Source: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
GRADUATE TRAINING IN APPLIED INTEGRATIVE POLLINATOR ECOLOGY: MANAGING POLLINATORS AND LANDSCAPES FOR SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS SERVICES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1012822
Grant No.
2017-38420-26766
Cumulative Award Amt.
$262,500.00
Proposal No.
2016-11406
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 1, 2017
Project End Date
May 31, 2022
Grant Year
2017
Program Code
[KK]- National Needs Graduate Fellowships Program
Project Director
Grozinger, C. M.
Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
408 Old Main
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802-1505
Performing Department
Entomology
Non Technical Summary
Nearly 90% of flowering plant species and 75% of global agricultural food crops use animal-mediated pollination to set seed and produce fruit. These animal-pollinated crops, including most fruits, vegetables, and nuts, provide the majority of the micronutrients and plant-based fats needed in human diets, and thus are critical pillars in human nutrition. Pollination services contribute $25 billion to the US economy in terms of increased crop yield alone, with an addition $20 billion in value to agricultural-associated industrial sectors.However, there have been declines in populations of both wild and managed pollinators across the world. US beekeepers lose an average of 30% of their managed honey bee colonies each winter, and 25% during the summer months; 50% of wild bumble bee species are in decline in the US; and North American monarch butterfly populations have decreased by nearly 80% over the last 20 years. It is critical that we find approaches that will support abundant and diverse communities of pollinators in our agricultural lands to ensure robust and sustainable pollination services.Tackling the challenge of pollinator declines and ensuring sustainable, robust pollination ecosystems services across a diversity of agricultural crops and landscapes requires a holistic, trans-disciplinary approach, that seamlessly integrates basic and applied science with extension, education and outreach. It also requires a framework where scientific research interfaces with multiple stakeholder groups, including beekeepers, land managers, growers, industry groups and policymakers. We will leverage the strengths of the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research (CPR) and its associated graduate programs in Entomology and Ecology to provide broad, interdisciplinary training for graduate students. We will work with our Stakeholder Advisory Board to ensure students engage with current and emerging real-world challenges, and leverage expertise and infrastructure provided by these groups. Students will obtain valuable skills in communication and leadership through diverse extension, education and outreach activities at the local, regional, national and international levels, selecting activities that further their professional interests. These activities will ensure that the results of this program are broadly disseminated to diverse communities and audiences.The broad, trans-disciplinary training provided by this program will ensure that graduating students will not only be able to creatively and holistically tackle issues related to pollinators and pollination services, but will have a wealth of transferrable skills and expertise in sustainable agriculture, allowing them to address a myriad of current and emerging challenges in agriculture and conservation.
Animal Health Component
34%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
33%
Applied
34%
Developmental
33%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
21130101060100%
Knowledge Area
211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
3010 - Honey bees;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);
Goals / Objectives
Overview: We will establish a unique, trans-disciplinary graduate training program that will provide Fellows with broad scientific skills in agricultural sciences--from genomics to land management--coupled with outstanding expertise and leadership in extension, education, and outreach. This program will train 3 PhD Fellows, and will benefit additional students mentored by the training faculty.Goals and Objectives: We will leverage the outstanding academic, research, extension, education and outreach opportunities provided by Penn State's world-renowned Center for Pollinator Research and the graduate programs in Entomology and Ecology to train this next generation of scientists and educators. We will use networks developed by Penn State and national groups to actively recruit Fellows that reflect the diversity of the US population, ensuring this training program benefits from a range of perspectives and experiences. Fellows will develop expertise in multiple scientific competency areas, through their research programs, co-advisors, and coursework. These areas will include Taxonomy and Systematics, Population Genetics, Genomic Approaches to Pollinator Health, Organismal Biology (Physiology, Immunology, Toxicology and Behavior), Ecology and Land Management, Integrated Pollinator and Pest Management.Fellows will create independent extension and education programs, ensuring they develop communication skills and networks that allow them to respond to real-world pollinator problems and interface with multiple stakeholder groups. Through research and extension experiences with international collaborators in 14 countries, Fellows will gain a global perspective on current agricultural issues.National Impact. Graduates of the program will be able to creatively and holistically tackle issues related to pollinators and pollination services, and will have a wealth of transferrable skills and expertise in sustainable agriculture, allowing them to serve in diverse organizations and address a range of current and emerging challenges in agriculture and conservation.
Project Methods
The Graduate Program in Applied Integrative Pollinator Ecology (GPAIPE) will take advantage of the expertise, resources, and infrastructure of the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research (CPR). The CPR consists of 30 research, extension and education faculty from multiple colleges at Penn State with expertise in pollinator biology, health and management. The CPR is the largest group of pollinator scientists and educators in the world, and is a leader in the field of pollinators and pollination ecosystems services. More information can be found at our website: http://ento.psu.edu/pollinatorsThe CPR does not currently have a graduate program, but its faculty (including the 9 PIs on this proposal) accept graduate students from multiple existing programs. GPAIPE Fellows will be recruited through and complete their degrees in either the Entomology Graduate Program (http://ento.psu.edu/graduateprograms) or the Intercollege Graduate Program in Ecology (https://www.huck.psu.edu/content/graduate-programs/ecology). Fellows will complete the requirements of these programs, along with additional requirements of the GPAIPE.Fellows participating in the Graduate Program in Applied Integrative Pollinator Ecology will be expected to develop expertise in at least four of the six core competency areas, and simultaneously develop an integrated and dynamic extension, education, and outreach program that is tailored to their career goals. Fellows will be co-mentored by two faculty with complimentary areas of expertise, and develop programs that span at least two areas of competency. Competency in other areas will be developed through coursework in Entomology, Ecology and other graduate programs as needed (eg, Geography). Competency will be assessed as part of the Fellows' candidacy and comprehensive exams. Fellows will participate annually in a new GPAIPE Colloquium, where Fellows, advisors, and other members of the CPR will meet weekly. This Colloquium will involve reviews and discussions of the scientific peer-reviewed literature, extension literature, or policy literature, as well as the development of new reviews and white papers on these subjects.

