Team

Elise Grossman joined the Forest Entomology Research Group in March 2023 as a research associate to coordinate research efforts and manage the day-to-day in the lab. While her primary responsibility is to lead the Southern Pine Beetle counts for the state of Louisiana, Elise manages and contributes to data collection for a number of projects in the lab involving the chemical ecology and natural enemies of wood borers. Currently, Elise is in the process of applying to graduate schools in ecology.

Lake Forest College, B.A. in Biology, B.A Psychology 2020

Andrew Sanford joined the Forest Entomology Research Group as a Masters Student in April 2023 to lead a field study assessing the biodiversity of arthropods in three species of ash ahead of the emerald ash borer invasion in southeastern Louisiana. Outcomes from Andrew’s research will build fundamental knowledge about the insects and other arthropods that occur in bottomland hardwood ecosystems, as well as contribute to the development of management plans to prioritize the protection of ash and their arthropod associates. After finishing his degree, Andrew hopes to pursue a career in environmental education.

Mississippi State University, B.S. in Biology with a minors in Entomology and Japanese, 2022

Vanshika Jindal joined the Forest Entomology Research Group as a Masters Student in August 2023. Her thesis is focused on understanding how insect physiology and environmental variation impact host-location behaviors of two biological control agents of the emerald ash borer. Outcomes from Vanshika’s research will further our understanding of the behavioral and chemical ecology of parasitoid wasps, as well as highlight factors that may impact the success of the ongoing classical biological program against the emerald ash borer in North America. After completing her degree, Vanshika hopes to continue her graduate education by pursuing a doctorate in the field of agroecology.

Punjab Agricultural University, B.S. in Agriculture, 2022

Chiranjivi Sharma joined the Forest Entomology Research Group as a Masters Student in August 2023. His thesis work is focused on understanding how host-selection impacts reproductive traits within two species of polyphagous longhorned beetles. This work will further our understanding of bottom-up effects on wood boring insects and will provide insight into the factors regulating population dynamics of this ecologically and economically important group of insects. Beyond his thesis, Chiranjivi is the resident expert on longhorned beetle taxonomy and has contributed to a number of projects involving the identification of longhorned beetles in the laboratory. After completing his degree, Chiranjivi hopes to continue in our research group as a doctoral student studying how bottom-up effects and host-plant chemistry alter ecological outcomes for longhorned beetles.

Agriculture and Forestry University, B.S. in Agriculture, 2021

Daniel Debutts joined the Forest Entomology Research Group as a field and laboratory technician in January 2023. As the first hire in the group, Daniel has not only contributed a significant effort to cleaning and organizing our research spaces, but has also assisted in the development of nearly all of our ongoing projects in the lab. In the Spring of 2024, Daniel received two undergraduate research grants from the LSU College of Agriculture to investigate how soil variation impacts functional traits and volatile production in loblolly and longleaf pine under typical and drought conditions. After finishing his degree, Daniel plans on continuing working in the group as a technician studying how environmental variation alters tree attractiveness to beneficial and pestiferous insects.

Louisiana State University, B.S. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Concentration in Forest Resource Management, Anticipated Spring 2025

Ridley Graugnard joined the Forest Entomology Research Group to assist with the collection and identification of ash-associated arthropods as a field and laboratory technician in May 2023.  As the group's resident expert on insect taxonomy, in addition to his regular laboratory responsibilities, Ridley has taken on the identification of true bugs (Hemiptera) in our ongoing assessment of arthropod biodiversity in ash trees. When not identifying insects, Ridley has contributed a large number of high-quality images of our study insects to our lab group. After finishing his degree, Ridley hopes to pursue a graduate degree in forest entomology.

Louisiana State University, B.S. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Concentration in Wildlife Ecology, Anticipated Fall 2024

Colton Elliot joined the Forest Entomology Research Group in Fall 2023 to contribute to projects related to machine learning analysis of high-dimensional data. After a brief stint with image analysis, Colton's efforts have been focused on developing an open-source tool built on top of ChromConvertR and ChromatographR for the analysis of metabolomic data in the statistical software R. After finishing his degree, Colton wishes to...

Louisiana State University, B.S. in Computer Science, Anticipated Spring 2028

Winter Sheline joined the Forest Entomology Research Group in May 2024 to assist with fieldwork on a number of ongoing projects. Much of this work has focused on the collection of longhorned beetles from pheromone traps, but has also included as the collection of egg masses of the flathead hackberry borer. Currently, Winter has been contributing to the identification of longhorned beetle specimens in the lab. After finishing their degree, Winter hopes to ...

Louisiana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, Anticipated Spring 2027