Rebecca Irwin
Associate Professor
I am a community and evolutionary ecologist and am passionate about plants, pollinators, and their interactions. Current research projects include how pollinators and pollination are responding to environmental change (invasive species, urbanization, and climate change), exploitation of pollination mutualisms, and effects of secondary compounds on pollinators and their parasites. Email
Associate Professor
I am a community and evolutionary ecologist and am passionate about plants, pollinators, and their interactions. Current research projects include how pollinators and pollination are responding to environmental change (invasive species, urbanization, and climate change), exploitation of pollination mutualisms, and effects of secondary compounds on pollinators and their parasites. Email
Graduate students
Laura Hamon
Ph.D. student
I study the pollination ecology of the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). I am interested in pollinator-prey conflict, as well as the potential role of pollinators in the conservation of this vulnerable and unusual plant. Website
Ph.D. student
I study the pollination ecology of the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). I am interested in pollinator-prey conflict, as well as the potential role of pollinators in the conservation of this vulnerable and unusual plant. Website
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Erin Eichenberger
Ph.D. student I am interested in remnant ecosystems and conserving fragmented plant communities and their pollinators. I am studying the ecology of plants and pollinators in the Piedmont prairie, a rare grassland ecosystem native to North Carolina. I aim to understand how management activities affect plants at different life stages, and how success at different life stages contributes to population growth. |
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April Sharp
Ph.D. student I am interested in tritrophic plant-pollinator interactions and the role that pollen plays in mediating bee microbiology. My research focuses on investigating how the morphological features of pollen interact with the inner microbiome of bees and how these interactions can be applied to conservation practices. |
Post-Docs
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Selina A. Ruzi, Ph.D.
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow I am generally interested in invasion ecology, plant-insect interactions, and biodiversity. My current work has two main focuses. First, how bee diversity changes through time and urbanization using museum specimens. Second, whether the spokesperson communicating a science story influences perceptions of that story. In the past, I have worked on ant-mediated seed dispersal of pioneer tree species in Panama. Website |
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Elizabeth Moore, Ph.D
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow |
Research technicians
Victoria Amaral
Lab manager
Like any ecologist, I am concerned with the rapid environmental degradation characteristic of the anthropocene. I am most interested in the impacts of urbanization on common urban wildlife, which has been able to survive and sustain populations within urban development. This interest has led me to the University of Hong Kong, where I will be starting my PhD in Fall 2021, studying how interactions between nocturnal pollinators and their predators are disrupted by urban light pollution at night.
Lab manager
Like any ecologist, I am concerned with the rapid environmental degradation characteristic of the anthropocene. I am most interested in the impacts of urbanization on common urban wildlife, which has been able to survive and sustain populations within urban development. This interest has led me to the University of Hong Kong, where I will be starting my PhD in Fall 2021, studying how interactions between nocturnal pollinators and their predators are disrupted by urban light pollution at night.
Kristin Conrad, MS.
Lab manager
I am interested in how warming temperatures and changing patterns of precipitation associated with global climate change may affect pollinators and pollination services, especially ecosystem services provided in crop pollination. I am also broadly interested in utilizing comparative genomics to quantify plant-pollinator interactions and networks, quantifying bee desiccation and thermal tolerances, as well as implementing ecological applications that support native pollinators in agroecosystems. My most recent research focuses on dissimilarities in bee abundance and community composition across an elevation gradient and at economically- important crop species in the seasonally- dry Pacific slope forests of Costa Rica.
Lab manager
I am interested in how warming temperatures and changing patterns of precipitation associated with global climate change may affect pollinators and pollination services, especially ecosystem services provided in crop pollination. I am also broadly interested in utilizing comparative genomics to quantify plant-pollinator interactions and networks, quantifying bee desiccation and thermal tolerances, as well as implementing ecological applications that support native pollinators in agroecosystems. My most recent research focuses on dissimilarities in bee abundance and community composition across an elevation gradient and at economically- important crop species in the seasonally- dry Pacific slope forests of Costa Rica.
undergraduate students
Levi Lankford
Research assistant
Throughout my time in the Irwin Lab, I have assisted and worked on a notable array of different projects. Predominantly, I have been working on and assisting research regarding sunflower pollen interactions with trypanosomatid parasites found in the intestinal tract of Common Eastern bumblebees (Bombus impatiens). I have also helped on other projects regarding native pollinators such as leafcutter bees, and hopefully I can work on future projects regarding native pollinator-plant research.
Research assistant
Throughout my time in the Irwin Lab, I have assisted and worked on a notable array of different projects. Predominantly, I have been working on and assisting research regarding sunflower pollen interactions with trypanosomatid parasites found in the intestinal tract of Common Eastern bumblebees (Bombus impatiens). I have also helped on other projects regarding native pollinators such as leafcutter bees, and hopefully I can work on future projects regarding native pollinator-plant research.
past lab members
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Jonathan Giacomini
Ph.D. 2021
Mario Simon Pinilla-Gallego Website
Ph.D. 2021
Jacob Heiling Website
Ph.D. 2019
Gabriella Pardee. Website
Ph.D. 2018
Jessica Kettenbach
MS. 2018
Christine Urbanowicz
Ph.D. 2017
Zak Gezon
Ph.D. 2015 Website
Leif Richardson
Ph.D., 2014: Current position: USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Vermont. Website, Email
Robert Schaeffer
Ph.D., 2013: Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Tufts University.
Adrian Carper
Ph.D., 2013. Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Colorado. Website
Laura Burkle
Ph.D., 2008. Current position: Assistant Professor of Ecology, Montana State University. Website
Susan Elliott
Ph.D., 2008. Current position: Painter and writer, Pinyon Publishing, Montrose, CO. Website
POST-DOCS
Jessamyn Manson. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Alberta. Website
Shana McDermott. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico. Website
Jeffrey Evans. Current position: Post-doctoral associate, USDA
Jonathan Giacomini
Ph.D. 2021
Mario Simon Pinilla-Gallego Website
Ph.D. 2021
Jacob Heiling Website
Ph.D. 2019
Gabriella Pardee. Website
Ph.D. 2018
Jessica Kettenbach
MS. 2018
Christine Urbanowicz
Ph.D. 2017
Zak Gezon
Ph.D. 2015 Website
Leif Richardson
Ph.D., 2014: Current position: USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Vermont. Website, Email
Robert Schaeffer
Ph.D., 2013: Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Tufts University.
Adrian Carper
Ph.D., 2013. Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Colorado. Website
Laura Burkle
Ph.D., 2008. Current position: Assistant Professor of Ecology, Montana State University. Website
Susan Elliott
Ph.D., 2008. Current position: Painter and writer, Pinyon Publishing, Montrose, CO. Website
POST-DOCS
Jessamyn Manson. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Alberta. Website
Shana McDermott. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico. Website
Jeffrey Evans. Current position: Post-doctoral associate, USDA