Progress 06/01/17 to 05/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:One target audience was the training faculty. Our training faculty was encouraged to develop multi-faculty, integrative projects in advance of the student recruitment period, to effectively match students with appropriate faculty. This process was successful, leading to many appropriate collaborative research projects and recruiting additional faculty to serve as co-mentors, along with the current coPIs. PI Grozinger also shared the proposal for developing this program with several additional faculty groups at Penn State, who were seeking to develop similar training programs. A third target audience were the groups that the students engaged with for their outreach, extension, and educational programs. These included members of the public, beekeepers, growers, and K-12 teachers. Finally, the students presented their work in a variety of venues (oral and poster presentations), including stakeholder and scientific conferences, and included acknowledgement of the USDA funded Integrative Pollinator Ecology training program in their presentations Changes/Problems:As a result of travel restrictions due to COVID, our Fellows were not able to develop international research projects and make use of the international supplement. However, one of the students affiliated with our program, Makaylee Crone, who is funded by an NSF GRFP, traveled to Switzerland and Germany with our program coordinator, Professor Natalie Boyle, in Fall 2021. Crone will serve as a TA for Boyle's plannedGlobal Programs course with embedded travel to Central Europe, which will be offered in 2023. This course should provide a long-term, sustainable opportuty for international travel and collaborations for Penn State graduate students in the agricultural sciences. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Due to challenges associated with international travel due to COVID, in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, University of Freiburg faculty Alex Klein and Andrew Straw and Penn State faculty Natalie Boyle and Christina Grozinger designed, organized and offered "Global Perspectives in Integrative Pest and Pollinator Management" in Fall 2020 to Spring 2021. This was a weekly course which included approximately 25 undergraduate and graduate students from the two institutions (including our IPE fellows), and consisted of 11 weeks of live-streamed lectures followed by discussions. Presenters included researchers, growers, conservationists and agricultural specialists from across the world. Lectures were recorded and archived here:https://www.huck.psu.edu/institutes-and-centers/insect-biodiversity-center/resources/video-archive This course was supported by a virtual classroom award from Penn State and University of Freiburg's Office of International Programs. Penn State faculty and IPE program coordinator Natalie Boyle is leveraging this virtual classroom experience to create a Global Programs graduate course at Penn State, with embedded travel to Freiburg In Fall 2021, Penn State Assistant Professor Natalie Boyle and IPE Fellow Makaylee Crone visited University of Freiburg, University of Zurich, and German and Swiss grower and industry groups to obtain information for organizing a global programs graduate course at Penn State, which would involve a 1 week visit and tour to these locations. The course is planned for Spring 2023, and is titled ENT 499 Conserving Biodiversity in Central Europe. Current students in the training program all participated in our in-person Center for Pollinator Research Winter Symposium, November 15 - 16, 2021 in State College. This conference attracted over 90 scientists, educators, stakeholders and members of government agencies for a two-day discussion of research project outcomes and goals for the upcoming years. Each fellow either prepared an oral presentation or a poster summarizing their research for researchers and community stakeholders, which included many members of the Center for Pollinator Research Advisory Board. Fellows additionally explored their own interests in education, outreach and extension as well as professional development opportunities through individualized programs. Selected examples are provided below: -Fellow Hinshaw is working with the Penn State Pasto Agricultural Museum to develop an exhibit featuring beekeeping and the biology of honey bees. The exhibit opened August 2021, just in time for Penn State's Ag Progress Days.. -Fellow McLaughlin issued regular Bug of the Month factsheets(https://ento.psu.edu/research/centers/pollinators/bug-of-the-month), distributed and archived on the Center for Pollinator Research website. Today, these factsheets are still issued monthly thanks to the efforts of other graduate students in Entomology and Ecology programs. -Fellows Cibotti, Barie and Bresnahan issued regular Entomologist of the Month(https://ento.psu.edu/research/centers/pollinators/bug-of-the-month/entomologist-of-the-month), inspired by the success of the popular and continuing Bug of the Month series. -Fellow Kilpatrick has created a publicly-accessible website (https://lopezuribelab.com/checklist-bees-pennsylvania/) with information about species of bees in Pennsylvania -Fellow Crone developed an educational program (Pollinators Around Us) on bee identification, natural history and behavior to be offered at museums and libraries in rural areas (https://sites.psu.edu/augmentedlearning/about-us/stem-pillars/curricula-overview/) -Several fellows have also presented their work at numerous stakeholder and scientific conferences (the Entomological Society of America annual meeting, the American Phytopathological Society annual meeting, etc.). -Several fellows have been awarded competitive funding for their research projects, including Hinshaw (McNab Memorial Endowment, PSU CAS Graduate Student Competitive Grant, USDA NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship Program), Crone (North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Honey Bee Health Program), and Kilpatrick (Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research, American Museum of Natural History Richard Gilder Graduate School Collection Study Grant, Penn State Center for Pollinator Research Apes Valentes Graduate Research Award). Students have also written articles which have been posted on the Center for Pollinator Research News site. These include: 10 Steps You Can Take to Support Local Biodiversity. Staci Cibotti. Apr 2021 Beekeeping exhibit now open at the Pasto Agricultural Museum. Chauncy Hinshaw. Aug 2021 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about the training program and the research, education, extension efforts of the Fellows have been disseminated to the scientific research community, stakeholder groups, and the public, through presentations at scientific conferences and stakeholder meetings, educational activities at science fairs or targeted efforts (such as the STEM Pillars program), and through online media (articles posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website, written by the students). In October 2020, the Center for Pollinator Research began circulating weekly newsletters to our mailing list subscribers that celebrate the recent accomplishments of the fellows and faculty members on our team (https://www.huck.psu.edu/institutes-and-centers/insect-biodiversity-center/in-the-media). Specific activities are highlighted in the section above. ? What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Students have been recruited to the Integrative Pollinator Ecology Graduate Training program from four different graduate programs at Penn State (Entomology, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Ecology, and Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences). Three students are supported by the funds provided from the USDA-NIFA-NNF grant, two students are supported by funding from an NSF Graduate Training Fellowship and Penn State, and four students were partially supported by Penn State. Six of the nine students are female, one is non-binary, two are members of a URM group, and six are the first in their immediate families to attend graduate/professional school. We expanded the training faculty on the grant to include additional advisors (Ruud Schilder, Etya Amsalem, Jared Ali, Kelli Hoover, Michael Axtell) to allow the student maximal flexibility in developing their research questions and training opportunities. Fellows recruited for the 2019 Fall entering class. Katherine Barie. BSc Lawrence University, Wisconsin. MSc candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Ruud Schilder and Etya Amsalem. Barie investigated the impacts and underlying mechanisms of carbon dioxide narcosis (which is commonly used in commercial breeding operations) in bumble bees. She also investigated how the social environment regulates brood development in bumble bees. Katie successfully defended her thesis and graduated in Spring 2022. Sean Bresnahan. BSc University of Nebraska. PhD candidate in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences Program. Co-mentored by Grozinger and Michael Axtell. Bresnahan will investigate the epigenetic factors influencing reproductive physiology and behavior in honey bees. Bresnahan was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Penn State University Fellowship, as well as support from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and thus will participate in the IPE program but will be funded from other sources. Bresnahan passed his qualifying exam in Spring 2022. Fellows recruited for 2018 Fall entering class: Staci Cibotti. BSc Humboldt State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by John Tooker, Jared Ali, Ruud Schilder. Cibotti's project focuses on how secondary plant compounds and neonicotinoid contamination in milkweed plants impacts monarch development and adult behavior. Cibotti passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2019. Rachel McLaughlin. BSc Ohio State University. MSc candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Kelli Hoover and Christina Grozinger. McLaughlin's project focuses on identifying the key pollinators of black cherry (an economically valuable timber crop in the Appalachian region) and investigating the causes of pollination deficits reported by stakeholders. McLaughlin successfully defended her thesis during Spring 2021. Makaylee Crone. BSc Texas A&M. PhD