Graduate Students

Title Degree Areas of Interest Advisor
Pheylan Anderson M.S.

Cold hardiness and biology of soybean gall midge

Robert Koch
Ellen Owusu Adjeiwaa M.S.

Examining the potential pests and their impact on pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) production.

Robert Koch
Emily Althoff Ph.D.

Eastern Larch Beetle

Brian Aukema
Michelle Boone Ph.D.

Developing non-lethal methods to study endangered insects, including using occupancy modeling to estimate detection probabilities and non-invasive ways to study population genetics of Bombus spp.

Sujaya Rao
Julia Brokaw Ph.D.

I am interested in how to establish and restore prairies for native plants and wild bees and the driving factors that make restoration successful at both local and landscape levels. Additionally, I am interested in connecting policy decision with prairie and pollinator conservation that help both people and the environment.

Dan Cariveau
Sabrina Celis Ph.D.

Parasitoid wasps and their applications in biological control

George Heimpel
Josie Dillon M.S.

Understanding late-season management of Potato Virus Y, a serious aphid-vectored disease limiting seed potato production.

Ian MacRae
Chan Dolan M.S.

I am interested in how bumble bees use different habitats for foraging and nesting. I would also like to work towards developing efficient methods for locating bumble bee nests, including those of the endangered Rusty-patched Bumble Bee (Bombus affinis).

Dan Cariveau
Isabell Dyrbye Wright M.S.

Honey bees

Marla Spivak
Laura Fricke Ph.D.

Genetics behind the host-microbe relationship within the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma pretiosum and its symbiont, Wolbachia.

Amelia Lindsey
Correy Hildebrand Ph.D.

It will most likely involve genomics and Necrobia rufipes. That’s all I know presently. I would love to do a smaller project related to VOCs and chemical attraction.

Stephen Kells
Megan Jones M.S.

Wolbachia genetics

Amelia Lindsey
August Kramer M.S.

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) and eastern five-spined ips (Ips grandicollis) dispersal in western Montana.

Brian Aukema
Sarah Lisak M.S.

Biological Control of soybean gall midge

Robert Koch
Amelia Lindsey
Rosa Tina Lozano Ph.D.

Insecticide resistance management for soybean aphid, using molecular techniques and understanding the growers practices. 

Robert Koch
Gloria Melotto M.S.

Biological control of soybean gall midge. 

Bob Koch
Amelia Lindsey
Ismael Ramirez Moreno Ph.D.

Insect Biological Control for Conservation Biology

George Heimpel
Sally Nelson M.S.

I will be researching apple IPM, specifically the effectiveness of hail netting at excluding harmful insect pests from the apple crop.

Bill Hutchison
Mauricio Ramirez Ph.D.

Taxonomy and systematics of the subfamily Stactobiinae (Hydroptilidae).

Robin Thomson
Maggie Shanahan Ph.D.

Resin use and social immunity in honey bees and stingless bees

Marla Spivak
Maya Vellicolungara M.S.

I’m comparing pollinator biodiversity in remnant and restored prairies. The pollinators I’ll be focusing on are bumblebees and butterflies. The restored prairies are a part of the Conservation Reserve Program, which incentivizes farmers to set aside land and plant native species on it.

Dan Cariveau

Graduate Students in Other Programs

Title Degree Areas of Interest Advisor
Alyssa Gooding Ph.D. George Heimpel
Grace Graham M.S.

Eastern larch beetle and tamarack defensive responses.  Using a dendrochronological approach to understand why some individual trees are able to survive widespread outbreak events.

Brian Aukema
Marcella Windmueller-Campione
Katie Klett Ph.D. Marla Spivak
Rose Picklo M.S.

Influence of temperature on developmental thresholds of the eastern larch beetle, Dendroctonus simplex.

Brian Aukema
Jessica Rootes Ph.D.

I will be studying a native insect called the eastern spruce budworm, or Choristoneura fumiferana. This moth is a pronounced disturbance agent on Isle Royale, but has not yet been studied there. My dissertation research will study the population dynamics of spruce budworm in northern Minnesota and on Isle Royale, and whether or not wolf reintroduction to the island has helped facilitate the regeneration of Balsam fir within canopy gaps caused by spruce budworm by suppressing excessive moose browse.

Brian Aukema