Distinguished Professor of Entomology Jay Rosenheim noticed a trend during his office hours a few years ago: Many of his undergraduate students wanted research lab experience but were unsure how to get started. Alongside colleagues Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu, they collectively decided to try something different in 2011.
鈥淥ur basic idea was to get students into the labs really early in their undergraduate programs,鈥 Rosenheim recalled. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole new set of skills that are very different from what students are typically working on in their formal coursework.鈥
The , colloquially known as Insect Scholars, aims to provide undergraduates with closely mentored research experience in biology. The program offers 10 to 12 academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates, including third-year transfer students, multiyear research experience that cultivates students鈥 skills for careers in biological research.
Applications open to enrolled students every January. Scholars are asked to dedicate a minimum of 10 hours weekly to the program. The program鈥檚 website notes that insects provide 鈥渕odel systems to explore virtually any area of biology,鈥 creating potential research opportunities 鈥渁cross the full sweep of biology.鈥 This year marks the 12th Insect Scholars cohort with over 110 students completing the program.
Rosenheim emphasized how time is of the essence during a student鈥檚 initial attempts at lab work.
鈥淭here may be two full years where they鈥檙e just learning different methods,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hese hands-on research skills have to be acquired now, and you can鈥檛 do it overnight.鈥
Studying the monarch butterfly and climate change
P.J. Singh is a third-year biology major, loves monarchs and plays trombone in the 69成人 jazz ensembles. After an introductory biology class his first year, Singh received a department email newsletter about the Insect Scholars 鈥渁nd it just clicked with my interest.鈥
鈥淚 really like doing things hands-on,鈥 he explained, 鈥渁nd applying what I learn.鈥
Singh is currently working with Louie Yang studying ecology, climate change and monarch butterflies. He estimates he spends 60% to 70% of his field research time outdoors at the Pollinator Study Garden at the working in a lab with undergraduate and graduate students during spring and summer quarters.
Singh monitors milkweed growths and greenhouse-grown caterpillar eggs used to rear monarchs used in the lab. He takes the caterpillars to the to observe 鈥渢heir behaviors that they exhibit when they get scared and they drop off plants,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e look at climate change and how global warming impacts the species and their behavior,鈥 he explained, with his project analyzing optimal temperatures for rearing caterpillars and survivability as it gets hotter.
Singh鈥檚 fall and winter quarters are predominately dedicated to lab and data analysis. He described the research lab onboarding as 鈥渁 hurdle that you need to overcome鈥 filled with an overwhelming number of steps and processes.
![Student investigates a plant](/sites/default/files/media/images/Singh-insect-scholars.jpg)
鈥淚 was struggling with just reading one paper a week. With the right mentorship, it makes it easier 鈥 where to start, how to read a paper, how to look at graphs, figures, and slowly develop your own ideas and projects,鈥 Singh said. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 a lot more doable.鈥
Weekly meetings within each lab allowed students, postdocs and lab leaders to present their current projects and research papers, giving undergraduate scholars examples to help sharpen their own lens in the lab. Students are also mentored in grant writing, with several publishing research papers before they graduate, and finding funding for their projects.
鈥淥ne of the things that we talk about the most,鈥 Rosenheim said, 鈥渋s 鈥榟ow do you choose a question? What鈥檚 a good question to choose and how do you choose among questions that occur to you?鈥欌
Singh鈥檚 work with butterflies 鈥減uts into perspective how all species are important and play a role in ecology,鈥 he said. 鈥淣o one species carries an environment.鈥
Singh is still debating graduate or medical school, but his experience with the Insect Scholars program confirmed his interest in fields requiring research and critical thinking.
Documenting California鈥檚 insect life
Kaitai Liu is a third-year entomology major whose interest in insects began as a child in Beijing.
鈥淢y grandfather took care of me when I was really young,鈥 Liu said, 鈥渁nd he would catch some grasshoppers for me to play with.鈥
In high school, Liu participated in the China National Biology Olympiad, a part of the International Biology Olympiad, for secondary students in grades 10 and 11. There, he realized, 鈥淚 really like systematics and taxonomy.鈥 He decided to pursue entomology.
