We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 ABRC Postdoc and Student Travel Award from the American Association of Professional Apiculturists (AAPA).
Alex McMenamin
Dr. Alex McMenamin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Baton Rouge USDA-ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research unit and funded by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the USDA. Alex received a B.S. in Immunology and Infectious Disease at Penn State University, where he stayed to complete a M.S. in Entomology under Dr. Christina Grozinger studying the health and behavior of Kenyan bee colonies. He earned his PhD with Dr. Michelle Flenniken at Montana State University’s Pollinator Health Center where he worked on describing new and novel honey bee antiviral immune genes and pathways. His current work aims to synthesize a lot of his past training via the development of tools for the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of viruses that threaten honey bee colonies.
Edward Hsieh
Ed is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is co-advised by Drs. Adam Dolezal and May Berenbaum. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Grinnell College in 2016, where his work focused primarily on evolutionary ecology rooted in insect systems including Hawaiian damselflies and supercolonial ants. He developed an interest in honey bees while working as a technician in Amy Toth’s lab at Iowa State University, and soon transitioned to completing his master’s degree in entomology at the University of Illinois, during which he examined the effects of phytochemical supplementation on honey bee susceptibility to viral infection. Since beginning his doctoral program, he has broadened the scope of his research to examine tripartite interactions between viruses, pesticides, and nutrition, as well as begun to investigate the effects of gut microbial alterations on xenobiotic detoxification in honey bee larvae. Ed has held multiple leadership positions within the Entomology Graduate Student Association for several years and has racked up many hours of feeding cockroaches and holding tarantulas. In his spare time, he enjoys playing board games, wildlife photography, and buying books knowing full well he’ll never get to half of them.