From the University of Florida Honey
Bee Research and Extension Laboratory
Roles in a Honey Bee Lab
By: Kaylin Kleckner & Dr. Marley Iredale
January: Overview of the HBREL at UF
February: Honey Bee/Beekeeping Teaching Programs
March: Research on Honey Bees
April: Apiculture Extension (Part 1)
May: Apiculture Extension (Part 2)
June: Roles in a Typical Honey Bee Lab
July: How Labs are Funded
August: The Lab’s Physical
Infrastructure
September: What it Take to Run a Laboratory Effectively
October: Professional Development
in the Lab
November: Members of the HBREL Team and What They Do
December: The HBREL’s Most
Notable Successes/Contributions to the Beekeeping Industry
Introductions & overview
Welcome back to another peek “under the lid” of honey bee laboratories. This month, we will describe the roles people typically hold in these dynamic and diverse places. This article is written by two graduate students at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory (UF/IFAS HBREL). Let us introduce you to both of us, one at a time (Figures 1 and 2).
“Hello! My name is Kaylin Kleckner. I started as a volunteer at HBREL washing dishes and counting mites over four years ago. I’ve transitioned through various roles in the laboratory and am excited to share what I’ve learned about each of them in this article.”
“My name is Dr. Marley Iredale, and I am a veterinary pathologist studying the diseases of honey bees. I have learned so much about bees in the short time I have worked in the lab, and I am already in love with these charismatic creatures.”
It may seem like an obvious metaphor, but there isn’t a group that more closely resembles a honey bee colony than the members of a laboratory. Laboratories are busy places that could not function without many individuals efficiently working together. Numerous laboratories study honey bees around the world. Some are as small as a backyard beekeeper’s garage. In contrast, others are established in large institutions, like universities and government agencies. The number of people and their roles vary between and within institutions – no laboratory structure is the same! Similarly, the nature of large institutions is fluid, and the members of a laboratory might change frequently. No matter the size, various diverse roles make a laboratory function harmoniously. In this article, we will overview laboratory members’ different responsibilities and provide a snapshot of the UF/IFAS HBREL team as it exists today.
The UF/IFAS HBREL comprises a growing core team of 15 people that hold positions as faculty members, students, postdoctoral researchers and staff (Figures 3 and 4). Additionally, we could not operate without our volunteers and supporters. You’ll meet every member of the UF/IFAS HBREL in November’s article entitled, Members of the HBREL team and what they do. Here, we will highlight a few individuals to help describe their various roles. Our laboratory is established at a land-grant university with a federal-state-county partnership with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). Simply put, the laboratory has attributes of both an academic and publicly funded institution and has three core missions: research, teaching and extension. Supporting this diverse vision requires people with various backgrounds and areas of expertise. Our team collaborates to advance research, instruct university students and spread knowledge to beekeepers globally. And we have a lot of fun doing it! Let us introduce you to our team’s roles, starting with our faculty.
Roles as faculty
When you think of a professor, you likely envision someone who lectures in large classrooms full of college students and has long Summer vacations. This stereotypical image of a professor is just one type of faculty. While some faculty teach college students, others never set foot in a classroom. While some faculty may get the Summers off, many work year-round. Confusing, right? So what ARE faculty members? Just as no two laboratories are the same, no two faculty members have the same job. Faculty members hold permanent positions at academic institutions and often fill governing roles in their respective departments. Faculty participate in teaching, research, extension or combinations of all three. Faculty members can teach a variety of audiences, such as undergraduate and graduate students, in both in-person and distance education programs. Faculty members with research interests often head their own laboratories dedicated to advancing their field. With a team of people, these faculty work to gain new understandings, applications and achievements. Lastly, faculty engaged in extension may build programs to assist a target audience, inform the general public with outreach events (Figure 5) and bridge the gap between researchers and industry members.