candidate in the Ecology program. Co-mentored by Christina Grozinger and David Biddinger. The aim of Crone's project is to understand how nutrition interacts with health, landscape and foraging preferences in honey bees, Osmia bees, and wild bees. Crone was originally offered a fellowship from this program, but was subsequently awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Bunton-Waller Fellowship, and a Huck Top-up Award, and thus has funding for 5 years. Crone successfully passed their PhD Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019. Fellows recruited in Fall 2017. These fellows were supported by the Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Strategic Network Initiative Program and the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and thus participate in the IPE Graduate Training Program but are supported by other sources. Chauncy Hinshaw (BSc Colorado State University) is a PhD candidate in Plant Pathology and Microbiology, co-mentored by Cristina Rosa and Margarita Lopez-Uribe. Hinshaw's project seeks to characterize viruses that are found in both plants and pollinators. Hinshaw passed his Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019 and was awarded a USDA-NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship in 2020. Shelby Kilpatrick (BSc Texas A&M) is a PhD student in Entomology, co-mentored by Margarita López-Uribe and Heather Hines. Kilpatrick's projects include characterizing bee biodiversity in Pennsylvania, elucidating the evolutionary history of squash bees (a group of specialist pollinators of Cucurbita - pumpkins and squash), and describing the functional morphology of bee setae. Kilpatrick completed her Qualifying Exam in August 2019 and passed her Comprehensive Exam in December 2020. Due to personal reasons, Kilpatrick left the entomology program during Fall 2021. Tyler Jones (BSc Georgia Tech) is a MSc candidate in Entomology, who initiated her studies in August 2016. She is mentored by Christina Grozinger. Jones' project seeks to understand the nutritional ecology of honey bees, and how this influences foraging patterns, and how these are affected by land use patterns. Jones passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2018, but subsequently chose to finish her graduate studies with a MSc to pursue her interests in science writing, communication, and policy (she was selected to attend the 2020 AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) Workshop). She successfully defended her thesis and graduated in summer 2020. Jones interned with NPR and is currently a freelance science writer. Briana Ezray (BSc, Willamette University) initiated her PhD studies in Entomology in August 2014, and received her PhD in August 2019. She was mentored by Heather Hines. Ezray's projects seek to understand the population dynamics of viruses in wild and managed pollinator populations. Ezray accepted a tenure track faculty position in the Penn State University Libraries.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Crone, M. K., Biddinger, D. J., and C.M. Grozinger. Wild bee nutritional ecology: Integrative strategies to assess foraging preferences and nutritional requirements Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 6:847003. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.847003
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Pocius, V. M., Cibotti, S., Ray, S., Ankoma-Darko, O., McCartney, N. B., Schilder, R. J. and Ali, J. G. (2022). Impacts of larval host plant species on dispersal traits and free-flight energetics of adult butterflies. Communications Biology. 5, 19.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cibotti, S., Ali, J. G., Schilder, R. J. Differential effects of clothianidin exposure on metabolic rates across life stages of Danaus plexippus. Ecological Entomology (In Review)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: McLaughlin, R., Keller, J., Wagner, E., Biddinger, D., Grozinger, C. and K. Hoover. Insect visitors of black cherry (Prunus serotina) (Rosales: Rosaceae) and factors affecting viable seed production Environmental Entomology nvab141, https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvab141(2022)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bresnahan, S.T., Doke, M.A., Giray, T. and C.M. Grozinger. Tissue-specific transcriptional patterns underlie the seasonal phenotypes in honey bees (Apis mellifera) Molecular Ecology DOI: 10.1111/mec.16220 (2021)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Crone, M.K. and C.M. Grozinger. Pollen protein and lipid content influence resilience to insecticides in honey bees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Experimental Biology 224 (9): jeb242040


Progress 06/01/20 to 05/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:One target audience was the training faculty. Our training faculty was encouraged to develop multi-faculty, integrative projects in advance of the student recruitment period, to effectively match students with appropriate faculty. This process was successful, leading to many appropriate collaborative research projects and recruiting additional faculty to serve as co-mentors, along with the current coPIs. PI Grozinger also shared the proposal for developing this program with several additional faculty groups at Penn State, who were seeking to develop similar training programs. A second target audience were the groups that the students engaged with for their outreach, extension, and educational programs. These included members of the public, beekeepers, growers, and K-12 teachers. Finally, the students presented their work in a variety of venues (oral and poster presentations), including stakeholder and scientific conferences, and included acknowledgement of the USDA funded Integrative Pollinator Ecology training program in their presentations Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All the current students in the training program enrolled in ENT 597: Global Perspectives in Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management, taught by PIs Boyle and Grozinger in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. The Center for Pollinator Research was awarded funds to co-develop a graduate-level course in tandem with the University of Freiburg, offered through Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. This course is designed to introduce a variety of agricultural practices employed in disparate parts of the world with an emphasis on Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management (IPPM). Through a series of live-streamed guest lectures, recorded and hosted by both institutions, we developed online materials that introduced students from both countries to the contributions and perspectives of scientists, science advocates and regulatory officials across the globe. The course delves into how socioeconomic and environmental policies, spanning different cultures and countries, can restrict or enable the adoption of novel and/or potentially controversial IPPM practices. In addition to the students, several postdoctoral fellows and faculty join our discussions. The goal of this course is to gain a deeper understanding and broader perspective of human interactions with the landscape, to develop new and richer research directions, and create new collaborations among participating research groups. In total, 12 students registered for the course (including several who were not part of the training grant), and 2 students are also auditing the course. The students also explored their own interests in education, outreach and extension as well as professional development opportunities through individualized programs. Selected examples are provided below: -Fellow Hinshaw is working with the Penn State Pasto Agricultural Museum to develop an exhibit featuring beekeeping and the biology of honey bees. The exhibit is slated to open in August 2021. -Fellow McLaughlin issues regular Bug of the Month factsheets, distributed and archived on the Center for Pollinator Research website that will be compiled into a 2022 calendar celebrating the diversity of insects in Pennsylvania. -Fellows Cibotti, Barie and Bresnahan issue regular Entomologist of the Month factsheets, inspired by the success of the popular and continuing Bug of the Month series. -Fellow Kilpatrick has created a publicly-accessible website with information about species of bees in Pennsylvania -Fellow Kilpatrick co-organized a virtual workshop hosted by the Eastern Branch of Entomological Society of America: 'Exploring the Diversity of Entomologists' Careers: A Symposium and Networking Opportunity'. -Fellow Crone developed an educational program (Pollinators Around Us) on bee identification, natural history and behavior to be offered at museums and libraries in rural areas (https://sites.psu.edu/augmentedlearning/about-us/stem-pillars/curricula-overview/) -Several fellows have also presented their work at numerous stakeholder and scientific conferences (the 2020 Entomological Society of America annual meeting, the 2020 American Phytopathological Society annual meeting, etc.). -Several fellows have been awarded competitive funding for their research projects, including Hinshaw (McNab Memorial Endowment, PSU CAS Graduate Student Competitive Grant, USDA NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship Program), Crone (North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Honey Bee Health Program), and Kilpatrick (Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research, American Museum of Natural History Richard Gilder Graduate School Collection Study Grant, Penn State Center for Pollinator Research Apes Valentes Graduate Research Award). Students have also written several articles which have been posted on the Center for Pollinator Research News site. These include: Helping Northeast Beekeepers Fight Mites. Katie Barie. March 2021 Winter Survival Guide for Queen Bumble Bees. Katie Barie. February 2021 Seeding Hope: Community members breathe life into the new Pollinator and Bird Garden at Penn State. Makaylee Crone. January 2021 Incentivized Programs Help Farmers Protect Pollinators. Rachel McLaughlin. January 2021 The "Hidden" World of Colony-Level Impacts of Neonicotinoids on Social Pollinators. Sean Bresnahan. December 2020 Mind the Bees - Ralf Nauen and Colleagues Protect Pollinators Through Neonicotinoid Research. Sean Bresnahan. November 2020 Rewilding our Roadways. Staci Cibotti. May 