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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Michael Adu-Brew, MS Student, Krishnan
Research: |
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Kristin Au, PhD student, Pick Lab
Research: kristena@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
Research: Studying the spatial and disease ecology of Culex mosquitoes and West Nile virus in the upper Midwest. bburgund@umd.edu | PLS 3127 |
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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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Helen Craig, MS student, Lamp Lab
Research: The intersection of entomology and sustainability. Specifically, using cricket protein as a dietary supplement for dairy cattle to reduce the amount of methane they produce while maintaining quantity and quality of their dairy products. hcraig3@umd.edu | PLS 4124 |
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Maria Cramer (she/her), PhD Candidate, Hamby Lab | ResearchGate
Research: I am studying prophylactic insect pest management and its impact on biocontrol in field corn. My field work includes researching the effects of neonicotinoids and pyrethroids on seedling pests and natural enemies with a focus on slug biocontrol. In the laboratory, I am testing RNAi multi-trophic risks for a native lady beetle and building on my field work by studying the chemically-mediated interactions between slugs and slug-predatory carabid beetles. The overall goal of my research is to increase the sustainability of corn production in the Mid-Atlantic through a better understanding of how management and natural enemies interact. mec@umd.edu |
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Jenan El-Hifnawi, MS Student, Espíndola Lab
Research: Exploring impacts of Ice Age glaciations on the diversification and range of South Andean bee species using phylogeographic methods. jenanel@umd.edu | PLS 3151 |
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Kathleen Ciola Evans (she/her), 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 Candidate, 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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Benjamin Gregory (he/him), PhD Student, Fritz Lab
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. bgregor1@umd.edu |
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Eric Hartel (he/him), MS Student, vanEnglesdorp Lab
Research: Studying honey health and the stressors on colony health. 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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Allison Huysman, PhD Student, Gruner Lab
Research: Birds as natural enemies of insect pests in working landscapes. ahuysman@umd.edu |
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Kristin Jayd (she/her), MS Student, Burghardt Lab
Research: 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
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. lmkerner@umd.edu | PLS 4146 |
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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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Theresa Menna, PhD Student, CBBG, Fritz Lab
Research: A primary objective of Menna’s research is to characterize the genetic basis for host preference using the northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens. tmenna@umd.edu |
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Megan Ma (they/them), PhD Student, Shultz Lab | ORCID
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. megm12@umd.edu |
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Mintong Nan, PhD Candidate, St. Leger Lab
Research: How circadian rhythms affect Metarhizium infection of Drosophila. mnan@umd.edu |
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Lasair M. Ní Chochlain (she/they), PhD Student, Hamby Lab
Research: Understanding and predicting the effects of climate change on IPM of soybean and other crops lasair@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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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 (she/her), 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 (she/her), PhD Student, Gruner Lab
Research: Studying the phenology of the invasive forest pest Emerald Ash Borer and life cycle synchronization with its introduced natural enemies. ansaenz@umd.edu |
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Huiyu Sheng (she/her), PhD Candidate, St. Leger Lab
Research: Studying 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 (he/him/his), PhD Candidate, Palmer Lab
Research: Studying carbon cycling in restored and natural freshwater wetlands. stewartg@umd.edu |
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Aileen Taylor, PhD Student, BISI, Palmer Lab
Research: Studying diurnal patterns of methane cycling in restored and natural freshwater wetland ataylo29@terpmail.umd.edu |
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