Bug Talk

On this week's episode, co-hosts Jen, Natalie, and Ariana chatted with Dr. Meg Lowman ("Canopy Meg"). Dr. Lowman is a conservation biologist, educator, ecologist, writer, explorer, and public speaker. Her expertise involves canopy ecology, canopy plant-insect relationships, and constructing canopy walkways. We chatted about what it's like being a woman in science, her global travels, science communication, and her new book!

Learn more about Meg's conservation work here: https://canopymeg.com/ or follow her on twitter @canopymeg

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Ariana and Zsofia talked with Jackie Perkins about fieldwork safety guidelines and how we approach field work this upcoming field season. Jackie developed a document that contains best practices on traveling to and working at field sites while doing research. It is designed to provide information for existing employees and their supervisors, and new employees that may not have much experience working in remote locations. The document provides useful information on preparing for fieldwork, traveling, and emergencies. It includes a section on Safe Fieldwork For All, informed by the recent Demery & Pipkin article. You can follow Jackie on Instagram @msuberrybugs and follow the Isaacs Lab on Twitter @IsaacsLab.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Bug Talk is 1-year-old, so our podcast team celebrated with answering listener submitted questions. If you are interested in seeing photos of our pets, head over to our Instagram account.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Dr. Sheila Colla is an assistant professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her lab focuses on researching native pollinators, especially bumble bees. In this episode, Sheila talked about her undergrad research experiences that led her to study bumble bees, and the  people who influenced her most in her career. We also talked about pollinator conservation more broadly, the advantages of working in an interdisciplinary department, funding for research in Canada, and community science programs. You can find Sheila on her lab's website, on Instagram @findingflowersmedia and on Twitter @SaveWildBees.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode, Andrea and Zsofia talked with Carlos Blanco, research entomologist at the USDA-APHIS. Carlos told us about how he got interested in agriculture, moving from Mexico to the U.S. to get a graduate education and being in an ecology graduate program balancing his interests in applied research and the department's focus on basic research. He told us about his experiences working in extension and industry, in Mexico and in the U.S. He shared with us some important tips about applying for USDA jobs, in particular he gave some pointers for how to prepare job application materials if you are interested in government research jobs. If you have specific questions about this, please email Carlos ([email protected]).

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

On this episode, Jen and Ariana chatted with Dr. Julie Lesnik, an associate professor of Anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit. She studies the evolution of humans eating insects and has even wrote a book on it called Edible Insects and Human Evolution. We chatted about how humans evolved to eat insects, her time studying chimpanzees in Africa, and she gave some advice to graduate students in STEM. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @JulieLesnik. To watch this episode on YouTube with closed captioning, click here.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this podcast Jen and Zsofia talked to Rebecca Tonietto, assistant professor of biology at the University of Michigan-Flint. Rebecca is a pollination ecologist, who got her start with Ann Fraser's entomology course at Kalamazoo College. She then worked with Rachael Winfree as a research assistant on  melon pollination in New Jersey where her interest in pollinators began. She is a native of Michigan and has found her way back to the Flint area after going to graduate school at Northwestern University where she worked - among other things - on pollinators on roof gardens. Rebecca gave some really nice examples from her life of how following your gut and staying open to opportunities can land you in the 'right' place. Follow Rebecca on Twitter @beckytonietto.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode Jen, Olivia, Andrea and Zsofia chatted with MSU alumna, Jaree Johnson. She is a medical-veterinary entomologist in the military and she talked to us about growing up in Indiana, getting into entomology, working in industry, getting an M.S. from the MSU Entomology Department and then going to work in the military. She also chatted about what her life is like living in different countries, her love for travel and food, and hobbies. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @AllIKnowAreBugs. To watch this conversation on YouTube, click here.
Here is a link to a previous conversation with Jaree on YouTube.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Kayleigh, Natalie, Ariana, Zsofia welcomed Dr. Olivia Cope to the department, she is a new postdoc in the Wetzel Lab. Olivia will also be joining our podcast team as a co-host, so keep an eye out for new episodes with her. Olivia told us about her life growing up in Seattle, doing her undergrad at Berkley and getting a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin with Rick Lindroth. She shared with us her passion for biking. Olivia moved to East Lansing in the fall of 2020 and she is eagerly looking forward to making new acquaintances in the department in person in the near future. Olivia is found on Twitter @ocopeo.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode Ali and Zsofia chatted with Yolanda Chen, an associate professor at the University of Vermont. Yolanda shared with us how she got interested in evolutionary biology, her experience working at the International Rice Institute in the Philippines and talked to us about having kids while establishing her career as an assistant professor. We also discussed differences between working at a smaller, teaching focused institution such as UVT and larger universities like MSU. Follow Yolanda on Instagram @insectagroeco and on Twitter @Yolanda_H_Chen.

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!