Gordon W. Frankie, Principal Investigator

Picture
Gordon Frankie is a professor and research entomologist in the Division of Insect Biology, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley. His specialty is behavioral ecology of solitary bees in wildland and urban environments of California and Costa Rica. He also teaches conservation and environmental problem-solving at UC Berkeley. For more information on Dr. Frankie's research: https://ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/people/gordon-frankie​

Jaime Pawelek, Project Taxonomist 

Picture
Jaime Pawelek has worked in the Urban Bee Lab for many years starting as an undergraduate researcher, then research assistant managing the urban statewide survey, and now taxonomist.  She attended The Bee Course in Portal, AZ in 2012 where she strengthened her bee identification skills and learned from the top bee taxonomists in the country.  She has also studied bee identification with Dr. Robbin Thorp (UCD), Dr. Glenn Hall (UF), Sam Droege (USGS), and Dr. Terry Griswold (USDA-ARS).  Jaime also identifies bee collections for other researchers across the country including bees from Florida, Vermont, and Michigan.  In her spare time, Jaime enjoys gardening, learning about native medicinal plants, and cooking.  Contact Jaime for her bee identification services at wildbeegardendesign@gmail.com.

Robbin Thorp, Project Taxonomist

Picture
Robbin W. Thorp is Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of California, Davis. He retired in 1994 after 30 years of teaching, research, and mentoring graduate students. He continues to conduct research on pollination biology and ecology, systematics, biodiversity and conservation of bees, especially bumble bees. He has special interests in native bees of the vernal pool ecosystem. For more information on life history and pollination by these bees, see: www.vernalpools.org/Thorp/.

Sara Witt, Lab Manager, Research Assistant

Picture
Sara has a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.  She first worked with the Urban Bee Lab while a student at Berkeley as part of the undergraduate research assistant program.  Sara also works as an ecologist for the non-profit organization Grassroots Ecology, which involves volunteers in habitat restoration and community science in parks and along creeks in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.  She also enjoys volunteering as a docent, leading hikes and assisting with bioblitzes at preserves and parks in the Bay Area.

Marissa Chase, Research Assistant

Picture
Marissa graduated from Cal with a degree in Molecular Environmental Biology (Insect Biology concentration) and a minor in Forestry. She will be applying to PhD programs in Entomology, more specifically pollinator-plant interactions, for the Fall of 2019. She hopes to continue researching native bees and the development and shift of their floral preferences spatially and temporally. Aside from working in the lab, Marissa enjoys collecting and identifying insects and spiders for her personal collection, backpacking/hiking, learning to play guitar, and eating (mainly Takis)/cooking.  

Rollin Coville, Lead Photographer

Picture
Rollin received his Ph.D. degree in Entomology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. He recently retired from AT&T where he served as a systems analyst and programmer. For more than 25 years his primary outside interest has been photographing insects and spiders. He also has a strong interest in the biology and behavior of Hymenoptera and has published papers on Trypoxylon wasps and Centris bees.

To see more great insect pics from Rollin visit:  http://www.covillephotos.com.

Previous Lab Researchers

Ivonne Verduzco, Research Assistant
Ivonne has B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Developmental Genetics from the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the lab her freshman year of university and stayed involved throughout her undergraduate career.