With the 2024 field season on the horizon, the Guédot Lab went to recruit undergraduate summer interns at the CEE Job Fair for Undergraduates sponsored by the Center for Ecology and Environment. From 10-2 on February 27 the lab manned a booth in the atrium of Birge Hall. Our graduate students Emilie Parkanzky, Fatma Besbes, and Elizabeth Hrycyna switched off at our booth as they juggled meetings, classes, and other work. They chatted with students about the research projects and positions the lab is offering and passed out lots of fliers. The day started slowly but by the end we met a lot of amazing students! 

The first position the lab has open is for two undergraduates to assist Emilie, Fatma, and Elizabeth with their theses projects over the summer. Emilie will be running field trials of an attract-and-kill method for reducing Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) in vineyards, Fatma will be continuing a second field season examining the potential for social wasps to vector grape pathogens in vineyards, and Elizabeth will be testing how different species of roundworms (Nematoda) are effective at controlling populations of the pest the red-headed flea beetle (Systena frontalis) in cranberry marshes. Our undergraduates will help on all three projects including travel, experimental setup, data entry, field sample collection, and lab work, and will get to learn many different skills and protocols. This is a great opportunity to learn about multiple areas of integrated pest management and how to work in small teams. This position is still accepting applications until March 8 – search for the Guédot lab on the student job board. 

Our second position is for a single undergraduate student to work independently, directly supervised by Christelle Guédot, on a project requested by one of the lab’s collaborators examining the distribution of virus-infected larvae of moths in apple orchards. The student will collect and process larvae in apples from Wisconsin orchards to be sent out for virus testing. We are looking for a student who feels confident taking on more responsibility to accomplish data collection by themselves. This position is not yet accepting applications but will be opening soon. 

We are already receiving many great applications and we are looking forward to another great field season!  

 

This article was posted in Conferences & Outreach, Opportunity for Undergraduate Students.