The lab

My research seeks to understand how insects interact with their environment and how to use that information to sustainably manage insect pests. My current work focuses on insect–plant–microbe interactions belowground and on biological control of insect pests using entomopathogens. I combine field work, lab behavioral assays, and chemical ecology to explore how insects perform in natural and agroecosystems, how they respond to environmental cues, and the mechanisms behind their chemical communication.

I am currently working with insect herbivores of American chestnut and grape phylloxera — both to understand their interactions and to develop methods of biological control — as well as with entomopathogenic nematodes to understand their communication and enhance their use in controlling insect pests.

I started as a University Faculty Fellow for Diversity in 2021 and as an Assistant Professor in 2022, and I am excited to incorporate UNCA's core values of diversity and inclusion into my teaching, research, and service. I completed my undergraduate work in Agricultural Engineering at the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), my M.S. at the Federal University of the Rural Amazon (UFRA), and my PhD in Agronomy and Entomology at UFLA in Brazil. I have been a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Florida, and was most recently research faculty at Cornell University.