2020 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about the training program and the research, education, extension efforts of the Fellows have been disseminated to the scientific research community, stakeholder groups, and the public, through presentations at scientific conferences and stakeholder meetings, educational activities at science fairs or targeted efforts (such as the STEM Pillars program), and through online media (articles posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website, written by the students). In October 2020, the Center for Pollinator Research began circulating weekly newsletters to our mailing list subscribers that celebrate the recent accomplishments of the fellows and faculty members on our team (archived here). Specific activities are highlighted in the section above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In this final year of the program, Fellows will continue to make progress on their research, education and extension goals. To provide additional training in science writing for the public, each Fellow is asked to write one article per year to be posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website. To better coordinate this process, in 2019 we began encouraging Fellows to write articles about events and activities held by the Center for Pollinator Research. This seems to be a successful approach and will be continued in the future. Each Fellow is also asked to develop an independent program for outreach and education related to their research interests. We have formalized this process by developing collaborations with individuals in the College of Education and Center for Science and the Schools. Fellows will be encouraged to contribute to existing programs, with an emphasis on designing content and materials that can be repurposed and used as a reference in future educational programming. Some of the Fellow's outcomes are highlighted on the Center for Pollinator Research website (Under 'Resources and Outreach'). The Center for Pollinator Research also has resources available to develop and offer additional workshops for Fellows as needed, and plans to offer a workshop on career opportunities available upon the completion of their degree program. Finally, we are in the early stages of planning the 2022 International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy. This is the fourth offering of the conference, which routinely attracts over 200 participants representing over 15 countries. Participants reflect a diversity of fields including academia, government agencies, stakeholder groups and non-profit organizations and provide an ideal platform for fellows to network with other professionals with expertise in pollinator research. The speakers and abstracts from the last meeting (2019) is available here.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Students have been recruited to the Integrative Pollinator Ecology Graduate Training program from four different graduate programs at Penn State (Entomology, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Ecology, and Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences). Three students are supported by the funds provided from the USDA-NIFA-NNF grant, two students are supported by funding from an NSF Graduate Training Fellowship and Penn State, and four students were partially supported by Penn State. Six of the nine students are female, one is non-binary, two are members of a URM group, and six are the first in their immediate families to attend graduate/professional school. We have expanded the training faculty on the grant to include additional advisors (Ruud Schilder, Etya Amsalem, Jared Ali, Kelli Hoover, Michael Axtell) to allow the student maximal flexibility in developing their research questions and training opportunities. Fellows recruited for the 2019 Fall entering class. Katherine Barie. BSc Lawrence University, Wisconsin. MSc candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Ruud Schilder and Etya Amsalem. Barie will investigate the impacts and underlying mechanisms of carbon dioxide narcosis (which is commonly used in commercial breeding operations) in bumble bees. Sean Bresnahan. BSc University of Nebraska. PhD candidate in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences Program. Co-mentored by Grozinger and Michael Axtell. Bresnahan will investigate the epigenetic factors influencing reproductive physiology and behavior in honey bees. Bresnahan was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Penn State University Fellowship, as well as support from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and thus will participate in the IPE program but will be funded from other sources. Fellows recruited for 2018 Fall entering class: Staci Cibotti. BSc Humboldt State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by John Tooker, Jared Ali, Ruud Schilder. Cibotti's project focuses on how secondary plant compounds and neonicotinoid contamination in milkweed plants impacts monarch development and adult behavior. Cibotti passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2019. Rachel McLaughlin. BSc Ohio State University. MSc candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Kelli Hoover and Christina Grozinger. McLaughlin's project focuses on identifying the key pollinators of black cherry (an economically valuable timber crop in the Appalachian region) and investigating the causes of pollination deficits reported by stakeholders. McLaughlin passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2019. Makaylee Crone. BSc Texas A&M. PhD candidate in the Ecology program. Co-mentored by Christina Grozinger and David Biddinger. The aim of Crone's project is to understand how nutrition interacts with health, landscape and foraging preferences in honey bees, Osmia bees, and wild bees. Crone was originally offered a fellowship from this program, but was subsequently awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Bunton-Waller Fellowship, and a Huck Top-up Award, and thus has funding for 5 years. Crone successfully passed their PhD Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019. Fellows recruited in Fall 2017. These fellows were supported by the Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Strategic Network Initiative Program and the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and thus participate in the IPE Graduate Training Program but are supported by other sources. Chauncy Hinshaw (BSc Colorado State University) is a PhD candidate in Plant Pathology and Microbiology, co-mentored by Cristina Rosa and Margarita Lopez-Uribe. Hinshaw's project seeks to characterize viruses that are found in both plants and pollinators. Hinshaw passed his Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019 and was awarded a USDA-NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship in 2020. Shelby Kilpatrick (BSc Texas A&M) is a PhD student in Entomology, co-mentored by Margarita López-Uribe and Heather Hines. Kilpatrick's projects include characterizing bee biodiversity in Pennsylvania, elucidating the evolutionary history of squash bees (a group of specialist pollinators of Cucurbita - pumpkins and squash), and describing the functional morphology of bee setae. Kilpatrick completed her Qualifying Exam in August 2019 and passed her Comprehensive Exam in December 2020. Tyler Jones (BSc Georgia Tech) is a MSc candidate in Entomology, who initiated her studies in August 2016. She is mentored by Christina Grozinger. Jones' project seeks to understand the nutritional ecology of honey bees, and how this influences foraging patterns, and how these are affected by land use patterns. Jones passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2018, but subsequently chose to finish her graduate studies with a MSc to pursue her interests in science writing, communication, and policy (she was selected to attend the 2020 AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) Workshop). She successfully defended her thesis and graduated in summer 2020. Jones interned with NPR and is currently a freelance science writer. Briana Ezray (BSc, Willamette University) initiated her PhD studies in Entomology in August 2014, and received her PhD in August 2019. She was mentored by Heather Hines. Ezray's projects seek to understand the population dynamics of viruses in wild and managed pollinator populations. Ezray accepted a tenure track faculty position in the Penn State University Libraries.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kilpatrick, S.K., J. Gibbs, M.M. Mikulas, S. Spichiger, N. Ostiguy, D.J. Biddinger, and M.M. L�pez-Uribe. 2020. An updated checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Anthophila) of Pennsylvania, United States of America. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 77: 1-86. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.77.49622
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kilpatrick, S.K., J. Gibbs, M.M. Mikulas, S. Spichiger, N. Ostiguy, D.J. Biddinger, and M.M. L�pez-Uribe. 2021. Corrigenda: An updated checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Anthophila) of Pennsylvania, United States of America. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 77: 186. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.77.49622. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 81: 181-189. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.81.62634
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Jones, L.*, S.K. Kilpatrick*, and M.M. L�pez-Uribe. 2021. Gynandromorph of the squash bee Eucera (Peponapis) pruinosa (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Eucerini) from an agricultural field in western Pennsylvania, USA. Journal of Melittology 100: 110. Retrieved from https://journals.ku.edu/melittology/article/view/13744 * = equally contributed
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Crone, M.K. and C.M. Grozinger. Pollen protein and lipid content influence resilience to insecticides in honey bees (Apis mellifera). Journal of Experimental Biology (in press). doi: 10.1242/jeb.242040
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Hinshaw, C., K.C. Evans, C. Rosa, and M.M. L�pez-Uribe. 2021. The Role of Pathogen Dynamics and Immune Gene Expression in the Survival of Feral Honey Bees. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 8:594263. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2020.594263


