Professional Experiences
I have been studying ants since I was in high school, where I started an entomology club and ran a symposium at Entomology 2022 conference. Following High School, I got an internship at Discover Life in America during the summer. Now, I am studying ants and insect biodiversity at Morehead State University, in Morehead, Kentucky. Keep reading to find out more about my professional experiences and check out some of my older projects.
Check Out my AP Research Project
The Stinging Ants of Colorado
For my AP Research Project in High School, I created about 350 pages of content relating to the stinging ants of Colorado. the research paper encompasses the first 30 pages. This was my high school capstone project basically, it was a pretty good assessment of my skills and re-reading through the work, it becomes clear that more edits are required before it is completed. Despite its shortcomings (which can be expected from a high school capstone project produced with no guidance) the draft version is available below for you to peruse in case you wanted to see some examples of my illustrated keys (see Neivamyrmex, Manica, Pogonomyrmex, or Stenamma), 3D LiDAR scans of ant nests (see Pogonomyrmex), or just a report of Colorado ant checklist history. Please check it out!
Internship at Discover Life in America
During the summer of 2022, I worked for Discover Life in America as an intern. During this internship I sampled a lot of insect diversity and collected a lot of ants. I also completed a short research project updating the ant taxonomy of the GSMNP ant collection. I also found the first record of the Louisiana Pygmy Snapjaw Ant (Stumigenys louisianae) in the national park.
2019-2020
2020-2021
Unseen Solenopsis Biodiversity
in 2023 I presented an infographic about the underreported biodiversity of Solenopsis thief ants in the new world at the ESA/ESC Entomology 2023 conference. The poster/infographic will be presented as a hard copy, but it will also have Augmented Reality elements available if you choose to investigate it using adobe aero.
High School Experiences
During my time in high school, I was able to participate in various professional experiences related to my field of interest (entomology). Including, but not limited to, starting an entomology club, leading a survey of a state park, running a symposium at Entomology 2021 conference, receiving a scholarship to attend bugshot Florida 2019 (which ended up getting postponed due to covid), and winning various awards for different aspects of my intended career. The following page showcases some of these experiences.
World Of Insects Calendar
My Image here was selected to be a grid inset image in the Entomology Society of America's 2022 world of insects calendar.
