Apes Valentes and Dutch Gold Research Award Recipients Announced

The Penn State Center for Pollinator Research manages opportunities for pollinator health research through two annual training award opportunities. The Apes Valentes Student Award funds graduate and undergraduate student summer research and education projects aimed at improving pollinator health. The Dutch Gold Honey Undergraduate Award supports undergraduate research in bee biology and health. This year five recipients were selected for the Apes Valentes Award and one recipient for the Dutch Gold Honey Award.

Apes Valentes Student Award Recipients:

Nina Gropp – Graduate student (mentor: Dr. Christina Grozinger): “Heat Stress and Floral Traits: Indirect effects of climatic extremes on pollinators”. Nina will evaluate how climate stress impacts the nutrition of plants and their attractiveness to pollinators.

Danilo Ferreira Borges dos Santos – Graduate student (mentor: Dr. Monica Kersch-Becker): “Investigating the milkweed phyllosphere microbial diversity and its impact on monarch gut microbiota across a latitudinal gradient”. Danilo will examine whether milkweed toxins shift regionally and the impacts this may have on the microbiomes of milkweeds and the monarchs that feed on them.

Jonas Bush – Graduate student (mentor: Dr. Heather Hines): “Searching for the lost Pennsylvania bumble bee: characterizing a probable extirpation of Bombus pensylvanicus”. Jonas will document the factors contributing to decline in this bumble bee species and visit former locations to assess how diversity has shifted over time.

Faith Mihalick - Undergraduate student (mentor: Dr. Jared Ali): “Effects of soil legacies on milkweed interactions with monarch development”. Faith will examine how soil characteristics impact the nutritional quality of milkweed plants and the monarch caterpillars that feed on them.

Kat Wysnewski – Undergraduate student (mentor: Dr. Andrew Deans): “Curation and exhibition of Syrphidae”. Kat will curate the syrphid fly collection at the Frost Museum and prepare an exhibit to be displayed there on these less-understood pollinators.

Dutch Gold Honey Undergraduate Award Recipient:

Lauren Hinks (mentor: Dr. Heather Hines): “Assessing the impact of climate events on bumble bee communities within Pennsylvania”. Lauren will examine the impact of weather on bee visitation patterns focusing on effects of climate events such as hard rains and heat waves on these communities.