PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
Bonnie Blaimer
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Bonnie B. Blaimer is driven to study ant diversity and systematics to promote insects in conservation work. Her research has led her from exploring the diversity of arboreal ants in Madagascar and other parts of the world to delving into the complexities of ant phylogenomics and systematics.
Blaimer is a Researcher in Insect Biodiversity at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany, and a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Email: Bonnie.Blaimer@mfn.berlin
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Michael Branstetter
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Michael G. Branstetter is passionate about the diversity and conservation of the "little things that run the world" and is an expert in the systematics of ants, bees, and wasps. He is also a leader in the field of insect phylogenomics, having pioneered the use of UCEs in Hymenoptera. Branstetter has done extensive field work in Central America and is a strong advocate for specimen-based research.
Branstetter currently works as a Research Entomologist for the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit in Logan, UT and serves as an adjunct professor at Utah State University. His primary research focus is on the use of molecular data in bee systematics and identification. Email: mgbranstetter@gmail.com
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Brian Fisher
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Brian L Fisher is a scientist, speaker and teacher with a passion for ants. His vast array of work across the globe addresses crucial questions about ant taxonomy, biodiversity, and conservation. He strives to put ants on equal footing with birds in terms of understanding their biology and role in conservation.
Fisher is currently an adjunct professor at the University of California Berkeley, a member of the research faculty at San Francisco State University, and the chairman of the entomology department of the California Academy of Sciences. Website: https://www.fisherlab.org/
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Jack Longino
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John T. Longino started collecting insects in middle school and hasn’t stopped since. He’s now traversed the world studying ants, and has made valuable contributions to myrmecology in a wide array of areas.
He has focused much of his work on the taxonomy of neotropical ants and ecological patterns of ant diversity, as well as studies of biodiversity inventory methodology and regional faunistic work in Costa Rica. Longino has also contributed over 230,000 specimen records to antweb.org and is a leading ant taxonomist. Longino is currently a Professor at the University of Utah. Email: jacklongino@gmail.com
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Philip Ward
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Philip S. Ward is a professor and researcher who is fascinated with insect natural history and the processes that have generated such a diverse array of forms. He specializes in systematics, biogeography and evolution of ants, ant-plant mutualisms, and phylogeny and speciation.
Ward is currently a professor of entomology at the University of California Davis. Email: psward@ucdavis.edu
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RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Rodolfo Probst
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Rodolfo Probst works as Research Assistant to the AOWTP, where he helps generate molecular data. He is currently a PhD student at the Longino Lab, and received his B.S. and Master’s from The State University of São Paulo and the Zoology Museum of the University of São Paulo respectively. Probst is led by his interest in ant evolution, as well as his passion for tropical fieldwork, teaching the public about bugs and conservation, and exploring the outdoors.
Email: probstrodolfo@gmail.com
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Elaine Tan is a Ph.D. student in the Longino Lab at the University of Utah. From a young age, they have always been interested in the natural world, which lead to their undergrad biology degree at UC Santa Barbara. In California, Tan worked with many different species and eventually found an interest in ants. In the lab, Tan helps out with the AOWTP and is investigating their own project about social parasitism in local ant species.
Email: elntan.u@gmail.com
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Toby Hays
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Toby Hays is an undergrad researcher in the Longino Lab at the University of Utah. He is studying microbiology and chemistry with an interest in arthropods and insects. Currently, Hays is working on a DNA barcoding project for perhaps the largest and most ecologically dominant genus of ants in North America and Utah. Additionally, he works on DNA sequencing and DNA extractions for the AOWTP.
Email: toby.g.hays@gmail.com
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Otávio Guilherme Morais da Silva
Otávio is a guest researcher from Brazil and a current Ph.D. student at Universidade Federal do Pará/Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi. His interest in ants and ecology started in his undergraduate study and has led him to study taxonomy in all settings from urban sprawls to tropic jungles. In the Longino Lab, Otávio is assisting with the study and classification of Rogeria genus, while filling out the bigger phylogenic tree for AOWTP.
Email: otavio.guilherme@hotmail.com
Email: otavio.guilherme@hotmail.com
OUTREACH
Zahra Saifee
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Zahra Saifee is an undergrad communications student at the University of Utah. She helps run the AOTWP website and social media. While the rest of the lab is figuring out ant DNA sequences and taxonomy, Zahra is figuring out the best way to tweet about it in less than 280 characters.
Email: zahrasaifee24@gmail.com
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Mark Draper
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Mark Draper is a science and environmental communication student at the University of Utah, with a passion for anything involving the outdoors and cameras. Draper created this website and managed the twitter account from 2020 - 2021.
Email: markhelzendraper@gmail.com
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