Faculty members in many honey bee laboratories, like the UF/IFAS HBREL, participate in teaching, research AND extension. The UF/IFAS HBREL is unique in that it is led by three faculty members, Dr. Jamie Ellis, Dr. Cameron Jack and Ms. Amy Vu. You’ve met each of these individuals through previous articles in this series. This trio defines our team’s goals, culture and organization. Behind the scenes, our faculty work tirelessly to obtain funding, complete necessary paperwork, communicate with collaborators, review articles for publication – the list goes on! Among their many responsibilities, faculty members oversee their prospective teams, composed broadly of students, postdoctoral researchers and staff.
Roles as students & postdoctoral researchers
Most students contributing to a honey bee laboratory are undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate students first come to mind when hearing “college kids.” Undergraduate students are pursuing their Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree. They are at the beginning of their career, thus often studying a wide range of topics. This is an opportunity for young people to try new things, develop new skills and discover their interests. This happens within the bounds of structured academics and through student clubs and university-run organizations. Beekeeping clubs are becoming increasingly popular at colleges and universities, and many of our volunteers are UF Honey Bee Club members! Undergraduate students can contribute to a honey bee laboratory by taking courses offered by the laboratory’s faculty members, completing supervised research projects and volunteering their time. Undergraduate researchers are the driving force behind several of the active research projects at the UF/IFAS HBREL. Students interested in research can perform independent projects for course credit, which often helps make their resumes stand out to future employers. Ms. Kathryn Naherny is one undergraduate student conducting independent research at the UF/IFAS HBREL. Kathryn planned and executed a series of five experiments investigating the effects of lovebug presence on honey bee foraging. Research projects often lead students like Kathryn to present their work at local, state, national and even international conferences. At these meetings, they compete for scholarships and connect with experts in their areas of interest. Many students find mentorship this way, and some develop relationships that lead them to their eventual careers. Some students even dedicate enough time and effort to have their research published in peer-reviewed journals, one of the currencies of academic careers! At the UF/IFAS HBREL, undergraduates who demonstrate an aptitude for beekeeping and research are often hired as part-time staff or continue their education as graduate students on the team.
Graduate students in honey bee laboratories are completing their Master’s or Ph.D. degrees. Graduate students are typically advised by a team of faculty members comprising a committee but often led by one or two individuals, the chair or co-chairs. These people are faculty members and are often principal investigators (a fancy name for “head”) of their own laboratories in the student’s department. Masters students typically spend two to three years completing their degree, while Ph.D. students can work for three to five or more years completing their degree. The difference in time commitment reflects the difference in the breadth and depth of their research. Ph.D. students complete more complex projects, so the degree takes longer to complete and often has the prerequisite of a Master’s degree or equivalent. Graduate students in honey bee laboratories work to plan, conduct and write about their research on various honey bee-related topics. This can be anything the student is interested in, from behavior to physiology to ecology and many other disciplines! In addition to conducting research, graduate students take coursework in relevant fields and often assist in teaching other students. Each student’s coursework consists of core classes that are the same for each student pursuing a particular degree and electives to support a student’s interests. Many graduate students work as teaching assistants to support coursework for undergraduate students and other graduate students. This gives graduate students experience in instruction and helps them develop interpersonal and leadership skills; this is important as many graduates become faculty members themselves.
At UF/IFAS HBREL, graduate students are advised by Dr. Jamie Ellis and Dr. Cameron Jack. Dr. Marley Iredale and Ms. Kaylin Kleckner (the authors of this article!) are advised by Dr. Jamie Ellis. They study honey bee diseases and wild honey bee ecology, respectively. Ms. Breonna Davis is advised by Dr. Cameron Jack to investigate small hive beetle control methods. Recent graduates from the UF/IFAS HBREL studied royal jelly, pollen patties and Varroa destructor control. You might be wondering what graduate students do after completing their degrees. Our graduates graduate to faculty positions (like our very own Dr. Cameron Jack!), go on to study honey bees worldwide and sometimes continue to additional graduate degree programs. Some may jump straight into a permanent job in their field of interest. In contrast, others take on a short-term position, like a postdoctoral researcher.