Progress 06/01/19 to 05/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:We completed recruitment of our Fellows in Spring 2019. Our goal was to recruit outstanding students representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives and scientific interests to the program. To accomplish this goal, we wrote an advertisement for the program which was sent to local, regional, and national listservs related to pollinator biology and health, and advertised during seminar and conference presentations given by the PI and other members of the training faculty. We also aimed to specifically target members of underrepresented populations through the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Office of Multicultural Affairs, the USDA-funded "Plant friend or foe" program, which brings students from URM serving institutions to Penn State for summer research, and a similar USDA-funded "Bee-Inspired" program at Georgia Tech. A current URM graduate student who participated in the Georgia Tech program as an undergraduate visited to recruit students from the 2018 class to apply to our graduate program. A second target audience was the training faculty. Our training faculty was encouraged to develop multi-faculty, integrative projects in advance of the student recruitment period, to effectively match students with appropriate faculty. This process was successful, leading to many appropriate collaborative research projects and recruiting additional faculty to serve as co-mentors, along with the current coPIs. PI Grozinger also shared the proposal for developing this program with several additional faculty groups at Penn State, who were seeking to develop similar training programs. A third target audience were the groups that the students engaged with for their outreach, extension, and educational programs. These included members of the public, beekeepers, growers, and K-12 teachers. Finally, the students presented their work in a variety of venues (oral and poster presentations), including stakeholder and scientific conferences, and included acknowledgement of the USDA funded Integrative Pollinator Ecology training program in their presentations Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All the current students in the training program enrolled in ENT 530: Colloquium in Integrative Pollinator Ecology, taught by PI Grozinger in Spring 2020. The students suggested and subsequently voted on which book to read for the semester. For 2020, the students read "The Solitary Bees: Biology, Conservation and Evolution", by Bryan Danforth, Robert Minckley, and John Neff. Each week, the class discussed one chapter from this book, and supplemented that with related research articles in the area of interest of the discussion leaders and course participants. We also hosted a visit (by ZOOM, due to COVID-19) from Danforth to discuss the process and experience of writing the book, and answer questions related to the book contents. In addition to the students, several postdoctoral fellows and faculty joined the discussions. The goal of this course was to gain a deeper understanding and broader perspective of plant-pollinator interactions, allow us to develop new and richer research directions, and create new collaborations among our participating research groups. In total, 9 students registered for the course (including 2 who were not part of the training grant), and 3 students are also auditing the course. The first year students (Barie and Bresnahan) also enrolled in ENT 522: Professional Development and Critical Thinking, taught by co-PI Patch and Amsalem (a member of the training faculty). The goal of this course is to help students begin to think strategically about graduate school (Why are you here? What do you hope to gain from your time at Penn State? Where do you want to go after and how do you get there?) and provide training in core skills needed for grad school and beyond (writing science for the public, writing effective grant proposals, evaluating scientific papers and grants, designing research studies, ethics in science, and strategies for outreach, education and extension). As part of this course, students write articles about each other's research programs, which are subsequently posted on the Penn State Entomology and Center for Pollinator Research websites. The students also developed a proposal for the Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research Program. The students participated in the Great Insect Fair in September 2019, which is an annual science fair that engages the public in exploring the world of insects and their importance to humans, agricultural, and natural ecosystems. This is a valuable outreach opportunity for the students, where they can develop their own themed exhibits and activities. The students also explored their own interests in education, outreach and extension as well as professional development opportunities through individualized programs. Selected examples are provided below: -Fellow Hinshaw is working with the Penn State Pasto Agricultural Museum to develop an exhibit featuring beekeeping and the biology of honey bees -Fellow McLaughlin issues regular Bug of the Month factsheets, distributed and archived on the Center for Pollinator Research website that will be compiled into a 2021 calendar celebrating the diversity of insects in Pennsylvania. -Fellows McLaughlin and Cibotti are completing coursework to obtain a Graduate Certificate in Teaching from Penn State. -Fellow Cibotti is developing lesson plans for K-12 instruction on monarch rearing for use in a Natural Explorers 2020 summer camp -Fellow Bresnahan is designing a honey bee-focused interactive video game that introduces users to the complex and interacting forces driving honey bee declines -Fellow Kilpatrick is creating a publicly-accessible website with information about species of bees in Pennsylvania -Several fellows have also presented their work at numerous stakeholder and scientific conferences (the 2019 Entomological Society of America annual meeting, the 2019 PA State Beekeepers Association Meeting, the 2020 Western PA State Beekeeper Meeting, etc.). -Several fellows have been awarded competitive funding for their research projects, including Hinshaw (McNab Memorial Endowment, PSU CAS Graduate Student Competitive Grant, USDA NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship Program), Crone (North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Honey Bee Health Program), and Kilpatrick (Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research, American Museum of Natural History Richard Gilder Graduate School Collection Study Grant, Penn State Center for Pollinator Research Apes Valentes Graduate Research Award). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about the training program and the research, education, extension efforts of the Fellows have been disseminated to the scientific research community, stakeholder groups, and the public, through presentations at scientific conferences and stakeholder meetings, educational activities at science fairs or targeted efforts (such as the STEM Pillars program), and through online media (articles posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website, written by the students). Specific activities are highlighted in the section above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To provide additional training in science writing for the public, each Fellow is asked to write one article per year to be posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website. To better coordinate this process, in 2019 we began encouraging Fellows to write articles about events and activities held by the Center for Pollinator Research. This seems to be a successful approach and will be continued in the future. Each Fellow is also asked to develop an independent program for outreach and education related to their research interests. We have formalized this process by developing collaborations with individuals in the College of Education and Center for Science and the Schools. Fellows will be encouraged to contribute to existing programs, with an emphasis on designing content and materials that can be repurposed and used as a reference in future educational programming. Some of these programs are listed below: (1) the STEM Pillars Program, which designs science-based activities for rural museums and libraries. In Spring 2019, Fellow Crone developed a program on pollinators that has been tested and refined with audiences at the Shaver's Creek Environmental Center and the Tyrone PA library. The activity (and others) are posted on the STEM Pillars website: https://sites.psu.edu/augmentedlearning/about-us/stem-pillars/curricula-overview/ (2) the Authentic Plant-Pollinator Landscape Ecology Research for Educators Program (APPL-RED), which is funded by a USDA-PD-STEP grant. This program is a collaboration between the Center for Pollinator Research and the Center for Science and the Schools, and offers a week-long short course, individualized mentoring and financial support to help grade 4-12 teachers incorporate information on and research related to pollinators in their classrooms. As part of this program, Fellow Kilpatrick developed materials for pollinator field identification, while Fellow Jones developed a lesson plan for evaluating the pollen foraging preferences of field-caught insects using pollen identification approaches. These and other materials are available to the public through our new website: https://ento.psu.edu/pollinators/resources-and-outreach/materials-for-k-12-classroom/resources-for-teachers-for-pollinator-ecology In addition, the Center for Pollinator Research was recently awarded funds to co-develop a graduate-level course in tandem with the University of Freiburg, offered through Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. This course is designed to introduce a variety of agricultural practices employed in disparate parts of the world with an emphasis on Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management (IPPM). Through a series of live-streamed guest lectures, recorded and hosted by both institutions, we plan to develop online material and resources that introduce students from both countries to the contributions and perspectives of scientists, science advocates and regulatory officials across the globe. The course will delve into how socioeconomic and environmental policies, spanning different cultures and countries, can restrict or enable the adoption of novel and/or potentially controversial IPPM practices. Further, we hope to teach our students how these individuals are harnessing recent advances in transcriptomics, bioinformatics and molecular biology to better understand the nature of and problems associated with maintaining global food security and ecosystem functions in modern agriculture. This course will serve as the next required ENT530 Colloquium in Integrative Pollinator Biology, taught by PI Boyle.