The Small Fruit & Specialty Crop IPM Lab

Principle investigator

Hannah Burrack studied entomology and rural sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and received her PhD in entomology from the University of California, Davis.  She studies applied ecology of insect herbivores and pollinators in small fruit, tobacco, and speciality crops in the southeastern US.  Her research interests include insect host selection and utilization and invasive species biology.  

Graduate students

Alejandro Merchan joined the lab in 2011 and is a PhD student studying the evolutionary relationship between aphids, plant defensive chemicals, and pesticides.

Rachel Suits is a masters student working with Dominic Reisig and Hannah Burrack to develop an
economic threshold for corn earworm in flowering soybeans. Rachel received a BS from the University of California, Berkeley and worked as a science teacher before returning to graduate school.

Sian Bailey is a PhD student developing a project which will combine her interest in entomology and plant pathology.  Sian received a masters degree in horticulture from the University of Pennsylvania and worked with USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Center for Plant Health Science and Technology (CPHST) in Massachusetts before returning to graduate school.

Katie Swoboda is a PhD student developing a project on the behavior and biology of Drosophila suzukii.  Katie received her masters degree from Utah State University while studying bee biology.  Katie worked as a research technician before returning to graduate school.

Undergraduate students

Dylan Kraus will receive his degree in Wildlife Biology from NC State this fall and has been a lab member since 2011.  Dylan has lead projects to track pesticide movement and resistance implications in tobacco and has developed a series of projects to assess host preference in Drosophila suzukii (spotted wing drosophila, SWD).  Dylan received an NC State University undergraduate research grant in 2012 to support his SWD research.

Peter Cajamarca is studying Biotechnology at NC State and has conducted experiments on bee behavior and has assisted with SWD monitoring and host preference projects.

Nick Allen is a Biology student at NC State and has worked with Alejandro Merchan on green peach aphid projects.  He will be beginning an independent study project this fall.

Research associates and technicians

Aurora Toennison, research associate, received her masters degree in entomology at University of Tennessee, where she studied ant biology. Aurora joined us in 2012 after working as an organic farm manager in central North Carolina.

Kevin Littlejohn, research technician, received his BS from NC State University and has been a members of the lab since 2010.  Kevin is currently identifying blackberry viruses and their potential insect vectors as part of a multi state USDA Speciality Crop Research Initiative project.  Kevin has also lead blueberry insect monitoring programs and thrips sampling and identification work.

Zach McCool, research technician, has been a member of the lab since 2010.  Zach and lead and assisted with tobacco field trials and thrips identification.

Alumni

Shelley Rogers studied the interactions between diversity and efficiency in southeastern blueberry pollinators.  Shelley completed her masters research in 2012 and is interning with specialty crop farms throughout the US and internationally in anticipation of starting her own outreach oriented farm

Monique Rivera studied intraplant variation in tobacco splitworm (more commonly known as the potato tubermoth) phenology, host selection, and offspring performance in North Carolina as part of a multi state collaboration between entomologists in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.  She is now pursuing a PhD in entomology at Rutgers University.