Well it has been an eventful few months for the Sparks lab!  We are growing (plants and people) and starting to feel like a “real” lab!  This semester we have added Nate Harlan, a recent UD graduate to the lab. Nate will start his Masters Degree research in the Sparks lab in the Fall of 2018, and is taking this opportunity to get a jump start on his research and get acclimated in the lab. We also have Lindsay Erndwein joining us as a PhD student this semester.  Lindsay has a fascination with all things insect, so she will start a joint PhD project with the Sparks lab and the (Ivan) Hiltpold lab in Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. We’re really excited for the opportunity to collaborate with the Hiltpold lab and learn more about bugs! We also managed to convince Noah Ouslander to stay on with us after graduation as a lab technician. Noah was one of the first members of the Sparks lab and has been an exceptional undergraduate, and we’re really excited that he will stay on with us after graduation.

And with the arrivals generally comes the departures. The first member of the Sparks lab, Jon Reneau, will be departing next week to take a new job in the Controller’s Office and the Cost Accounting Department at UD. While we don’t understand what his new job will entail (too many accounting things), we are sure he will miss digging in the dirt. We wish him the best of luck with his new position and hope he comes back to visit!