The lab has a long-standing interest on the non-target effects of pest management. This work has spanned multiple projects that use field experiments to evaluate how insecticide use affects bees, mostly in cucurbits such as watermelon. Current projects are testing flowering cover crops and varying ratios of pollenizer varieties. 

We are part of a USDA SAS-funded project (DCB: Diverse Corn Belt) evaluating the consequences of cropping system diversification for agriculture in the Midwest. As part of this multi-disciplinary team, we are validating the value of novel techniques to quantify insect biodiversity and ecosystem services in regenerative agricultural systems (e.g., passive acoustic monitoring, eDNA).

This is an NSF-funded project to develop automated tools for insect pest monitoring in agricultural fields. In collaboration with a team of engineers and computer scientists we are developing technologies that provide real-time detection and population estimates to deploy in IPM.

We are part of a USDA SCRI-funded project to evaluate the use of biocontrol for pests in protected agriculture, focusing on high tunnels. Our work evaluates the impact of entomopathogenic nematodes for pest management in high tunnel systems for soil-dwelling insects. This research investigates both the presence of native EPNs and value of augmentation with commercial strains.

The lab's previous projects have evaluated the roles of wild and managed pollinators in specialty crop production. This research has shown evidence for pollen limitation in certain crops and conditions. The current project (2025-26) is funded by ISDA and collaborates with commercial tomato growers to understand how bumble bee supplementation affects crop yields and pollination-mediated deficits.