It is hard to believe that the Kansman lab has been in action for a year!
Fig. 1: Overlooking Bozeman, MT near the summit of Sacajawea Peak
After an incredible 3 year postdoc in the Hermann lab, we packed up and moved to beautiful Bozeman MT.
I started by taking stock of items in the lab and the great cleaning process began. The first lab purchase with my startup was from Harbor Freight – a toolbox, some tools, and rainbow zip ties. We inherited a 4-arm olfactometer, and the first big lab purchase was our very own electrical penetration graph and the most well-constructed faraday cage you ever did see (courtesy of Aidan Hunter).
Fig. 2: The lab, the olfactometer, and the engineer with his faraday cage.
Within 4 weeks of moving to Bozeman, Abby Noel (familiar face from the Hermann lab) stopped by for a recruitment visit! Even seeing the place in boxes didn’t scare her away from wanting to start a MS degree the following summer. Fall semester was pretty lonely – mostly me writing, prepping to teach, doing outreach, eating string cheese (IYKYK), recruiting students, and watching this horse class that happens outside of my office window. At least the seasons in Bozeman are very beautiful.
Fig. 3: Abby and Champ, horse class, the view of the Bridger range from my office.
At the start of 2024, Kaelin Smith joined the lab as a MS student, co-advised by Dr. Tiziana Oppedisano – another new entomology faculty member based at a research station in Conrad, MT. Kaelin, Abby, and I all met for a book club to read “How to Do Ecology” by Rick Karban on Zoom during the spring, and Kaelin and I presented on Integrated Pest Management and Insect Ecology at the Gallatin Gardener’s Club. Kaelin also received a scholarship from the Montana Grain Growers Association to help fund her travel to the Entomology Meeting in November to present the results of her summer research on wheat stem sawfly and wireworm management that she is wrapping up with Tiziana as we speak. What a killer start to a graduate degree!
Fig. 4: Kaelin Smith, Kaelin and I showing off bugs at the Gallatin Gardener's club, Kaelin planting for the summer projects.
Karli Gowen (Freshman Undergraduate) joined the lab early in the spring to help wrangle the bugs as I began my first semester teaching. This allowed us to trial some experiments and test out our new clip cages. It has been a huge help having her in the lab, and I’m so excited she is planning to return in the fall. Perry Watkins completed his entomology minor research project in the lab, where we both learned how to propagate seed potatoes using tissue culture and Perry completed an experiment on aphid preference for different seed potato varieties. This was a great experience for the lab, as incoming graduate student Natalie Brennan will begin working in this system for her PhD!
Fig. 5: Karli Gowen, clip cages set up for an experiment, end of semester pilgrimage to Taco Montes featuring random dog (Jess, Kaelin, Karli, Perry), Perry pipetting.
I was called in as a panelist on Montana Ag Live, a live PBS show where viewers can call in their questions to a panel of experts. I also helped with a Plant Sciences Graduate Student XC ski trip, and coordinated a trip to Yellowstone for undergraduate students. I was also fortunate to attend a meta-analysis working group meeting at Denison University in Ohio, which included a much needed reunion with Hermann lab PI – Sara, and finished out a great semester teaching my first new prep class, Insects and Human Society.
Fig. 6: Meta-analysis group with Mahendra looming in the background, XC ski trip (I'm on the ground), Montana Ag Live, my final slide of the semester.
At the start of Summer 2024, the lab began to grow again as Ayax Del Valle Sanchez transitioned to the lab as a MS student, and Dr. Erika Rodbell joined our department as the Interim Entomology Extension Specialist, where I am serving as a research/entomology content mentor for her. Abby also moved to Montana to officially start her MS in June, with her first year supported in part by University mini-grant that I received for her work on how plant water stress affects parasitoid-host interactions.
Fig. 7: Erika Rodbell and Ayax Del Valle Sanchez, the first lab dinner to celebrate Abby's birthday (Abby, Jess, Erika, Ayax).
In July, the lab drove up to Conrad, MT to support Kaelin Smith presenting on her project during the Research Center Field Day (Hosted and organized by Tiziana), and rented a Forest Service Cabin in the Rocky Mountains south of Glacier National Park.
Fig. 8: The lab and the cabin (Kaelin, Abby, Jess, Erika, Ayax), Kaelin and a friend, Kaelin and Tiziana presenting at the field day, candid shot of Abby and Kaelin shucking corn while Ayax watches Erika use a hatchet.
As we wrap the summer, Abby and Ayax are conducting their first experiments in the lab, we anticipate the return of Kaelin from the research center after her first field season and Karli from her summer at home, and look forward to Natalie Brennan joining the group for the fall! See you next year!
Fig. 9: Abby sexing wasps and taking water potential, Ayax and Jess evaluating his first experiment in the lab.