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Students have been recruited to the Integrative Pollinator Ecology Graduate Training program from four different graduate programs at Penn State (Entomology, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Ecology, and Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences). Three students are supported by the funds provided from the USDA-NIFA-NNF grant, two students are supported by funding from an NSF Graduate Training Fellowship and Penn State, and four students were partially supported by Penn State. Seven of the nine students are female, two are members of a URM group, and six are the first in their immediate families to attend graduate/professional school. We have expanded the training faculty on the grant to include additional advisors (Ruud Schilder, Etya Amsalem, Jared Ali, Kelli Hoover, Michael Axtell) to allow the student maximal flexibility in developing their research questions and training opportunities. Fellows recruited for the 2019 Fall entering class. Katherine Barie. BSc Lawrence University, Wisconsin. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Ruud Schilder and Etya Amsalem. Barie will investigate the impacts and underlying mechanisms of carbon dioxide narcosis (which is commonly used in commercial breeding operations) in bumble bees. Sean Bresnahan. BSc University of Nebraska. PhD candidate in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences Program. Co-mentored by Grozinger and Michael Axtell. Bresnahan will investigate the epigenetic factors influencing reproductive physiology and behavior in honey bees. Bresnahan was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Penn State University Fellowship, as well as support from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and thus will participate in the IPE program but will be funded from other sources. Fellows recruited for 2018 Fall entering class: Staci Cibotti. BSc Humboldt State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by John Tooker, Jared Ali, Ruud Schilder. Cibotti's project focuses on how secondary plant compounds and neonicotinoid contamination in milkweed plants impacts monarch development and adult behavior. Cibotti passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2019. Rachel McLaughlin. BSc Ohio State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Kelli Hoover and Christina Grozinger. McLaughlin's project focuses on identifying the key pollinators of black cherry (an economically valuable timber crop in the Appalachian region) and investigating the causes of pollination deficits reported by stakeholders. McLaughlin passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2019. Makaylee Crone. BSc Texas A&M. PhD candidate in the Ecology program. Co-mentored by Christina Grozinger and David Biddinger. The aim of Crone's project is to understand how nutrition influences responses to pesticides in honey bees and Osmia bees, with an aim to identify factors that can improve the resilience of bees to pesticide exposure. Crone was originally offered a fellowship from this program, but was subsequently awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Bunton-Waller Fellowship, and a Huck Top-up Award, and thus has funding for 5 years. Crone successfully passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019. Fellows recruited in Fall 2017. These fellows were supported by the Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Strategic Network Initiative Program and the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and thus participate in the IPE Graduate Training Program but are supported by other sources. Chauncy Hinshaw (BSc Colorado State University) is a PhD candidate in Plant Pathology and Microbiology, co-mentored by Cristina Rosa and Margarita Lopez-Uribe. Hinshaw's project seeks to characterize viruses that are found in both plants and pollinators. Hinshaw passed his Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019 and was awarded a USDA-NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship in 2020. Shelby Kilpatrick (BSc Texas A&M) is a PhD student in Entomology, co-mentored by Margarita López-Uribe and Heather Hines. Kilpatrick's projects include characterizing bee biodiversity in Pennsylvania, elucidating the evolutionary history of squash bees (a group of specialist pollinators of Cucurbita - pumpkins and squash), and describing the functional morphology of bee setae.. Kilpatrick completed her Qualifying Exam in August 2019. Tyler Jones (BSc Georgia Tech) is a MSc candidate in Entomology, who initiated her studies in August 2016. She is mentored by Christina Grozinger. Jones' project seeks to understand the nutritional ecology of honey bees, and how this influences foraging patterns, and how these are affected by land use patterns. Jones passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Fall 2018, but subsequently chose to finish her graduate studies with a MSc to pursue her interests in science writing, communication, and policy (she was selected to attend the 2020 AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) Workshop). Her thesis defense is planned for summer 2020. Briana Ezray (BSc, Willamette University) initiated her PhD studies in Entomology in August 2014, and received her PhD in August 2019. She was mentored by Heather Hines. Ezray's projects seek to understand the population dynamics of viruses in wild and managed pollinator populations. Ezray accepted a tenure track faculty position in the Penn State University Libraries.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Vaudo, A.D.; Tooker, J.F.; Patch, H.M.; Biddinger, D.J.; Coccia, M.; ?Crone, M.K.?; Fiely, M.; Francis, J.S.; Hines, H.M.; Hodges, M.; Jackson, S.W.; Michez, D.; Mu, J.; Russo, L.; Safari, M.; Treanore, E.D.; Vanderplanck, M.; Yip, E.; Leonard, A.S.; Grozinger, C.M. Pollen Protein: Lipid Macronutrient Ratios May Guide Broad Patterns of Bee Species Floral Preferences. ?Insects 2020, 11(2):132.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kilpatrick, S.K., J. Gibbs, M.M. Mikulas, S. Spichiger, N. Ostiguy, D.J. Biddinger, and M.M. L�pez-Uribe. In review (2020), Journal of Hymenoptera Research. An Updated Checklist of the Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Rozen, J.G. Jr., B.N. Danforth, C.S. Smith, B.L. Decker, N.N. Dorian, D. Dority, S.K. Kilpatrick, E. Krichilsky, A.N. Laws, and K.R. Urban-Mead. 2019. Early Nesting Biology of the Bee Caupolicana yarrowi (Cresson) (Colletidae: Diphaglossinae) and Its Cleptoparasite Triepeolus grandis (Friese) (Apidae: Nomadinae). American Museum Novitates. 3931:1-20. https://doi.org/10.1206/3931.1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ezray, B.D., D.C. Wham, C. Hill, and H.M. Hines. Unsupervised machine learning reveals mimicry complexes in bumble bees occur along a perceptual continuum. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B series, 286: 20191501, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1501.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ghisbain, G., Lozier, J.D., Rahman, S.R., Ezray, B.D., Tian, L., Ulmer, J.M., Heraghty, S., Strange, J.P., Rasmont, P., and H.M. Hines. 2020. Substantial genetic divergence and lack of recent gene flow support cryptic speciation in a color polymorphic bumble bee (Bombus bifarius) species complex. Systematic Entomology, https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12419


Progress 06/01/18 to 05/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience: Our efforts during this period focused on recruiting outstanding students representing diverse backgrounds, perspectives and scientific interests to the program. To accomplish this goal, we wrote an advertisement for the program which was sent to local, regional and national listservs related to pollinator biology and health, and advertised during seminar and conference presentations given by the PI and other members of the training faculty. We also aimed to specifically target members of underrepresented populations through the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Office of Multicultural Affairs, the USDA-funded "Plant friend or foe" program, which brings students from URM serving institutions to Penn State for summer research, and a similar USDA-funded "Bee-Inspired" program at Georgia Tech. A current URM graduate student who participated in the Georgia Tech program as an undergraduate visited to recruit students from the 2018 class to apply to our graduate program. A second target audience was the training faculty. Our training faculty was encouraged to develop multi-faculty, integrative projects in advance of the student recruitment period, to ensure that we were able to effectively match students with appropriate faculty. This process was very successful in terms of developing appropriate research projects and recruiting additional faculty to serve as co-mentors, along with the current coPIs. PI Grozinger also shared the proposal for developing this program with several additional faculty groups at Penn State, who were seeking to develop similar training programs. Finally, the students presented their work in a variety of venues (oral and poster presentations), including stakeholder and scientific conferences, and included acknowledgement of the USDA funded Integrative Pollinator Ecology training program in their presentations Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? All the current students in the training program enrolled in ENT 530: Colloquium in Integrative Pollinator Ecology, taught by PI Grozinger in Spring 2019. The students suggested and subsequently voted on which book to read for the semester. For 2019, the students read "Cognitive Ecology of Pollination: Animal Behaviour and Floral Evolution", by Lars Chittka and James Thompson. Each week, the class discussed one chapter from this book, and supplemented that with related research articles in the area of interest of the discussion