Are you familiar with medical residents? After graduating from medical school, doctors work as residents to gain specialty experience before transitioning to a more permanent position. In laboratories, postdoctoral researchers are equivalent to residents. Postdocs (for short) have earned their Ph.D. but have not transitioned into a permanent role, such as a faculty member. Unlike graduate students, postdocs do not take any formal coursework. Their sole responsibility is to conduct research for one to three years in a given laboratory. During this time, they deepen their knowledge of a particular aspect of their field and gain technical knowledge that will help them in their careers. Some postdocs volunteer to teach in department courses to gain experience if they plan to pursue faculty positions. At the UF/IFAS HBREL, we currently have one working postdoc, Dr. Jose Marcelino, who uses molecular tools to identify honey bee taxa, pests and diseases. Dr. Marcelino has conducted research all over the world on various topics. We are always thankful to our postdocs for sharing their rich knowledge and experiences with us during their time at the UF/IFAS HBREL.
Roles as staff
Staff is the final and most diverse category of roles in a honey bee laboratory. Generally, staff members are employed as part-time or full-time support for the laboratory. Unlike faculty, staff positions are not always permanent. Many staff positions are seasonal or project-dependent. Additionally, staff report to the faculty members overseeing the laboratory, while faculty are often the head of their laboratory. Two staff positions our honey bee laboratory cannot do without are a laboratory manager and a beekeeper.
If you can imagine the responsibilities of running a small business, you can develop a good sense of the role of a laboratory manager. A laboratory manager does exactly what the title implies – they keep the laboratory running! More specifically, a laboratory manager handles the logistics of a laboratory, such as ordering supplies, organizing volunteer help and upholding laboratory safety. However, in addition to administrative roles, laboratory managers may be asked to assist with research projects or may even do their own research. They often provide an important perspective on the laboratory’s overall operation and how all the moving pieces fit together. Our laboratory manager comes with the added perk of being a beekeeper himself! It requires a lot of dedication to manage a laboratory as large as ours, but we’re grateful to have one of the best.
At UF/IFAS HBREL, Mr. Chris Oster is our laboratory manager and go-to person for any and all needs (Figure 6). Chris first came to UF/IFAS HBREL as a volunteer years ago and is one of many examples of dedicated volunteers that migrate into new positions. Evidence that hard work and perseverance pay off! After working as an Apiary Inspector for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Chris returned to the UF/IFAS HBREL in his new role. His background makes him incredibly adept at his job, and he has extensive expertise that contributes to all facets of work at the laboratory.
A laboratory beekeeper is the role with which you, the readers of Bee Culture, may be most familiar. For many years the UF/IFAS HBREL did not have a dedicated beekeeper. Instead, various students and staff cared for the laboratory colonies. Today, UF/IFAS HBREL is thankful to have Mr. Steven Keith as our beekeeper. Steven manages all HBREL colonies, equipment and apiaries (Figure 7). At any one time, Steven (alongside a small team of dedicated staff and volunteers) is likely managing somewhere between 50 and 300 colonies! He routinely completes inspections, performs splits, supplements feed and brood, replaces queens and manages pests when needed. Steven works closely with all other laboratory members to ensure honey bee colonies are available for use in research projects and assists in implementing those projects. Imagine needing to consider all laboratory projects to estimate the allocation of resources while keeping dozens of colonies happy and healthy enough to participate in said experiments! Most faculty members and researchers around the world must do this themselves, so we are fortunate to have Steven and Chris with us.
