Research Interests

My research interests are focused on Entomology, broadly including systematics and ecology.

I completed my undergraduate work in 2012 at Marietta College, Ohio, and have thus far focused my research on the arthropods of Southeast Ohio. From that, I have worked on compiling a list of species native to the region, in particular Washington County.

I have conducted research at the Barbara A. Beiser Field Station in Marietta concerning the abundance and diversity of assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), which resulted in a poster I presented at the 2012 Ohio Natural History Conference. You can view my poster here.

I also researched millipedes (Myriapoda: Diplopoda) at the Beiser Field Station, due to what I saw as a lack of knowledge about the group in Southeast Ohio. During my research, I identified a few species of millipedes that fluoresced under ultraviolet light, which resulted in a poster I coauthored with my professor. This poster was also presented at the 2012 Ohio Natural History Conference, which you can view here.

Over the course of my research, I found that there is a lack of up-to-date resources accessible for local Myriapoda, so I have started a few projects to address this. For my current project, I am compiling an identification guide for local centipedes. I plan to compile a similar guide for local millipedes as well.

In the future, I plan to do more research with the above groups, and possibly expand to others as well, such as the Opiliones. I'm interested in science communication and will expand on what I've done in that area already by utilizing this blog and Twitter. I enjoy giving talks to various audiences, which I have done for the Monroe County Public Library and the Marietta Natural History Society, and look forward to speaking about Entomology to the general public more in the future.