leaders and course participants. In addition to the students, several faculty joined the discussions. The goal of this course was to gain a deeper understanding and broader perspective of plant-pollinator interactions, allow us to develop new and richer research directions, and create new collaborations among our participating research groups. In total, 9 students registered for the course. The first year students (Cibotti, McLaughlin, and Crone) also enrolled in ENT 522: Professional Development and Critical Thinking, taught by PI Grozinger, co-PI Patch, and Amsalem (a new member of the training faculty). The goal of this course is to help students begin to think strategically about graduate school (why are you here? what do you hope to gain from your time at Penn State? where do you want to go after and how do you get there?) and provide training in core skills needed for grad school and beyond (writing science for the public, writing effective grant proposals, evaluating scientific papers and grants, designing research studies, ethics in science, and strategies for outreach, education and extension). In total, 11 students registered for the course. As part of this course, the students are required to write articles about each other's research programs, which are subsequently posted on the Penn State Entomology and Center for Pollinator Research websites. The students also developed a proposal for the Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research Program. The students participated in the Great Insect Fair in September 2018, which is an annual science fair that engages the public in exploring the world of insects and their importance to humans, agricultural, and natural ecosystems. This is a valuable outreach opportunity for the students, where they can develop their own themed exhibits and activities. The students also explored their own interests in education, outreach and extension as well as professional development opportunities through individualized programs. Selected examples are provided below: -Fellows Kilpatrick and Jones organized a symposium at the 2019 Eastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America Annual meeting. -Fellow Ezray organized a four week short course for the Penn State Upward Bound program, which provided educational opportunities for high school students from underserved and underrepresented populations, and several other Fellows provided guest lectures in this course. -Cibotti developed exhibits for several outreach events offered by the Penn State Eberly College of Science (Haunted U, Eventapalooza), which were developed as part of the required for the ENT 497 course, Practicum of Public Engagement in Science , co-taught by coPI Lopez-Uribe. -McLaughlin and Cibotti are completing coursework to obtain a Graduate Certificate in Teaching from Penn State. -Several fellows have also presented their work at numerous stakeholder and scientific conferences (the 2018 Entomological Society of America annual meeting, the 2018 PA State Beekeepers Association Meeting, the 2018 Western PA State Beekeeper Meeting). -Several fellows have been awarded competitive funding for their research projects, including Kilpatrick (Sigma Xi, Apes Valentes Award) and Crone (North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Honey Bee Health Program). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about the training program and the research, education, extension efforts of the Fellows have been disseminated to the scientific research community, stakeholder groups, and the public, through presentations at scientific conferences and stakeholder meetings, educational activities at science fairs or targeted efforts (such as the Upward Bound Program), and through online media (articles posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website). Specific activities are highlighted in the section above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To provide additional training in science writing for the public, each Fellow is asked to write one article per year to be posted on the Center for Pollinator Research website. To better coordinate this process, in 2019 we began encouraging Fellows to write articles about events and activities held by the Center for Pollinator Research. This seems to be a successful approach and will be continued in the future. Each Fellow is also asked to develop an independent program for outreach and education, which is related to their research interests. We have formalized this process by developing collaborations with individuals in the College of Education and Center for Science and the Schools. Fellows will be encouraged to contribute to (1) the STEM Pillars Program, which designs science-based activities for rural museums and libraries. In Spring 2019, Fellow Crone developed a program on pollinators that has been tested and refined with audiences at the Shaver's Creek Environmental Center and the Tyrone PA library. (2) the Authentic Plant-Pollinator Landscape Ecology Research for Educators Program (APPL-RED), which is funded by a USDA-PD-STEP grant. This program is a collaboration between the Center for Pollinator Research and the Center for Science and the Schools, and offers a week-long short course, individualized mentoring and financial support to help grade 4-12 teachers incorporated information on and research related to pollinators in their classrooms. As part of this program, Fellow Kilpatrick developed materials for pollinator field identification, while Fellow Jones developed a lesson plan for evaluating the pollen foraging preferences of field-caught insects using pollen identification approaches.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Students have been recruited to the Integrative Pollinator Ecology Graduate Training program from four different graduate programs at Penn State (Entomology, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Ecology, and Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences). Three students are supported by the funds provided from the USDA-NIFA-NNF grant, two students are supported by funding from an NSF Graduate Training Fellowship and Penn State, and four students were partially supported by Penn State. Seven of the nine students are female, two are members of a URM group, and sixare the first in their immediate families to attend graduate/professional school. We have expanded the training faculty on the grant to include additional advisors (Ruud Schilder, Etya Amsalem, Jared Ali, Kelli Hoover, Istvan Albert) to allow the student maximal flexibility in developing their research questions and training opportunities. Fellows recruited for 2018 Fall entering class: Staci Cibotti. BSc Humbolt State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by John Tooker, Jared Ali, Ruud Schilder. Cibotti's project focuses on how secondary plant compounds and neonicotinoid contamination in milkweed plants impacts monarch development and adult behavior. Rachel McLaughlin. BSc Ohio State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Kelli Hoover and Christina Grozinger. McLaughlin's project focuses on identifying the key pollinators of black cherry (an economically valuable timber crop in the Appalachian region) and investigate the causes of pollination deficits reported by stakeholders. Makaylee Crone. BSc Texas A&M. PhD candidate in the Ecology program. Co-mentored by Christina Grozinger and David Biddinger. The aim of Crone's project is to understand how nutrition influences responses to pesticides in honey bees and Osmia bees, with an aim to identify factors that can improve the resilience of bees to pesticide exposure. Crone was originally offered a fellowship from this program, but was subsequently awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Bunton-Waller Fellowship, and a Huck Top-up Award, and thus has funding for 5 years. Crone successfully passed her PhD Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019. Fellows recruited for the 2019 Fall entering class. Katherine Barie. BSc Lawrence University, Wisconsin. PhD candidate in the Entomology program. Co-mentored by Ruud Schilder and Etya Amsalem. Barie will investigate the impacts and underlying mechanisms of carbon dioxide narcosis (which is commonly used in commercial breeding operations) in bumble bees. Sean Bresnahan. BSc University of Nebraska. PhD candidate in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences Program. Co-mentored by Grozinger and Istvan Albert. Bresnahan will investigate the epigenetic factors influencing reproductive physiology and behavior in honey bees. Bresnahan was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Penn State University Fellowship, as well as support from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and thus will participate in the IPE program but will be funded from other sources. Fellows recruited in Fall 2017. These fellows were supported by the Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Strategic Network Initiative Program and the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and thus participate in the IPE Graduate Training Program but are supported by other sources. Chauncy Hinshaw (BSc Colorado State University) is a PhD candidate in Plant Pathology and Microbiology, co-mentored by Cristina Rosa and Margarita Lopez-Uribe. Hinshaw's project seeks to characterize viruses that are found in both plants and pollinators. Hinshaw passed his Qualifying Exam in Spring 2019. Shelby Kilpatrick (BSc Texas A&M) is a PhD student in Entomology, co-mentored by Margarita Lopez-Uribe and Heather Hines. Kilpatrick's project is to understand how agriculture has driven the spread of pollinators outside of their native ranges. Kilpatrick will complete her Qualifying Exam in August 2019. Tyler Jones (BSc Georgia Tech) is a PhD candidate in Entomology, who initiated her studies in August 2016. She is mentored by Christina Grozinger. Jones' project seeks to understand the nutritional ecology of honey bees, and how this influences foraging patterns, and how these are affected by land use patterns. Briana Ezray (BSc, Willamette University) initiated her PhD studies in Entomology in August 2014, and received her PhD in August 2019. She was mentored by Heather Hines. Ezray's projects seeks to understand the population dynamics of viruses in wild and managed pollinator populations. Ezray accepted a tenure track faculty position in the Penn State University Libraries.