Two more broad categories of staff help conduct research in a honey bee laboratory. Field and laboratory technicians work to meet specific research goals set by their supervising faculty. The only difference between these roles is where the work takes place. Laboratory technicians primarily work in the laboratory on a wide range of topics. One kind of laboratory-based project is toxicology bioassays. Those are two fancy words for seeing how toxic something is to a subject in a controlled environment. At the UF/IFAS HBREL, laboratory technicians conduct bioassays with bees, small hive beetles and V. destructor to screen new potential chemical controls (Figure 8). These experiments often require knowledge of common laboratory techniques utilized in biology and chemistry. Our technicians are smart cookies! Additionally, laboratory technicians may process samples collected in the field, like counting mites in a mite wash. And our lead technician, Ms. Julia St. Amant, even painted many of the hives in our apiary. While more rigidly controlled work occurs in the laboratory, field work happens in the apiary (Figure 9). Fieldwork tends to be messy, with many factors, like weather, that cannot be controlled. Field technicians do their best to conduct these outdoor experiments utilizing their beekeeping skills. Mr. Devan Rawn is one of the most recent additions to the UF/IFAS HBREL team. Devan will use his queen-rearing and colony management skills to execute many interesting field projects. In the past, our field technicians have sampled for pests and diseases, compared types of supplemental feeds and tracked long-term colony survival under various stressors.
Here we have clearly separated the work of laboratory and field technicians, but the lines are often blurred. To complete a single project, a technician may work both in the laboratory and the apiary. Many field and laboratory technicians employed at the UF/IFAS HBREL were once volunteers, and many go on to graduate school, careers in industry or work with government agencies. Ms. Julia St. Amant, for example, started working in the laboratory as an undergraduate and will soon transition into a new role as a Master’s student advised by Dr. Cameron Jack.
We’ve focused a lot on research, but staff members are hired at honey bee laboratories to complete other tasks, such as extension work. Extension staff members are employees dedicated to developing programs to educate and aid the public. For honey bee laboratories, that usually means beekeepers like you! Extension staff members often have strengths in communication, media and design and the field they serve. You may be familiar with the UF/IFAS HBREL Extension events, like Bee College, from previous articles. It takes people like Amy Vu and her team to organize event agendas, advertise and even ensure you have a splendid breakfast when you arrive at the next Bee College. On top of events, UF/IFAS HBREL Extension staff develop content for online learning programs, like the Master Beekeeper Program, manage all social media pages and produce episodes for our podcast, Two Bees in a Podcast. Ms. Mary Bammer, a program coordinator with UF/IFAS HBREL is a great example of a team member who contributes to online content, overseeing grant projects and more. While these are all examples of extension activities specific to our laboratory, numerous honey bee laboratories make extension programs that require supporting roles. If you have contacted our laboratory with questions, you likely have spoken to one of the UF/IFAS HBREL Extension staff.
Roles as volunteers & supporters
Any laboratory could not function without the assistance of volunteers. Volunteers are unpaid and generously dedicate their time to complete miscellaneous but essential tasks. Volunteers often assist graduate students, postdocs and technicians with research projects. Large projects with thousands of samples would not be possible without the hands of volunteers passing over each one. However, volunteers also often carry out the necessary support tasks in a lab, such as fabricating and caring for equipment and facilities. Volunteers help researchers have more time to tackle complex problems, and that’s one of the ways we all work together to advance science! While volunteers lack an hourly wage, they often gain valuable experience that allows them to move into future roles. If you ever attend a public tour at the UF/IFAS HBREL, you will likely be led by one of our dedicated volunteers (and UF Master Beekeeper!), Ms. Susan Harris.
And last but certainly not least, all honey bee laboratories need their supporters. You, readers of these articles and attendees of our events, are essential to achieving our goals and, thus, assisting beekeepers. At the UF/IFAS HBREL, we attribute our successes and the very building in which we work to our supporters. You’ll find us thanking you all often throughout these articles. We mean it each and every time.
Conclusion
You’ve just gotten a small glimpse into the various roles in a honey bee laboratory. Hopefully, you’ve gained some understanding of what parts are needed and what those job descriptions entail. If nothing else, we hope you appreciate the complexity and diversity of the roles required to run a successful laboratory. In our laboratory’s history and in other laboratories around the world, many roles are fulfilled by a single person. Today at the UF/IFAS HBREL, different individuals often hold these roles. No matter the number of people, dedicated individuals fill the necessary positions to safeguard honey bee health. Thank you all for following along on this journey. We will see you next month for a glimpse into how laboratories are funded.
