Survived my first PhD interview weekend! Feeling very grateful for every opportunity to meet likeminded people doing awesome science :)

Two Dione vanillae caterpillars in a cage full of Passiflora vines. One is healthy, the other is a darkly colored and shrinking. Potentially infected with NPV.

Virus? 😉 #diseaseecology #NPV #lepidoptera

Dione vanillae 3rd instar caterpillar eating Passiflora sp. leaf.

Seven Dione vanillae adults in a mating cage. One adult resting on a gloved hand. Passiflora vines and a small 4oz plastic cup full of red Powerade with a pink flower shaped paper cutout on top in the background.

Second instar Dione vanillae caterpillar on Passiflora sp. leaf.

A photo of a large Passiflora sp. vine growing around a wooden fence with a blue sky in the background.

Got to take some students to a community garden last week to connect with a community member who has been helping us build up our colony of Dione vanillae butterflies. We need lots of eggs for projects. We have been successful in getting those numbers up. 75+ eggs so far! #entomology #lepidoptera

Most respondents reported that federal policies caused uncertainty about the future (85% of respondents) and increased stress and anxiety (79%). Almost half of respondents reported being impacted by a chilling effect on free speech (48%), funding freezes (48%), cuts to the federal workforce (46%), and budget cuts (46%). About a third of respondents reported being affected by changes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies (38%), hiring freezes (36%), cuts or threats of cuts to indirect costs (36%), concerns about human rights violations (35%). A proportion of respondents were affected by changes to international research and funding (25%), deletion of public data (21%), restrictions on research (20%), cancellations of solicitations (19%), cancellations of an awarded grant (17%), and cancellation of a training program or internship (14%). Threats to visa status were reported by 8% of respondents (117 respondents) and 1% of respondents reported visa revocation (18 respondents). A percentage of respondents reported no negative impact to them or their research (6%).

Respondents reported restrictions on free speech and travel, chilling effects on free speech and travel, censorship of scientific terms, concerns about the ability of the government to comply with legal mandates, reports of biased or removed information from federal sources, removal of climate.gov

Respondents were asked to indicate the degree and direction of the impact of federal and state policies since January 20, 2025 on the categories of: “Impact on my field of science”, “Impact on my Department and Institution”, “Impact on my research”, “Impact on my career prospects”, and “Impact on my personal life”. A percentage of respondents reported positive impacts in each category (~1-2%). 83% of respondents said that federal policies since Jan 20, 2025 had "extremely negative impact" or "irreparable harm" on their field of science (Figure 3, top row). 83% of the respondents also reported that the effects on their department/institution were slightly negative to extremely negative, with 8% reporting no impact and 8% reporting irreparable harm (Figure 3, second row). Most respondents reported slightly negative to extremely negative effects on their research (76%) and career prospects (71%), with about 20% reporting no impact and 5-8% reporting irreparable harm in both categories (Figure 3, third and forth rows). A majority of respondents reported slightly negative to extremely negative effects on their personal life (83%), with 7% reporting irreparable harm and 9% reporting no impact (Figure 3, fifth row).

83% of respondents said that federal policies since Jan 20, 2025 had "extremely negative impact" or "irreparable harm" on their field of science

Super excited to start working with some virus in USD’s disease ecology lab!! Learning about NPV infecting Gulf Fritillary butterflies!

Noche arreglada.

This ‘hidden figure’ of entomology fought for civil rights Margaret S. Collins, the first Black American female entomologist to earn a Ph.D., overcame sexism and racism to become a termite expert.

Incredible!!! Dr. Ware says her life would make a great movie. What an exciting thing to read about as a screenwriter and entomologist!!! www.sciencenews.org/article/mara...

Thinking about how these things used to have 3ft wingspans

#naturephotography #wildlifephotography #insects #bugsky #wisconsin #dragonfly #fujifilm

Really interested in getting into bug macrophotography outside of the lab. Shooting specimens is fun, but I’d like to try my hand at photographing live ones. Any camera recommendations for a beginner? #bugsky #entomology #macrophotography

This ‘hidden figure’ of entomology fought for civil rights Margaret S. Collins, the first Black American female entomologist to earn a Ph.D., overcame sexism and racism to become a termite expert.

What an amazing woman and researcher! www.sciencenews.org/article/mara...

Orange tip, Anthocharis cardamines. Five years after I found the butterfly, I was finally able to photograph the caterpillar and the pupa 🎉

Appreciation post! I remember making Pinterest boards of people out in nature catching bugs and dreaming of doing it myself. I can’t wait to find a great program and get back to school. Reading, writing, finding, exploring, learning. This is what sets my heart on fire❤️‍🔥🐜 #entomology

#tb to my first time catching a frog! The joys of an entomology field trip 🐸

Think about how much more we would know about insects if we could identify them! It’s incredible to me that there are some beetles that my world expert of a boss can’t identify because not enough is known about the females.

So many papers describe only the male genitalia & I wonder how many species are out there that can only be identified if male. It seems like something more people would be interested in? I’ll make sure to include female specimens in my research…even if the dissection process is meticulous. Worth it!

Grateful for my job because I get to take cool photos of bugs all day. Then when the day is over, I can stay longer to take photos of bugs in my own collection! The beautiful diversity of Southern California. #coleoptera #raphidioptera #hymenoptera

Collected in Tajikistan! So much fun taking photos of these guys for work. Bruchus affinis Frölich 1799 #coleoptera #bruchinae #beetles

Photos from the last field trip of the semester. Loved this class and made such great pals! Found some awesome rove beetles on the opossum carcass we left out #entomology

So great to see this amazing poem by Robin Becker in The New Yorker!

SALLY!

If you haven't yet seen this doc about the remarkable lesbian activist Sally Gearhart, you must do so immediately! www.sallygearhartfilm.com?ss_source=ss...

Elevational and Oceanic Barriers Shape the Distribution, Dispersal and Diversity of Aotearoa's Kapokapowai (Uropetala) Dragonflies Abstract. Mountains and islands provide an opportunity for studying the biogeography of diversification and population fragmentation. Aotearoa (New Zealand

#Dragonflies! With @taramcallister.bsky.social @ethantolman.bsky.social and colleagues! Elevational and Oceanic Barriers Shape the Distribution, Dispersal and Diversity of Aotearoa's Kapokapowai (Uropetala) Dragonflies url: academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...