Science Living: Kelly Tims, Entomologist

While most Living Science students go on to focus on something other than science, many do, in fact, study science. In this series of short posts, we highlight Living Science alumni who are currently involved in scientific research.

Working towards a PhD in Entomology…

Kelly Tims, ’16, majored in biological sciences and entomology at the University of Georgia and is now one year into a PhD program in entomology at UGA. Currently, she is studying parasitoid wasps, particularly the relationship between parasitoid wasps and the viruses that they use to parasitize their hosts, looking at genes that may play a role in regulating the viral genes within the wasp genome. Her current interest is Microplitis demolitor (a wasp that is valuable to farmers because it parasitizes the larvae of the soybean looper caterpillar, an agricultural pest). During her time as an undergrad at UGA, Kelly also had the opportunity to study abroad in Ecuador and learn about insects in the Amazon, the Andes, and the Galápagos Islands.