Christiane Weirauch is a Collaborating Scientist and former postdoctoral trainee on the PBI project (2003 to 2006). Being now situated in Southern California, she will continue her work on the Western Nearctic fauna of Phylini, but also pursue projects on the largely unknown fauna of Phylini from Australia.

Prior to becoming Assistant Professor of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside, Christiane was a postdoctoral researcher on the PBI project, focusing on Phylini in the Western Nearctic and Australia. During her time in the PBI project, she conducted field work in South Africa, California, Australia, and Mexico. Christiane finalized her PhD in 2003 at the Freie Universität Berlin, working in comparative morphology and systematics of Reduviidae.

The PBI offerered an incredible opportunity to gain knowledge on a heteropteran group other than Reduviidae, do field work and research with the experts, and experience the American Museum of Natural History. The project also gave me first hand experience with the development and use of the PBI locality database, the digital library, and the electronic catalog.