National Pollinator Week in the Biggest Little Pollinator Garden

We had a soft open for the UNR Pollinator Garden this week, as part of our celebration of National Pollinator week (earlier, Jake Francis gave a public lecture at Urban Roots).

The effort was coordinated by US FWS rep. Sarah Kulpa, and went off without a hitch! We had honey tasting, face painting, bee costumes, lemonade, free plants and seeds from the US FWS office, the NV Native Plant Society, and live bugs from NV Bugs and Butterflies. Although it was pretty hot out, we stayed cool with a live bumblebee colony under a shade tree, and showed off some of the UNR Natural History Museum's bee and butterfly collections.

We counted about 185 visitors to the "live bees!" table. What a great day!!

Daugherty Bee Rodeo

This summer, our lab is hosting the inaugural Daugherty Fellows, a group of education students who will be spending time in the lab and shadowing Jake Francis  in the field. This program is intended to enhance the scientific exposure of future Biology teachers in N. Nevada, and is funded by the Daugherty Foundation. We had our first field foray a few weeks ago, and I think these pictures capture the fun we had.

This program is being run by Sierra Nevada Journeys-- read more about it through their blog entry.

A Better Nectar

Brian Forrest, courtesy of University Art Museum, California State University Long Beach

"A Better Nectar" art exhibit by Jessica Rath is also now open at the Cal State Long Breach Art Museum. Our lab has had a lot of fun consulting with Jessica on this amazing project, and we can't wait to check it out when we head down for a panel discussion on March 26th. A major theme is the disconnect between different sensory worlds, and how we attempt to study communication between bees and flowers. We can't wait to "shrink down" and explore the nest! Here's a press release and a nice write up of the work.

March Update: We had a fabulous time traveling down to the show, and participating in a panel discussion. The exhibit is getting some even broader press, via LA Weekly.

A campus reporter, Helen Zhao, also produced a great short about the show.

If you build it, they will come: UNR Pollinator Garden

This spring, we've been involved in creating the UNR Pollinator Garden in the FA Courtyard. This exciting project is in concert with the US FWS office's "Schoolyard Habitats" program, the UNR Museum of Natural History, and the UNR Arboretum.

Follow our progress at my blog, https://biggestlittlepollinatorgarden.wordpress.com/
 

Oakland Museum Exhibit

An exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California, Bees: Tiny Insect, Big Impact is now  up and running through Sept. 2015! I can't wait to check it out on my next trip. The exhibit features videos of our NSF-funded work on buzz pollination.

National Pollinator Week: NV Bugs and Butterflies

At the NV Bugs and Butterflies butterfly house and garden, we helped visitors hunt for native pollinators, and began a photo record for a Bee ID guide

National Pollinator Week at Discovery Museum

As part of our inaugural celebration of NPW in Nevada, We exhibited a live colony at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum, with Nevada Bugs and Butterflies.

National Pollinator Week!

The lab has excitedly partnered with Nevada Bugs and Butterflies, the Nevada Museum of Natural History, and the Great Basin Community Food Co-op to host a series of events for National Pollinator Week. We believe these to be the first events held to celebrate NPW in Nevada! We plan to grow bigger and better each year, so stay tuned.

"An Evening to Celebrate Pollinators" at the Co-Op, June 20th 2014. Graduate student Jacob Francis presented a brief (18 min) overview of the challenges faced by native pollinators, followed by an in-depth Q&A with local beekeepers, Leonard lab members, and the general public.

Early outreach

University of California, Davis, 2008-2011

I organized a graduate student science outreach group, “Watch It, Don’t Squash It" that visited an after-school program for at-risk youth in Sacramento as well as local Davis schools.

Outreach: Glory days

University of Arizona, 2008-2011

An article highlights the PERT postdoctoral fellowship program's partnership with Pima Community College
 

 I organized a workshop for the day-long “Expanding Your Horizons” conference held for middle- and high-school girls through the University of Arizona WiSE program and was interviewed about it.Rainee Kaczorowski, Ben Blonder, Jenny Jandt and I ran a hands-on extravaganza entitled "The Not-So-Secret Life of Bees: Careers in Animal Behavior”.