Behavior, Pheromones, and Sensory Biology

Banner Image - Blue and purple colored clouds bursting from a woman's head

The odor-directed behavior and the underlying neurobiological factors in animals from humans to insects, and from applied to evolutionary perspectives.

Topics:

Food Science
Social Behavior
Evolution of Reproductive Signaling
Animal Behavior
Neurobiology
Olfaction/Gustation
Electrophysiology

Flor Acevedo

Assistant professor of Entomology (Penn State Behrend)

fea5007@psu.edu

Associate Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Director of the Center for Chemical Ecology; Associate Professor of Entomology
Behavior and chemical ecology of multi-trophic interactions, including plant responses to below-ground herbivory and nematode. Insect community ecology, chemical ecology, and coevolution. Trophic cascades, above- and below-ground interactions, chemotaxis of soil nematodes, and evolution of plant defense strategies.

Etya Amsalem

Associate Professor of Entomology
The evolutionary development and the mechanistic basis of social behavior in insects using an integrative approach encompassing chemical, genetic and physiological tools

Tom Baker

Distinguished Professor of Entomology and Chemical Ecology

Dave Biddinger

Research Professor; Tree Fruit Research Entomologist

Francisco Dini-Andreote

Huck Early Career Chair in Microbial Community Ecology, Associate Professor of Plant Science
Microbiome, plant-microbe interactions, and community ecology. Harnessing the plant microbiome to enhance protection against biotic and abiotic stresses.

fjd5141@psu.edu

Gary Felton

Professor and Department Head of Entomology
Plant-herbivore interactions. Adaptive responses of herbivores to plant defenses. Herbivore cues recognized by plants with specific focus on biochemical and molecular analysis of salivary secretions.

Christina Grozinger

Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Publius Vergilius Maro Professor and Huck Scholar of Entomology
Genomics of social behavior and health in bees

Sara Hermann

Assistant Professor of Arthropod Ecology and Trophic Interactions

Kelli Hoover

Professor of Entomology
Invasive species of forest insects; plant-insect-entomopathogen interactions; impacts of plants on pathogenesis; biological control of hemlock woolly adelgid

Helene Hopfer

Associate Professor of Food Science

Jessica Kansman

Postdoctoral Researcher

jpk6249@psu.edu

Monica Kersch-Becker

Assistant Professor of Entomology

Greg Krawczyk

Extension Tree Fruit Entomologist, Research Professor

Erika Machtinger

Associate Professor of Entomology
Veterinary entomology, including vector-borne diseases. Focus is on ecology and behavior associated with host-parasite interactions to improve or develop new control methods.

James Marden

Associate Director of Operations, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Professor of Biology
How physiological variation within species affects their ecology and evolution. Primarily with insects, but recently also with plants, and a particular interest in allelic variation in the pathogen resistance genes of tropical trees.