Graduate Students
Apart from the Entomology Graduate Program (ENTM), graduate students advised by faculty members in the Department of Entomology may be enrolled in the Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences Graduate Program (MEES) or in one concentration areas within the Biological Sciences Graduate Program (BISI), including:
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Ebony Argaez, MS student, Pick Lab
Research: studying the effectiveness of RNAi in diverse insects. eargaez@umd.edu |
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Arielle Arsenault-Benoit, PhD Candidate, Fritz Lab
Research: Studying the ecology, host use, and landscape genomics of Culex pipiens mosquitoes, the primary vector of West Nile Virus, on an urban to rural gradient. aarsenau@umd.edu |
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Lindsay Barranco, MS Student, vanEngelsdorp Lab
Research: Working on wildflower meadow projects with partners throughout the State of Maryland and is researching the establishment of ground nesting native bee sites within small scale wildflower plantings. lbarranc@umd.edu |
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Benjamin Burgunder (he/him), MS Student, Fritz Lab
bburgund@umd.edu | PLS 3127 Research: Studying the spatial and disease ecology of Culex mosquitoes and West Nile virus in the upper Midwest. |
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Dongxu Chen, PhD Student, Hawthorne Lab
Research: The genetics of imidacloprid resistance in the Colorado potato beetle. dxchen@umd.edu |
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Krisztina Christmon, PhD Student, vanEngelsdorp Lab
Research: Studying the host-parasite-pathogen interaction of the honey bee parasitic mite. kriszch@umd.edu |
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Maria Cramer, PhD Student, Hamby Lab
Research: Studying non-target effects of pyrethroid insecticides and RNAi in field corn. mec@umd.edu |
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Elizabeth Dabek, MS Student, Hooks and Shrewsbury Lab
Research: Studying the fitness of native and non-native parasitoids due to climatic changes. dabek@umd.edu |
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Kathleen Ciola Evans, PhD Student, Espíndola Lab
Research: Exploring plant-pollinator mutualisms and edamame pollination in heterogeneous landscapes. kciola@terpmail.umd.edu |
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Max Ferlauto, PhD Student, Burghardt Lab
Research: Studying the effects of suburban leaf litter raking on nutrient cycling and herbivore-parasitoid communities. ferlauto@umd.edu |
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Matthew Fischer, PhD Candidate, MOCB, Pick Lab
Research: Studying the single-stripe expression patterns of the ftz cis-regulatory elements (CRE's) in D. melanogaster as a transcriptional model to determine how editing endogenous CRE's with the CRISPR-Cas9 system compares to the signal from transgenic reporter experiments. Ultimately, this will elucidate CRE necessity vs. sufficiency for ftz expression during early embryogenesis. mdfi5ch@umd.edu |
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Benjamin Gregory (he/him), PhD Student, Fritz Lab
bgregor1@umd.edu Research: How the built environment shapes animal evolution, and how urban infrastructure can be designed to facilitate more mutualistic interactions between people and wildlife. Aims to uncover patterns of adaptive genomic divergence and gene flow among Culex pipiens assemblage members along an urban-rural gradient in greater Washington, D.C. |
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Rong Guo, PhD Candidate, CBBG, Fritz Lab
Research: Comparative and population studies of two Lepidopteran species, Heliothis virescens and Heliothis subflexa rguo1990@umd.edu |
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Eric Hartel, MS Student, vanEnglesdorp Lab
ehartel@umd.edu |
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Margaret Hartman, MS Student, Lamp Lab
Research: Studying the application of Odonata, specifically damselflies, as biological control agents in enclosed systems such as greenhouses and aquaponics. mehartma@umd.edu |
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Kristin Jayd, MS Student, Burghardt Lab
Research: current research focus on parasitoids and their relationships, and how tree diversity shapes them. kjayd@umd.edu |
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Leo Kerner (he/him), MS Student, Hooks Lab
lmkerner@umd.edu | PLS 4146 Research: Working with red clover as a living mulch and its effects on herbivorous arthropod, natural enemy, and weed diversity in cantaloupe crops. Then, examining how this low-disturbance method affects fruit yield and time spent weeding to maximize productivity for growers. |
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Lisa Kuder, PhD Candidate, vanEngelsdorp Lab
Research: Enhancing highway rights-of-way for pollinators. lkuder@umd.edu |
