Professor of Forest Entomology

Brian Aukema

Brian moved the lab to the University of Minnesota in 2010 after a few years as a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service at the University of Northern British Columbia. He has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in forest entomology (MS, PhD) and biometry (environmental statistics, MS). In 2011, he was awarded a University McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. As a transplanted Canadian, his favourite type of stick is a hockey stick.

PhD Student

Jessica Rootes

Following a six-year stint in the US Air Force as a linguist working in intelligence, Jess arrived to study the dynamics of eastern spruce budworm in Minnesota and on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. She remains the only lab member past and present with a course on her transcripts entitled "Predictive Battlespace Awareness." Jess is an accomplished photographer and also enjoys all things crafty.

PhD Student

Sayesha Khanna

Sayesha joined us Fall 2023 after completing her Masters as India's representative to the Erasmus Mundus joint MS program in Plant Health sponsored by the European Union. She gained a strong background in Integrated Pest Management from studies in Spain, Italy, France, and the Netherlands and was elected valedictorian of her graduate cohort. She is working on adapting management of spongy moth with Btk to Minnesota's climate.

Master's Student

Ella Maddi

Ella came to Minnesota from the great pine state of Maine where she attended Colby College for undergrad and spent the past few years working in quality control at breweries. She is excited to be a part of the Aukema lab and is nvestigating the endemic niche of mountain pine beetles. Outside of playing with bugs, Ella enjoys frolicking through the woods with her dog and eating her way through the wonderful Twin Cities food scene.

Master's Student

Ian Grossenbacher-Mcglamery

After three summers of work with us, and a Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Minnesota, the right project came along and Ian joined the team as a Masters student. Ian's experience across a variety of projects continues to be invaluable to the team, as is his love of all things boggy. He is an avid runner and skier and has a strong beard game.

Master's Student

Emma Hans

A graduate of The Ohio State University, Emma came to the lab after a postbaccalaureate fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and a stint in a fisheries ecology lab. Emma is studying the ecology, development, and natural enemies of satin moth. In her spare time, she enjoys birdwatching and crafting.

Research Technician

Clarissa Moore

After an undergraduate degree at Wellesley College in Boston that included semesters in the Caribbean and South Africa, Clarissa returned home to MN. She is leading the project studying the cold tolerance of the elongate hemlock scale. Clarissa enjoys road trips and outdoor adventures, where she often pauses to identify plants that no one asked about.

Voice of Wisdom / Best Lab Assistant Ever

Val Cervenka

Val retired from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 2023 and decided to... come volunteer with us for a few hours every week!? How did we get so lucky! She helps process field samples, provides artistic advice, proofreads paragraphs, dispenses career guidance, identifies insects, embellishes stories, and much, much more.

Undergraduates

• So much of our work is made possible by our awesome technicians and summer workers who contribute to our teams every year. Some are with us only for a few months, while others return for two or even three years. After almost 20 years as a lab, it continues to be rewarding to see the diversity of careers that have been launched. Our students have gone on to positions in graduate schools (and now faculty), arboriculture, early childhood education, medical schools, state and federal agencies, and much, much more.