I am a researcher with the NC State Apiculture Program under Dr. David Tarpy. I am in charge of the Honey Bee Queen & Disease Clinic, a client-funded publicly-accessible research entity focused on morphometrics, reproductive assessment, and rt-PCR disease identification and quantitation. I additionally head an academic research program currently focused on honey bee drone (male) reproduction and behavior.
My background is in chemical communication and am always attempting to self-fund an expansion/revival of a research paradigm looking at honey bee communication surrounding collective decisions like initiating queen replacement behaviors.
I deeply enjoy collaborative research and have been a part of many projects in ecological sampling design, disease surveys, microbiome perturbations, environmental contamination of antibiotics, pesticide toxicology, machine learning in flight behavior, native bee reproduction, pollen collection, and much more.
I am always looking to work with folks who are interested in wide aspects of (of all kinds of) bee behavior and biology. I welcome collaborative work through the Clinic or personally. Additionally, I mentor students through multiple REU programs.
Publications
Education
PhD, Texas A&M University (2009)
BS, University of Illinois (2003)