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Minh Le, PhD Student, Pick Lab
Research: Regulatory genes involved in hemipteran development. htmle99@umd.edu |
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Megan Ma (they/them), PhD Student, Shultz Lab
megm12@umd.edu Research: Studying the evolution and functional morphology of trap-jaw spider chelicerae, specifically how the interplay between form and function can allow chelicerae to be optimized as multi-tasking structures. |
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Mintong Nan, PhD Student, St. Leger Lab
Research: Studying how circadian rhythms affect Metarhizium infection of Drosophila. mnan@umd.edu |
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Anthony Nearman, PhD Candidate, vanEngelsdorp Lab
Research: Using epidemiological data to drive research into the pathophysiology of honey bee diseases. anearman@umd.edu |
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Lasair M. Ní Cochlain, PhD Student, Hamby Lab
Research: My research interests lie in plant-insect interactions, insect ecology, and how these relate to agricultural systems. I am particularly interested in integrated pest management. As an undergraduate at Penn State, I investigated the role of root-mediated plant kin recognition on aphid behavior and performance in genotypically diverse wheat mixtures. I plan to focus on understanding the ecological interactions that structure insect communities and developing sustainable IPM techniques for grain and small fruit crops. lasair@umd.edu |
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Demian Nunez, MS Student, Hooks Lab
Research: Studying the potential biocontrol benefits of intercropping row crops with perennial ground cover in order to increase the natural abundance of ground predators such as wolf spiders. dnunez1@umd.edu |
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Justin O'Neill , PhD Student, BEES, Espíndola Lab
Research: Insect ecology and conservation, specifically pollinators in endangered Serpentine Grasslands joneill8@umd.edu |
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Eva Perry, PhD Student, Burghardt Lab
Research: Trophic relationships between native plants, their insect herbivores, and the arthropod predators that prey on these herbivores. evaperry@umd.edu |
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Maddie Potter, MS Student, Shrewsbury Lab
Research: Studying the biology and ecology of Anastatus reduvii, a native parasitic wasp of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB, Halyomorpha halys). mpotter@terpmail.umd.edu |
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Brendan Randall, MS Student, Burghardt Lab
Research: Studying the legume-rhizobium mutualism in soybean plants and its effects on trophic interactions as well as potential mechanisms for enhancing pest management strategies in agroecosystems brandall@umd.edu |
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Kate Reding, PhD Candidate, Pick Lab
Research: Studying the regulatory interactions underlying segmentation of the milkweed bug embryo. kreding@umd.edu |
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Tais Ribeiro, PhD Student, Espíndola Lab,
Research: Studying the evolution of floral host specializations in oil-collecting bee genus Chalepogenus. tmattoso@umd.edu |
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Angela Sáenz, MS Student, Gruner Lab
Research: Landscape management to attract natural enemies of pests using weeds present in agroecosystems are hosts ansaenz@umd.edu |
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Huiyu Sheng, PhD Student, St. Leger Lab
Research: Studying on entomo-pathogenic fungi and their relationship with both plants and insects. hysheng@umd.edu |
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Ali Shokoohi, MS Student, Lamp Lab
Research: Exploring the ecology of natural enemies to develop and improve sustainable pest management strategies shokoohi@umd.edu |
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Darsy Smith, PhD Student, Lamp Lab
Research: Studying the influence of alfalfa cultivars and integrated pest management practices on the reproduction of natural enemies. dsmith28@umd.edu |
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Graham Stewart, PhD Student, Palmer Lab
Research: Studying carbon cycling in restored and natural freshwater wetlands. stewartg@umd.edu |
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Aileen Taylor, MS Student, ENST, Palmer Lab
Research: Studying diurnal patterns of methane cycling in restored and natural freshwater wetland ataylo29@terpmail.umd.edu |
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Veronica Yurchak, PhD Student, Hooks Lab
Research: Studying the potential benefits of interplanted living mulches for weed suppression, insect natural enemy enhancement and pollinator conservation in vegetable systems. vjohnsono4@umd.edu |