Publications


    Progress 06/01/17 to 05/31/18

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Our efforts during this period focused on recruiting outstanding students representing diverse background, perspectives and scientific interests to the program. To accomplish this goal, we wrote a press release on the program which was sent through the Penn State news service, sent to local, regional and national listservs related to pollinator biology and health, and advertised during seminar and conference presentationsgiven by thePI and other membersof the training faculty. We also aimed to specifically target members of underrepresented populations through the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Office of Multicultural Affairs, the USDA-funded "Plant friend or foe" program, which brings students from URM serving institutions to Penn State for sumemr research, and a similar USDA-funded "Bee-Inspired" program at Georgia Tech. A current URM graduate student who participated in the Georgia Tech program as an undergraduate visited to recruit students from the 2017 class to apply to our graduate program. Our other target audience was the training faculty. Our training faculty was encouraged to develop multi-faculty, integrativeprojects in advance of the student recruitment period, to ensure that we were able to effectively match students with appropriate faculty. This process was very successful in terms of developing appropriate research projects and recruiting additional faculty to serve as co-mentors, along with the current coPIs. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All the current students in the training program enrolled in ENT 530: Parasites, Pathogens, and Pollinators, taught by PI Grozinger. In this course, the students read"Evolutionary Parasitology: The Integrated Study of Infections, Immunology, Ecology and Genetics", by Paul Schmid-Hempel. Each week the class discussed one chapter from this book, and supplemented that with a related research articles in the area of interest of the discussion leaders and course participants. In addition to the students, several faculty and postdoctoral fellows joined the discussions. The goal of this course was to gain a deeper understanding and broader perspective of host-parasite interactions, allow us to develop new and richer research directions, and create new collaborations among our participating research groups. In total, 11 students registered for the course. The first year students (Hinshaw and Kilpatrick) also enrolled in ENT 522: Professional Development and Critical Thinking, taught by PI Grozinger, co-PI Patch, and a third instructor. The goal of this course is to help students begin to think strategically about graduate school (why are you here? what do you hope to gain from your time at Penn State? where do you want to go after and how do you get there?) and provide training in core skills needed for grad school and beyond (writing science for the public, writing effective grant proposals, evaluating scientific papers and grants, designing research studies, ethics in science, and strategies for outreach, education and extension). In total, 12 students registered for the course. Additionally, the students participated in the Great Insect Fair, organized by co-PI Margarita Lopez-Uribe, which is an annual science fair that engages the public in exploring the world of insects and their importance to humans, agricutural, and natural ecosystems. This is a valuable outreach opportunity for the students, where they can develop their own themed exhibits and activities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The students had the opportunity to present their research at national conferences, our annual Penn State Center for Pollinator Research symposium (which included individuals from Cornell University and our stakeholder advisory board), K-12 groups, and to stakeholder groups throughout the state. The conferences included the Entomological Society of America meeting in Colorado, the PA State Beekeepers Association meeting, the Western Pennsylvania Beekeeper Meeting, and the Central County Beekeeper Association. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will encourage the students to further develop their independent research, outreach and educational programs. We will recruit two additional students for 2019, one with funding from this USDA grant and another with funding from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. coPI Hines and Fellow Ezray are also developing a course for the Penn State Upward Bound Program, which will teach high school students from underrepresented and underserved communities about the importance of pollinators and provide basic training and exposure to scientific research.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? We have recruited two female PhD students to the program, as well as a third female URM PhD student who will be supported by other funds. Information on the students is below. Staci Cibotti. BSc Humbolt State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program.Co-mentored by John Tooker, Jared Ali, Ruud Schilder. Cibotti's project will focus on how secondary plant compounds and neonicotinoid contaminationin milkweed plants impacts monarch development and adult behavior. Rachel McLaughlin. BSc Ohio State University. PhD candidate in the Entomology program.Co-mentored by Kelli Hoover and Christina Grozinger. McLaughlin's project will focus on identifying the key pollinators of black cherry (a economically valuable timber crop in the Appalachian region) and investigate the causes of pollination deficits reported by stakeholders. Makaylee Crone. BSc Texas A&M. PhD candidate in the Ecology program. Co-mentored by Christina Grozinger and David Biddinger. The aim of Crone's project is to develop a predictive framework or adverse outcome pathways to better inform integrated pest and pollinator management programs in small fruit and tree fruit crops. Crone was originally offered a fellowship from this program, but was subsequently awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Bunton-Waller Fellowship, and a Huck Top-up Award, and thus has funding for 5 years. In addition to these fellows, we obtained funding from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to support two additional fellows for two years. Chauncy Hinshaw (BSc Colorado State University) is a PhD candidate in Plant Pathology and Microbiology, co-mentored by Cristina Rosa and Margarita Lopez-Uribe. Hinshaw's project seeks to characterize viruses that are found in both plants and pollinators. He initiated his studies in August 2017. Shelby Kilpatrick (BSc Texas A&M) is a PhD candidate in Entomology, co-mentored by Margarita-Lopez-Uribe and Heather Hines. Kilpatrick's project is to understand how agriculture has driven the spread of pollinators outside of their native ranges. She initiated her studies in August 2017. Finally, we obtained funding from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to support two additional fellows for one year. Tyler Jones (BSc Georgia Tech) is a PhD candidate in Entomology, mentored by Christina Grozinger. Jones' project seeks to understand how land use patterns drive nutritional resources and exposure to pesticides in honey bee colonies, and determine if colony productivity and health can be predicted from indices of landscape quality. Jones is a URM student. Briana Ezray (BSc, Willamette University) is a PhD candidate in Entomology, mentored by Heather Hines. Ezray's projects seeks to understand the population dynamics of viruses in wild and managed pollinator populations.

    Publications