Riverside Insect Fair

Madison Sankovitz

Madison Sankovitz studies ecology and genomics of social insects, which are insects that live in colonies. Sankovitz is interested in the ways in which ants impact soil ecosystems through their subterranean nest-building, and how ant populations are impacted by climate.

Dani Ruais

Did you know that we can rear and release tiny parasitic wasps to help control pest insects in agricultural systems? These tiny wasps, which are harmless to humans, are called parasitoids. Dani Ruais study these parasitoids in order to help growers integrate them into successful pest management strategies for their crops.

Quinn McFrederick

Dr. Quinn McFrederick leads the McFrederick lab which aims to understand the evolution and ecology of the relationship between wild bees and their symbiotic microbes.

Samantha Smith

Thread-legged assassin bugs are a group of insects found all over the world, several of which use spiderwebs to both steal prey caught in the web and to attack the resident spider who built the web! Samantha Smith studies relationships between these fascinating insects, and the evolution of this incredible behavior.

Stephanie Castillo

Stephanie Castillo studies the biodiversity and diversification of assassin bugs (Reduviidae), specifically the lobe-headed bugs (Pseudocetherinae) and pirate assassin bugs (Peiratinae). Currently, Castillo is documenting and describing over 20 new species of Pseudocetherinae that are unknown to science but have been sitting in natural history museums around the world for many decades under the wrong classification or without a name.

Mari West

Within ant and other social insect colonies, the majority of individuals are sterile female workers, meaning that they do not produce their own offspring. Instead, they carry out several colony maintenance tasks, such as collecting food, building the nest, and raising the developing offspring of one or several reproductive queens. Mari West studies what factors impact which tasks individual ant workers perform. Specifically, West is interested in whether the size and genetics of ant workers impact task choice, specialization, and efficiency and how these behaviors are coordinated at the colony level.

Tessa Shates

Tessa Shates works on plant-infecting viruses that are spread by small, sap-sucking insects called aphids. These viruses infect our crop plants, but Shates specifically looks for crop-viruses in native California wild squash using field research and molecular lab techniques. Picture is Shates holding two dixie squash plants - one is "healthy" (left) and the other is infected with the "Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus" I found in my wild sqush plants (right).

Jake Cecala

Did you know there are actually several species of bees humans use to pollinate crops? One such species is the alfalfa leaf-cutter bee. Jake Cecala is conducting research on how diet quality and exposure to pesticides influence the health and reproduction of this important pollinator.

Dr. Hollis Woodard

Dr. Woodard leads the Woodard Lab and a research group that uses bumblebees as a model system for understanding the proximate mechanisms underlying adaptation, sensitivity, and resilience.

Chris Allen

Chris Allen studies disease transmission among floral visiting insects.

Jaimie Kenney

Jaimie Kenney is broadly interested in the biology and ecology of plant pathogens and their insect vectors beyond the borders of agriculture in natural ecosystems. Her research at UCR focuses understanding relationships between tiny, sap-sucking insects called psyllids, the bacterial plant pathogens they transmit, and California native plants.

Dr. Alec Gerry

Dr. Gerry is a Professor of Veterinary Entomology at the University of California at Riverside. Previously, Dr. Gerry was employed as a Senior Public Health Biologist for the California Department of Public Health and as a medical entomologist in the United States Army. Dr. Gerry studies the biology, ecology, and integrated management of pest arthropods and disease vectors of animals. Of particular interest is insect dispersal, the impact of ectoparasites to their hosts, and the behavior of biting flies that transmit pathogens.

Dr. Amy Murillo

Dr. Murillo studies insect and mite pests that negatively impact animals, such as chickens. She develops and tests new control techniques to keep animals healthy and happy.

Xinmi Zhang

Xinmi Zhang research interests focus is on veterinary entomology. Particularly, Zhang is interested in the host-seeking activity of biting midges on southern California dairies, overwintering mechanism of bluetongue virus that biting midges can transmit, and the species diversity of biting midges in SoCal desert areas.

Ian Wright

Ian Wright is an entomologist and professional photographer working on Asian citrus psyllid biocontrol in the Entomology department at UC Riverside. He is broadly interested in natural history, conservation biology, and documenting biodiversity.

Jessica Maccaro

I’m a first year PhD student in the McFrederick lab, where we study bee-microbe interactions. I’m interested in how the fungus, Ascosphaera, has evolved to become pathogenic to bees. I love evolution, symbiosis, social insects and much more!