PEOPLE

PEOPLE

AMY TOTH

Principal Investigator

Amy is an Associate Professor in two departments at Iowa State University: Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology and Entomology. She teaches courses in animal behavior and conducts research on the mechanisms and evolution of social behavior in insects, with a focus on bees and wasps. Amy received her PhD at the University of Illinois and did postdoctoral work at Pennsylvania State University. Outside of work, she enjoys trail running and spending time outdoors with her family.

HARMEN HENDRIKSMA

Postdoctoral Researcher

Harmen received his BSc. and MSc. at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and his PhD at the University of Würzburg in Germany. He has done postdoctoral work at the University of Jerusalem and University of California, San Diego. Harmen is a long-time beekeeper with a keen interest in honey bee nutrition.

ALEX WALTON

Postdoctoral Researcher

Alex received his BS at the University of Arizona and PhD at Iowa State University. He also worked at the USDA Carl Hayden Bee Research Lab in Tucson. He is currently a postdoc in the lab, working collaboratively at Cornell University with the lab of Mike Sheehan. Alex has worked with ants, bees, and wasps and is interested in individual behavioral differences, phenotypic plasticity, and evolution.

KATE BORCHARDT

PhD Student, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Kate's interest in pollination ecology began when she started working in Neal Williams’ Pollination Ecology Lab as an undergraduate lab assistant in 2015. She received her Bachelors degree in Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity from University of California Davis in 2018 with a minor in German Language. She is currently researching wild bee and wasp pollination networks and health with the prairie STRIPS project at ISU. Her favorite Iowan bee species is Megachile latimanus, especially the males with their “lobster claws”!

ASHLEY ST. CLAIR

PhD Student, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Ashley is a graduate student in both the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Entomology programs at Iowa State University. She received her Bachelors degree in Biology at Murray State University in Murray, KY in 2012 where she had the opportunity to assist in many different areas of research. Her research at ISU focuses on honey bee and native pollinator communities and their interactions with soybean crops in Iowa.

GE ZHANG

PhD Student, Entomology

Ge Zhang has degrees in Animal Science (BS) and Animal Nutrition and Feed Science (MS) from Shandong Agricultural University in China. He has 9 years of experience studying honey bees and has a strong interest in honey bee nutrition. He is currently a PhD student in the Entomology Program at Iowa State University where he is co-advised by Matt O’Neal.