
Crops; Dossenheim, Germany
2006 – 2007 Research Assistant at the Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant
Biology (IMBIV); Cordoba, Argentina
2005 – Jan/March Internship at the Institute of Pathology (Laboratory of Molecular
Biology); Charité – University of Medicine, Campus Benjamin
Franklin; Berlin, Germany.

Invited Reviewer
AoB Plants, Ecology Letters, New Phytologist, The American Naturalist, Flora, Annals of
Botany, Nordic Journal of Botany, Biological Invasions, Journal of East African Natural History
and South African Journal of Botany.
LANGUAGES
-Fluent in Spanish and English, both orally and written.
-Competent in German.
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-Exposed to French (3 years of high school classes) and to a less degree to Swedish (one
introductory class in 2020/2021 given by SLU).