Clare C. Rittschof – Associate Professor

Clare earned a PhD in Zoology from the University of Florida studying spider reproductive tactics and body size evolution. From 2011-2015 she worked as a post-doc at the University of Illinois and Pennsylvania State University, studying honey bee social behavior, neuroscience, and genomics. She joined the University of Kentucky Entomology Department in 2016, and has built a lab focused on the interplay between behavior and health in bees.

 

Anastasia Weger – Ph.D. Student

Anastasia received her degree in Biology from the University of Chicago in 2021. She is studying how social experiences impact brain genomics and peripheral tissues to influence the response to future social information.

 

 

 

Wade Pike – Ph.D. Student

Wade received a B.S. in Biology from Campbellsville University in 2020. He is studying honey bee floral resource preferences.

 

 

 

 

 

Mallory Hagadorn – Postdoctoral Associate 

Mal earned a PhD in Biology from Utah State University where she used solitary and social bees to investigate how social evolution drives brain evolution. She is working on understanding how pre-adult social experiences in honey bees influence brain development. She is supported by the UK Office of the Vice President for Research

 

Meenakshi Vengarai – Postdoctoral Associate

Meenakshi received her PhD from the University of Hyderabad where she studied neuroscience in honey bees. She is currently working on how infection impacts brain bioenergetics and learning and memory in the honey bee.

 

 

Former Graduate Students and Postdocs

Dr. Amanda Denny (PhD Degree, 2018-2024) University of Kentucky (AFRI Postdoctoral Associate)

Dr. Rebecca Westwick (PhD Degree, 2018-2023) Indiana University (NIH/NSF Postdoctoral Associate)

Dr. Erin Treanore (Postdoctoral Associate, 2022-2023) Postdoctoral Associate, Tufts University

Dr. Allison Young (Postdoctoral Associate, 2021-2022) Biologist in the Environmental Sciences Branch of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Grayson Grume (Master’s Degree, 2016-2020) Florida State Parks Department

Sarah Preston (Master’s Degree, 2016-2018) Kentucky State Microbiology Lab Branch Manager