Penn State Entomologists Appointed to National Committee on Pollinator Research

Two entomologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have been appointed to serve on a new U.S. Department of Agriculture subcommittee on pollinators.

Margarita López-Uribe, Lorenzo L. Langstroth Early Career Professor and associate professor of entomology, and Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research, were among nine members from across the country selected for the committee.

As members of the subcommittee, they will advise the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board on pollinator research priorities. The board advises the secretary of agriculture and land-grant colleges and universities on top priorities and policies for food and agricultural research, education, extension and economics.

The appointments acknowledge the scientists’ significant impact on pollinator research, noted Blair Siegfried, associate dean for research and graduate education and director of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station.

“We are proud that Margarita López-Uribe and Christina Grozinger have been appointed to this esteemed national committee,” he said. “This achievement is a resounding testament to their steadfast dedication to research excellence and shines a spotlight on the unparalleled expertise of these world-renowned scientists. Their unwavering resolve reinforces our college’s commitment to advancing pollinator well-being globally.”

As an evolutionary ecologist, López-Uribe is broadly interested in understanding how the evolutionary history of pollinators plays a role in their ecology and persistence in the face of environmental change. Her studies have demonstrated the adaptive processes of bee pollinators to agriculture and how the interaction of pathogens and thermal stress affect pollinator health. She co-leads the most extensive research program on organic beekeeping management in the United States.

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