Lab News
March 2025
Megan and Sylvia did great on their oral talks at the 2025 Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of American meeting!
Megan presented on her current work on the biogeography of army ants and Sylvia on uncovering mealybug identities with Nanopore sequencing! Well done!!
Left to right: Megan and her Labidus, Sylvia and her Coccoidea!
February 2025
Our lab had a strong presence at the 2025 Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research!
Five oral talks, what?! Kyle, Megan, Alex, Sylvia, and Will all traveled to SUU in Cedar City to present their research at the 2025 UCUR! Some highlights below! Hooray!
From top to bottom, left to right: Kyle, Sylvia, Alex, Will, and Megan at the stage! - and practicing :)
Alex shined at the ROCH event!
The University of Utah selects a group of amazing students each year to exhibit their work to Utah State legislators at an event called Research on Capitol Hill (ROCH). Alex was selected to present his work on our RNA to DNA barcoding pipeline utilizing spider venoms! Check it out his poster here.
January 2025
Megan is famous!
Megan was selected to have her profile displayed at Humans of the U! Very nice! Check it out here - and don’t miss on the great pics!
More presentations from our group!
Kyle Cink got selected to present his research on nanopore sequencing of SE Asian micromollusks at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) this April in Pittsburgh! Hooray! And Megan DuVal and Sylvia Lee were both selected to present oral talks at the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America this coming March in Salt Lake City!
STEMFEST!
Our lab were at full steam during the STEMFEST at Eastwood Elementary. What a great time interacting with students and their families while talking bugs, mollusks, birds, and DNA!
Folks sharing their fav critters with the STEMFEST attendees. Left: Will and Megan talking plants and bugs. Right: Rocky rocking the dissecting scopes and all the macro-wonders!
December 2024
More good news for the 2025 UCUR!
Congratulations to Alex, Kyle, Megan, and Sylvia, and Will for ALL being selected to present oral talks at the Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research (UCUR) this coming February at Southern Utah University! Way to go, peeps!
Congratulations to Will and Ainsley for being granted a renewal for their UROP and Wilkes Scholarships!
Will received a second semester of UROP award for his project researching species boundaries within the aguacatillo genus Ocotea in Costa Rica. Ainsley, a Wilkes Scholar, is investigating cryptic bird diversity on the Emberiza genus.
November 2024
Megan DuVal just won first place in the Student Competition for President’s Prize for her oral talk at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America! And Alex Rich just got selected by the University of Utah Office of Undergraduate Research to present his research on spider venoms this coming February at Research on Capitol Hill (ROCH)! Awesome news this month of November!
October 2024
Successful presentations at the 2024 SACNAS NDiSTEM Conference!
Congratulations to Sara, Ainsley, Alex, Kyle, Megan, and Sylvia on presenting their posters at the SACNAS NDiSTEM conference in Phoenix! What a great opportunity for each of them to share their work with a broader audience, engage in discussions, and gain valuable feedback. I’m proud of their hard work and dedication - exciting to see them represent our research so well!
In clockwise order (from top row): Sara England, Megan DuVal, Sylvia Lee, Kyle Cink, Alex Rich, and Ainsley Parkins presenting their research at the SACNAS NDiSTEM. Woot!
September 2024
Awards galore to attend the 2024 SACNAS NDiSTEM Conference!
Looks like we have a big group attending the SACNAS NDiSTEM conference in Phoenix this October! Our group was extremely successful in being granted Travel Awards for the conference. Alex, Sara, Rocky, and Will were granted a highly sought University of Utah SACNAS Chapter Travel Award. Carter, Megan, Sylvia, Ainsley were granted the competitive SACNAS Travel Scholarship! Impressive!
August 2024
Congratulations to our 2024 UROP and Wilkes Scholar Awardees!
Sylvia Lee
Project: Unraveling the Identities of Associated Insects in Ant-Plant Symbioses with Nanopore DNA Sequencing
Sylvia was awarded a UROP grant to explore insect diversity within ant-plant symbioses using cutting-edge nanopore sequencing technology. Way to go, Sylvia!
Will Pearce
Project: DNA Barcoding to Solve Species Boundaries: Discovering Endemic Ocotea (Lauraceae) in Costa Rica
Will received a UROP award for his project researching how DNA barcoding can help us uncover species boundaries within the aguacatillo genus Ocotea in Costa Rica. Great job, Will!
Alexander Rich
Project: Decoding Spider Diversity: Venom RNA and Protein Peptide Analysis
Alexander was honored with a UROP award for his groundbreaking research analyzing spider venom RNA to uncover spider diversity. Impressive, Alex!
Ainsley Parkins (Wilkes Scholar Awardee)
Project: Unveiling Cryptic Avifauna Diversity Using Nanopore DNA Sequencing: A Case Study in the Passerine Genus Emberiza (Passeriformes: Emberizidae)
Ainsley, a Wilkes Scholar, is investigating cryptic bird diversity using nanopore sequencing, with a focus on the Emberiza genus. Congratulations, Ainsley!
Megan Duval (Shared Mentorship with Dr. Jack Longino)
Project: Exploring Species Boundaries in Labidus, a Widespread Army Ant Genus
Megan, with guidance from both Jack Longino and myself, was awarded a renewal for her UROP project investigating species boundaries within the army ant genus Labidus. Megan just submitted a paper (what!) product of her research! Hooray!