POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER: CLAUDINÉIA COSTA
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Dr. Costa received her PhD from the University of São Paulo in Brazil studying the population dynamics of orchid bees in different areas in the Atlantic Forest. She is an expert in molecular biology and has worked with bees for over 10 years, with additional experience in developmental biology and the mechanisms that regulate metamorphosis. In the Woodard lab, she is currently studying the mechanisms controlling larval development and ultimate body size, which are crucial for two of the organization principles of bumblebee societies: worker division of labor and caste determination. Claudinéia's work in the lab is supported by NIFA, US-Israel BARD, and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, with training support from the NSF-funded Insect Genetic Technologies Research Coordination Network.
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Research Specialist: Kristal Watrous
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Kristal is an expert in native bee biology, pollination ecology, and plant-pollinator interactions. She is passionate about basic natural history of bees and plants, the application of that knowledge in understanding the pollination ecology of wild ecosystems and developing management strategies within agricultural contexts, and the pairing between natural history and molecular biology. She has worked with bees for over 12 years, and has been known to coo adoringly at them from an early age. She is currently leading a new project on monitoring and conserving the bumble bees of California that is supported by APHIS.
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phd Student: kaleigh Fisher
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Kaleigh is a 3rd-year PhD candidate studying gustation in bumble bees. She is broadly interested in plant-pollinator interactions across natural and managed systems, including how varying levels of agricultural intensification influence pollinator foraging behavior and population and community dynamics. In her PhD research, Kaleigh is exploring several aspects of taste in bumble bees, including the evolution and expression of genes involved in taste perception, how taste helps bumble bees make foraging decisions, and how task partitioning in the nest is mediated in part by mechanisms related to taste and nutrient sensing. Kaleigh's work is supported by NIFA.
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phd Student: natalie Fischer
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Natalie is a 2nd-year PhD student studying how nutrition impacts bumble bee physiology and behavior. She is focused on the energetics of buzz pollination in bumble bees. Natalie has broad interests in physiology, behavior, and ecology, and is particularly interested in applying computational approaches to the study of bee behavior. Natalie is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and NSF NRT Computational Entomology Fellow whose work is also supported by the Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Program and a Graduate Fellowship from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.
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PHD STUDENT: ERICA SARRO
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Erica is a 2nd year PhD student who is broadly interested in social evolution, plant-pollinator interactions, and insect behavior. Her PhD research is focused on the behavioral plasticity of early nesting queen bumble bees, with an emphasis on understanding how foraging mechanics, environmental sensitivity, and selective pressures vary among the solitary and social phases of the bumble bee life cycle. Erica is an NSF NRT Computational Entomology Fellow whose work is also supported by the Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Program.
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Undergraduate Researcher: CHRISTIE MIRANDA
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Christie is an Entomology major who has broad interests in entomology. She has traveled to Alaska to collect bees, studied bumble bee-mediated pollination, and is currently examining how incubation influences body size determination. She ultimately wants to pursue an advanced career as an entomologist, with her specific research focus to be determined. Christie's work in the lab has been supported by UCR's NSF-funded Computational Entomology REU at CNAS Mini Grant programs.
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Undergraduate Researcher: ALEX BRINKLEY
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Alex is a Biology major who is passionate about research and pursuing a career in both medicine and biomedical research. His research in the Woodard lab primarily focuses on bee energetics. Alex is interested in studying and developing new methods that ultimately help us to better preserve bees and understand social dynamics within colonies.
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Undergraduate Researcher:
DAMARIS RODRIGUEZ-Arellano
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Damaris is an undergraduate Honors student majoring in Biology. She wants to pursue a career in the medical field but is still very interested in research and wants to make significant contributions to the scientific community. She is extremely passionate about the environment, and acknowledges that bees are an essential part of global sustainability. She intends to use this passion to understand the role that bees play on earth, their anatomy, and what we can do to protect these little critters.
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Undergraduate Researcher:
BLANCA ORTEGA
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Blanca is a 4th-year student working on obtaining a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with a concentration in literature. The thing she enjoys mostly of science and research is dissection. She says that learning about every tiny organ and tissues that comprise a body and how it functions is stunning. Blanca is currently working on identifying what gustatory receptors are expressed in specific tissues of bumble bees. Bumble bees are very important the ecosystem, in the same fashion as every living thing, which is why it is important to study them and help them survive. Blanca’s main goal as a scientist is to study species like bumble bees and educate others of their importance to humanity.
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Undergraduate Researcher:
YADIRA DIAZ
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Yadira is a third year Biology student with the goal of becoming a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. She is interested in microorganisms (parasites) and how they function and affect our own lives. Yadira hopes to study the parasites and diseases that pose a threat to bee numbers. She is also very curious to know how bees are affected by the drastic changes in the environment and hopes to help in the research that advances their conservation.
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Lab Alums:
- Alexandra Vanacek (undergraduate researcher and Junior Specialist 2016-2019)
- Gina Zhuo (undergraduate researcher 2018)
- Stephanie Reimer (undergraduate researcher 2017-2018)
- Fernanda Ambrosio (undergraduate researcher 2018)
- Vanessa Uribe (visiting undergraduate researcher from Brown University, summer 2018)
- Phong Hong (undergraduate researcher 2017-2018) is now a Fulbright Scholar in Germany
- Michelle Duennes (USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow 2016-2018) is now an Assistant Professor at Saint Vincent College
- Mauricio Flores (undergraduate researcher 2017-2018)
- Brian Dinh (undergraduate researcher 2017)
- Rebecca Moon (undergraduate researcher 2017)
- Ariel Bohr (volunteer 2016)
- Sunakshi Garg (undergraduate researcher 2015-2016) has graduated with a BS from UCR and will be attending medical school
- Parry Kietzman (lab technician 2015) is now a postdoc in Dave Tarpy's lab at NCSU