The IUSSI-NAS Awards Committee would like to congratulate our student award winners for the four Spring Research awards, made to support student research in each of the four major social insect groups.
The Robert L. and Louise B. Jeanne Social Wasp Research Grant supports graduate student research on any aspect of the basic biology of social wasps. It is given annually to a student whose proposed research shows the greatest potential to make a substantive contribution to our understanding of social wasps. The 2025 winner of the Jeanne Grant is Paige Caine (Goodisman Lab, Georgia Tech), who will receive a $2,500 grant to support her research project: “The effect of social parasitism on genome evolution in social wasps”.
The Charles Michener Bee Research Grant supports graduate student research on the basic biology of bees, defined broadly as the Anthophila. The award is given annually to an IUSSI-NAS graduate student member whose research has the greatest potential to make a substantive contribution to our understanding of the biology of this fascinating group. The 2025 winner of the Michener Grant is Kathryn Naherny (Ramsey Lab, University of Colorado), who will receive a $2,500 grant to support her research project: “Using Host Traits to Understand the Interplay of Melittophiles and Peruvian Stingless Bees”.
The William L. and Ruth D. Nutting Research Grant supports graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the field of basic termite biology. It offers funding to a student or postdoc whose proposed research shows the greatest potential to increase our understanding of this important group of social insects, with an emphasis on discrete projects with clearly identified hypotheses that address specific biological questions. The 2025 winner of the Nutting Grant is Elijah Carroll (Mizumoto lab, Auburn University), who will receive a $2,500 grant to support his research project: “Does sexual conflict in nest-site selection act as a barrier to hybridization in Cryptotermes termites?”
The Tschinkel Ant Natural History Research Grant supports graduate student research on the basic natural history and biology of ants (in the broad sense). It is given annually to a student whose proposed research promises the best contribution to this often neglected field of study. The 2025 winner of the Tschinkel Grant is Allina Win (Linksvayer Lab, Arizona State University), who will receive a $2,500 grant to support her research project: “A Comparative Study of Larval Fluid as a Novel Social Regulator of Queen Fecundity and Colony Sociogenesis.”
Finally, we want to congratulate all applicants for submitting excellent proposals and thank their mentors for writing letters of support. If your proposal was not selected this time, we very much encourage you to reapply next year!
We look forward to hearing what each of the awardees discover, and very much hope that they will be able to join a future IUSSI-NAS meeting to report back on their projects.
The IUSSI-NAS awards committee
Elizabeth Tibbetts, Joshua King (co-chairs)
Scott Powell, Natalie Lemanski, Mallory Hagadorn, and Alex Payne (committee members)