by Nicole Gerardo

Former Gerardo lab undergrad Ehi Akhirome will defend his PhD thesis this week. An amazing accomplishment. Congratulations, Ehi!

Congratulations to graduate student Kim Hoang and lab tech Tarik Acevedo for receiving National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships!

Congratulations to graduate student Erica Harris for receiving a Mellon Mays Predoctoral Research Development Grant!

by Nicole Gerardo

78 brave souls, including two of our own, volunteered to have their Evolution talks video recorded. All the talks are available at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2cZF2DnfvIUVg4tyRH5Ng

Check out talks by Nelle Couret and Jen Kovacs (former postdoc, now at Spelman).

by Nicole Gerardo

This week, we did not have the traditional lab meeting. Rather than discussing a paper or critiquing a practice talk, we instead each talked about or demonstrated something that we enjoyed doing outside of the lab. These included singing, going to the movies, photography, baking, knitting and reading. Oh, and taking care of two pet rats. Some are talents. Some are escapes. Some are both. What is clear is that I am fortunate to be surrounded by interesting, engaged people.

Congratulations to postdoc Lynn Griffin. Her son, Benjamin, was born today!

(Former grad student Ben Parker approves of the name choice).

By Nicole Gerardo

Nelle, Erica, Tarik and Greg and I recently attended the Society for the Study of Evolution conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Nelle gave a great talk on the how host plants and symbionts impact development of Megacopta cribraria. This was based on the last chapter of her Ph.D. dissertation, which she successfully defended hours before leaving for Raleigh! Congratulations, Dr. Couret!

Tarik and Greg presented a poster on their research on squash bug symbionts.