Spencer Behmer, Texas A&M University
Spence Behmer is a Professor in the Department of Entomology (since 2005) and the founding chair of the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. Program (established in 2016). His research explores the interface between physiology and ecology, with an emphasis on insect nutrition and plant-insect interactions, including their underlying molecular mechanisms. Lab web site.
Arianne Cease, Arizona State University
Arianne Cease is an Associate Professor in the Schools of Sustainability and Life Sciences. She is a sustainability scientist with a focus on the ecology and physiology of organisms in social-ecological systems. Her research involves interdisciplinary approaches to understand how human-plant-insect interactions affect the sustainability of agricultural systems. She is the Director of the Global Locust Initiative. Lab web site.
Anna Childers, USDA
Anna Childers is a Computational Biologist with the Bee Research Laboratory at the USDA Agricultural Research Service. She is a Project Leader for the Ag100Pest Initiative assembling agriculturally relevant arthropod genomes such as the Asian Giant Hornet. Her research interests comprise genome and transcriptome assembly, gene prediction and annotation, and big data management for molecular and physiology research. USDA web page.
Herman Dierick, Baylor College of Medicine
Herman Dierick in an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. His research interests include aggression in Drosophila and genome editing in insects. Lab web site.
Olga Dudchenko, Baylor College of Medicine
Olga Dudchenko is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. She has research interests in biophysics, nonlinear dynamics, telemedicine and molecular genetics. She was named to MIT Technology Review magazine’s 2019 list of Innovators under 35. Research web page.
Fabrizio Gabbiani, Baylor College of Medicine
Fabrizio Gabbiani is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience. His research focuses on the computational aspects of visual sensing and collision avoidance behavior in insects. Lab web site.
Erez Lieberman Aiden, Baylor College of Medicine
Erez Lieberman Aiden is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. He is a genome-wide chromatin organization researcher who developed the Hi-C method of chromatin sequencing. Lab web site.
Rick Overson, Arizona State University
Rick Overson is a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the School of Sustainability. His research seeks to understand the mechanisms which produce and maintain variation both within and between species and how this variation ultimately affects the evolution of natural populations. Lab web site.
Brittany Peterson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Britt Perterson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. She is interested in microbial composition, collaboration, and competition within insect hosts. University web page.
Barani Raman, Washington University in St. Louis
Barani Raman is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering. His research focuses on understanding the design and computing principles of biological sensory systems using the relatively simple invertebrate olfactory system. Lab web site.
Stephen Richards, University of California Davis
Stephen Richards is Project Scientist for the Earth BioGenome Project. He has a broad background in genomics, with a focus on quantitative traits in insect models, arthropod comparative genomics, methods for genome sequencing, assembly and annotation, and a history in human genetics. Lab web site.
Hojun Song, Texas A&M University
Hojun Song is a Professor in the Department of Entomology. His research focuses on the study of the insect order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids) and aims at understanding behavioral, ecological, physiological, morphological and molecular evolution in a phylogenetic framework. Lab web site.
Greg Sword, Texas A&M University
Greg Sword is a Professor in the Department of Entomology. His research is multidisciplinary, spanning topics in ecology, evolution, genetics and behavior of insects, and incorporates approaches ranging from molecular biology to landscape ecology. Lab web site.
Chuck Zong, Baylor College of Medicine
Chuck Zong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. His research lies at the interface between novel single cell technologies and quantitative biology. He pursues the development of new quantitative and high-throughput methods for characterizing genomic, epigenetic and transcriptional variations at single cell resolution. Lab web site.