Congratulations to our very own, Andi Levorse! Andi is the recipient of a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in math, science, and engineering. Woohoo!
See the University of Richmond cover story here.
Sal Agosta, Carolyn May, Noah Hillerbrand, Eloy Martinez, and Kristine Grayson at VCU learning about the “thermal hut.”
We have just begun a collaboration with Salvatore Agosta (VCU) and Eloy Martinez (Guánica State Forest, Puerto Rico) to study the metabolism of gypsy moths from different populations reared at different acclimation temperatures. This past weekend UR students, Carolyn May and Noah Hillerbrand, along with Trevor Faske (VCU), Lily Thompson, and Kristine met up with Eloy & Sal at VCU to learn about the respirometry equipment and test out the machine for research in March and April. Thanks for coming all the way from Puerto Rico to help us out Eloy!
Kristine hosted Dr. Caitlin Gabor from Texas State University for a seminar at the University of Richmond on Monday, February 22, 2016. The talk was titled, “Does disease mediate increased stress or stress mediate increased disease in amphibians?” Kristine & Caitlin collaborated over the summer on an Eastern red spotted newt density project at Mountain Lake Biological Station. Thanks for visiting, Dr. Gabor!
After much revision and hard work, Lily’s Master’s Thesis is finally published in Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata! You can find a PDF of the article here.
Many introductory biology courses visit cemeteries to learn about human survivorship and principles of population dynamics, but this semester the University of Richmond’s Integrated Biological Principles II course (Biology 202) has combined this classic lab with community service. Taught by Kristine Grayson, Jory Brinkerhoff, Malcom Hill, and Emily Boone, the labs visited East End Cemetery, a historic African-American cemetery in Eastern Richmond to clear away vegetation and other debris from the gravestones. Recently, the project was a featured story on the University of Richmond’s website. Click here to read the article!
Kristine is giving a seminar at Eastern Mennonite University in her hometown of Harrisonburg, Virginia on Friday, Nov. 6, at 4 p.m. in Suter Science Center 106. The talk will be on the research she’s done on the population dynamics of tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), an endemic and rare reptile of New Zealand. You can find a link to the press release on her seminar here.
There’s been a lot of media interest in the gypsy moth work we’ve been doing in the Grayson Lab this year. This is thanks to the great efforts of folks in University of Richmond Communications Office.
Our latest media release was a two page spread in the Autumn 2015 edition of the University of Richmond Magazine. You can see the online version here.
Our very own Kayla Sherman (Class of 2017) is a featured research student on the University of Richmond webpage! Congrats to Kayla! You can read the article here.
The Grayson Lab met up in Baltimore, Maryland for the 100th meeting of the Ecological Society of America! So many talks to hear and posters to see! Including 2 poster presentations from our lab: one gypsy moth performance in the southern range and one on on harlequin bug melanization!
L to R: Trevor Faske, Lily Thompson, Nana Banahene, Amber Yang, Melisa Quiroga-Herrera, Dr. Kristine Grayson (Lab members attending the meeting, but not pictured: Andrew Levorse, Logan McDonald, Katelyn Horn, & Dr. Jen Olson)
Four of our summer research students, Nana Banahene, Amber Yang, Melisa Quiroga-Herrera, and Andrew Levorse, participated in rigorous HHMI funded first year undergraduate interdisciplinary science courses. A photo of our very own Nana Banahene is featured in a Nature article outlining the use of creative, interdisciplinary science education from pre-kindergarten to university levels. Check the article out the online version here!
Backer, Monya. Reading, writing and high-energy physics: Nature News. Nature. 523: 276–278. .