The National Science Foundation awarded Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, a $400,000 International Research Experience for Undergraduate Students grant for the project Bee Health and Ecology Research Objective (Bee-HERO).
The co-primary investigators, Alyssa Woronik and Torrie Hanley, both assistant professors in Sacred Heart’s biology department, will work with three cohorts of six students each and the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (in Swedish: Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet; SLU) in Uppsala, Sweden. For three summers, students will travel to SLU to conduct a variety of experiments that focus on factors affecting bee health and how bees defend themselves against disease.
The research addresses ecologic, agricultural and economic concerns. “They are one of the most important pollinators and our food supply is heavily dependent on pollinators,” explained Woronik. “They are also important for support of the natural ecosystem.”
Hanley added, “This is also a timely period to be studying bees, since there’s been a global decrease in both the abundance and the diversity of colonies.”
