Dr. Melanie Eis worked as research fellow at the Institute of American Literature and Culture in Cologne from 2015 until 2018. She completed her dissertation Hip: A Literary History of the Beat Generation's Emotional Expressivity at the Graduate School of North American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin in 2016 (magna cum laude). Her teaching in Cologne ranged from Women's Poetry to American Subcultures. She now works as a teacher and entrepeneur in Berlin where she lives with her family.