People

Dr. Shalene Jha is a conservation biologist specialized in the fields of landscape genetics, population ecology, and foraging ecology. Her work examines how landscape composition influences gene flow processes, foraging patterns, and population viability for plants and animals. She has experience in population genetics, movement modeling, GIS, and ecosystem service science, and she conducts her research internationally, across temperate and tropical ecosystems. Shalene’s CV

 Livia Raulinaitis studies plant-insect interactions in the context of ecological restoration and climate change. She is interested in plant ecotype variation and its impact on pollinator network assembly. She is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner in training (CERP-IT).

Lili Benitez studies plant and pollinator community composition and interactions in the context of global change. Her PhD work in Austin explores phenological shifts of native Texas wildflowers in response to surrounding plant species loss and insect exclusion. She also is interested in high elevation meadows and explores how vulnerable communities of plants and pollinators differ across these naturally fragmented landscapes. Additionally, Lili is the secretary of the UT Austin SACNAS chapter, and a scientist mentor for high school classrooms through Planting Science.

Leeah Richardson is interested in the effects of anthropogenic stressors (primarily pesticides) on native bees, as well as questions in comparative cognition – for example, how bumblebee queens’ cognition & brains change across their lifetime. You can learn more about her research at leeahrichardson.com and can contact her at leeahrichardson@utexas.edu 

Caroline Chessher is fascinated by a wide variety of topics under the umbrella of mutualistic species interactions and their vital importance for ecosystem functioning globally. Her PhD work is broadly focused on how microbes mediate plant-pollinator interactions. She is currently studying how a widespread pathogen impacts bumblebee population health over time, and how medicinal floral diets might mediate these outcomes. Additionally, she is interested in broadening the lens of plant-insect interactions to the vast world of soil microbial communities belowground, so that we might elucidate their underrecognized impact on pollination function. In her projects, she tends to combine her backgrounds in field ecology and population/community genomics to answer these questions. Beyond her current research, she is passionate about agroecology, community gardens, and outreach. She is also the current tour guide for a graduate student-led outreach event, Science Under the Stars, held monthly at Brackenridge Field Laboratory. You can reach her at caroline.chessher@utexas.edu.

Smruti Pimplikar studies behavior and cognition in bees. She is interested specifically in inter- and intra-specific variation in the foraging behavior of bumblebees. She is also deeply passionate about science outreach and is currently serving as the co-President of the Science Under the Stars outreach program in Integrative Biology. You can reach her at smruti.pimplikar@utexas.edu or learn more about her research at smrutipimplikar.com.

Ariel Chasen is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Jha Lab, with training in both ecology and education. Her research sits at the intersections of ecological fieldwork, education, science identity, and disability studies. She investigates how to make scientific spaces—particularly fieldwork environments—more accessible and inclusive for learners and researchers in ecology. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methods, Ariel develops and tests instructional strategies and research tools that support scientists in creating field and classroom settings where all participants can meaningfully engage in scientific inquiry and knowledge production.

Chatura Vaidya is a Stengl-Wyer postdoctoral scholar studying the effects of global environmental change on plant-insect interactions and the ecosystem services they provide. She has studied this in a variety of contexts, such as the effect of agricultural intensification on pollinator growth and survival, effects of urbanisation on pollinator communities, effects of plant biodiversity loss and water availability on floral traits governing pollinator attraction, visitation, and their resultant effects on plant reproductive success.  Her work has taken her from the urban community gardens in south eastern Michigan to the coffee farms in southern Mexico, and now to the sub-tropical grassland prairies of Central Texas. You can learn more about her research or get in touch with her directly on chatura.vaidya@austin.utexas.edu.

Kaysee Arrowsmith is an NSF postdoctoral fellow studying individual-level niche dynamics in bumble bees and spatial patterns in plant-pollinator interactions. She is also interested in phenological and environmental variation in the nutrition provided by plants and collected by insects. Her work primarily takes place in the Colorado Rocky Mountains where she also teaches in the undergraduate education program at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. You can learn more about her research at kcarrowsmith.github.io or contact her directly at kcarrows@utexas.edu.

Laura Jones is a postdoctoral fellow integrating principles from ecology, epidemiology, and insect physiology to evaluate the population status and health of wild, native bee species. In her PhD work, she investigated the impacts of pathogen pressure and climate on the thermal tolerance of solitary bees across their range, and described how host and pathogen ecologies influence transmission dynamics among bee pollinators in squash agroecosystems. In her postdoctoral work, she is assessing the risk of genetic isolation and inbreeding depression for high-elevation bumble bees in the Madrean sky islands, and investigating the roles of landscape resistance or distance in explaining patterns in their genetic structure. Her overarching goal is to inform management strategies that protect native bees from the impacts of rapid global change in both agroecosystems and natural ecosystems.

Ana Rodriguez is an undergraduate Biology student and is a part of the Dean’s Scholars honors program at UT. She is currently conducting a literature review on how changing global patterns of shade vegetation and coffee distribution have affected biodiversity and ecosystem services. Her future goal is to attend graduate school to study infectious diseases and their impact on women’s health and well-being.

Anna Holme is an undergraduate Environmental Science student with an interest in native Texas plants and pollinators. Currently, she is researching the impacts of restoration practices, such as prescribed burning, on Lepidoptera communities. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in conservation biology research.

Henry Tran is an undergraduate Environmental Science student with a Minor in Statistics and Data Science with an interest in how climate change alters pollinator behavior. He hopes to research the temporal and spatial distribution of pollinator behavior using GIS practices. After completing his undergraduate degree, he plans to pursue a career in ecological restoration and planning.

Max Roemer is an undergraduate Biology major on the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior track with a focus on conservation biology. He is interested in how sustainability practices and ecological theory can be applied to preserve biodiversity in the face of climate change. Max hopes to pursue a PhD in research biology, where he plans to study how land-use change and habitat fragmentation affect the spatial distribution and long-term persistence of vulnerable species.

Michael Caballero manages the Southern Plains Restoration Pollinator Project, which examines the effects of prescribed burns and native plant seeding on plant and pollinator communities in the Cross Timbers ecoregion. He’s an entomologist focused on insect and restoration ecology, insect-plant interactions, insect taxonomy, and systematics. He volunteers at the UT Insect Collection, does independent research, and curates his growing insect collection.

Dr. Jack Neff is a key collaborator and lifeline to understanding the bees of the southern U.S., provides us with invaluable insights on the natural history, ecological interactions, and evolutionary processes of native bees in Texas. Dr. John L. Neff founded and heads the Central Texas Melittological Institute in Austin.

Dr. Deidre Zoll  is a Community & Regional Planner (UT Austin) who investigates the connections between city-led climate adaptation planning and environmental racism in the US. She uses plan evaluation, spatial statistics, surveys, and case studies to identify how structural racism influences the exposure to climate risks and the proximity to adaptation interventions, and how planners and community activists navigate these dynamics. See Deirdre’s website

Dr. Harry Siviter investigates the impact of anthropogenic stressors on bee health. He’s fascinated by animal behavior and cognition and passionate about conservation ecology. He earned his PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, studying how agrochemicals affect bees. website

Dr. Nicholas Ivers bridges the fields of conservation genetics and disease ecology. He is studying squash bee populations among the crops he planted across the Agriculture Sciences experimental fields at Pennsylvania State University. He commutes between University Park and Austin to collaborate with Dr. Margarita López-Uribe (Entomology Department, Penn State) and Dr. Shalene Jha (Integrative Biology, UT Austin). He earned his Ph.D. at UT Austin. nui15@psu.edu