Undergraduate Research
My main areas of interests lie in bioinformatics as well as insect phylogenetics and taxonomy. To date, most of my focus has been centered around Lepidoptera; however recently, my curiosity has expanded to include a much wider array of insects, particularly Diptera and Ichneumonoidea.
Previously, I spent a summer working for the Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut where I took part in a capture recapture study on central european Melitaea species with the goal to better understand their ecology as well as the impact that mowing has on their populations. Currently, I am helping Leah Jackson with a morphological analysis of Speyeria cybele in order to investigate the extent to which this butterfly’s morphology varies across its vast geographic range. Findings from this study are aimed at investigating potentially useful diagnostic differences to delimit subspecies as well as examine the validity of Speyeria cybele leto being recognized as a distinct species.
The Sperling Lab 