Graduate Students

Cold hardiness and biology of soybean gall midge

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

Eastern Larch Beetle

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.

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.

Parasitoid wasps and their applications in biological control

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

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).

Honey bees

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

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.

Wolbachia genetics

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

Biological Control of soybean gall midge

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

Biological control of soybean gall midge. 

Insect Biological Control for Conservation Biology

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

Winter emergence of Chironomidae in trout streams

Taxonomy and systematics of the subfamily Stactobiinae (Hydroptilidae).

Resin use and social immunity in honey bees and stingless bees

IPM specifically of Japanese Beetles

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.