Though he was accepted into a university in China, he chose 69成人 for its entomology department and moved to Davis sight unseen.
![Student at computer](/sites/default/files/media/images/Insect-Scholar-Kaitai-2.jpg)
Liu is now completing his second year as a scholar in Jason Bond鈥檚 lab, which focuses on the 鈥渟ystematics of spiders鈥 and a project about the reproductive structures of millipedes. Bond鈥檚 lab matches Liu鈥檚 passion 鈥 using systematics and taxonomy to describe and define new species 鈥 as well as studying the evolution of spiders and millipedes.
Liu is contributing to the California Insect Barcode Initiative, part of Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 executive order around climate change. The state-funded project鈥檚 goal is to document all the insect life throughout California. Students like Liu send images and specific insect specimens to the California Academy of Sciences where their DNA is extracted and sequenced. 鈥淲e can have both the image and their genetic data,鈥 Liu said.
Liu described his lab schedule as flexible, allowing him to balance weekly hourly commitments and academic priorities like midterms or finals. He continues his work in Bond鈥檚 lab and the university鈥檚 Bohart Museum of Entomology.
鈥淚 got a chance to meet with a lot of entomologists and talk to them about their projects,鈥 Liu said, 鈥渁nd get some inspiration from their experience.鈥
Conducting monarch butterfly conservation research
Ian Jett is a third-year entomology major from Carlsbad, California. He joined Yang鈥檚 lab the spring quarter of his freshman year.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been an outdoorsy person,鈥 Jett said, 鈥渂ut I've never really pursued biology until I got to Davis.鈥
Originally on a pre-med academic track, Jett changed course after seeing a departmental email advertising the Insect Scholars.
鈥淚 read through the program, and I just jumped on it,鈥 Jett said. 鈥淚 thought it would be a good opportunity to start getting hands-on lab experience.鈥
![Ian Jett](/sites/default/files/media/images/Jett-inset.jpg)
Jett assists Yang鈥檚 lab with monarch conservation, helping to rear monarch caterpillars in the greenhouses for future controlled experiments and observation. The caterpillars鈥 food levels and lifecycle stage were also recorded daily. Jett also ensures their optimal temperatures, including a particular caterpillar who required 鈥渇our different fridges at different stages in their life.鈥
Jett鈥檚 first self-designed project took place at the Pollinator Study Garden, where multiple labs use at least 15 plots, or wards, for research. Within these plots, Jett explained, were different species of milkweed that attracted honeybees eager to collect nectar and pollen.
But there was a literal catch.
鈥淗oneybees tend to get stuck in the flowers due to the flower anatomy; they can鈥檛 get out and end up dying on the plant,鈥 Jett said. 鈥淚 was looking at what the effects of dead honeybees on the milkweed flowers had on other pollinators, to see if they would avoid the flowers or not, or how other honeybees would react behaviorally.鈥
Jett would visit the wards multiple times a week and prepare pairs of plants, ones that did not have a dead honeybee and ones where Jett planted a carcass himself.
鈥淚 would take 10-minute videos of the plants to see if the frequency of other honeybees visiting the plant was changed based on the presence of the dead honeybee and the effect the carcass had on other insects.鈥
Jett collected over 20 hours of footage, noting the number of honeybees who visited and other insects present. Describing this initial experiment as 鈥渟urface level,鈥 Jett identified additional layers to study more in depth this summer, including insect-plant relationships, social systems and impact of pollinators.
鈥淵ou have to take initiative because it鈥檚 like an independent kind of program,鈥 Jett explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 on you as the student to reach out and ask people in your lab for help.鈥
After meeting faculty and other students, Jett changed his major to entomology and is considering grad school. He plans to stay in Yang鈥檚 lab and then pursue conservation work with organizations like the National Park Service and continue research into the biological control of invasive species.
鈥淢y career should be something that I鈥檓 happy doing, something that would allow me to be more outdoors in my career,鈥 he said. 鈥淚nteracting with the environment and getting involved in conservation resonated with me.鈥
![A bearded person holds two walking sticks atop each other on the back of their hand.](/sites/default/files/media/images/walking-stick-bug-entomology-majors-blog-uc-davis.jpg)
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