“With the sustaining funding available to us, the Trustees are providing the scholarships and other support to educational and kid-oriented activities. The graduate student scholarships are one of the important forward-looking programs we have made into an annual offering,” says George Hansen, chairman of the Foundation Trustees. “The Trustees’ goal is to invest in the future by encouraging by the young emerging honey bee scientists to be involved in the industry.
“The Kids and Bees program and the 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest attempt to cause children to become interested in honey bees. We provide other incentives to kids all over the country take up beekeeping, and associations and clubs to become mentors of young beekeepers.”

	Geoff Williams Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada. M.S. Degree student, David Shutler, advisor. Mr. Williams is investigating the effects of Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae on western honey bees. His research examines both seasonal abundance and control of both species.
	Elina Niño North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. Ph.D. student, David Tarpy and Christina Grozinger, advisors. Ms. Nino ’s research investigates factors affecting the reproductive quality of honey bee queens. Her research includes behavioral, physiological and molecular approaches to evaluating queen quality.
	Jodi Swanson University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. Ph.D. student, Marla Spivak, advisor. Ms. Swanson’s research explores the chemical cues associated with diseased brood to determine which of them elicit hygenic behavior. The goal of her work is to provide beekeepers a fast and reliable test to screen stocks and select for hygenic behavior.
	Queenie Chan University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Ph.D. student, Leonard Foster, advisor. Ms. Chan’s research examines the honey bee immune system at the molecular level, in particular its response to American foulbrood using biochemical and mass spectrometry techniques to identify proteins and protein levels in diseased larvae. She is also involved in annotating the genome of the causative agent of the disease, Paenibacillus larvae.
	Alban Maisonnasse University of Avignon, Avignon, France. Ph.D. student, Yves Le Conte, advisor. Mr. Maisonnasse’s research examines volatile compounds emitted by honey bee larvae that are involved in the communication between nurse bees and brood. He has identified 2 volatile molecules emitted by brood and is currently conducting experiments to explain their role in colony life.
	Katie Lee University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. M.S. student, Marla Spivak, advisor. Ms. Lee’s research examines how to best sample colonies and apiaries for Varroa mites. The goal of her research is to provide a basis for good IPM practices under migratory beekeeping conditions.

• Amanda Ellis
  Athens, GA – University of Georgia
  Studied the effects of varroa on foraging behavior
• Brad Metz
  College Station, TX  - Texas A&M University
  Researched how larvae communicate their needs to the colony.
• Michael Simone
  St. Paul, MN  - University of Minnesota
  Researched propolis collection.
• Jeremy Wagnitz
  Lincoln, NE  - University of Nebraska
  Studied ways of maximizing mite suppression by adjusting the timing of treatments.
• Michael Williams
  State College, PA – Penn State University
  Researched the influence of weather on honey bees and their diseases and pests.

• Umberto Moreno, University of Minnesota and University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao, Brazil.
  Genetics and biology of propolis collection by honey bees.
• Brendon Fussnecker, North Carolina State University.
  Molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate honey bee behavior.
• Bradley Barnd, Purdue University.
  Genetic influence on metabolic rate in honey bees.
• Andrew Ammons, Purdue University.
  Genetic basis of sensitivity to alcohol in honey bees
• Cecilia Andere, National University of Central Buenos Aires Province, Tandil, Argentina.
  Quality of drone semen stored in different conditions.

Nick Aliano – University of Nebraska. He is completing his M.S. work now and will being Ph.D. work in the fall. He has been working on use of powdered sugar to remove varroa mites from bees. His Ph.D. work will continue to focus on varroa control strategies.

Abdullah Ibrahim – University of Minnesota. For his Ph.D. he is collecting data on the degree of mite resistance of the Hygenic/SMR hybrid colonies and investigating the relationship between the two resistance traits, hygienic behavior and suppression of mite reproduction.

Heather Mattila – University of Guelph. Her Ph.D. research involves manipulating the protein (pollen) status of colonies in fall and early spring and quantifying the effects on both individual bees and their colonies. She is also investigating the effects of pollen nutrition on resistance to nosema disease.

Ramesh Sagili – Texas A&M University. For his M.S. research, he is studying the how the pollen from genetically engineered crops that utilize insecticidal genes might affect the colonies where pollen from the transgenic plants is fed to larvae.

Paul Timm – University of Nebraska. A high school agricultural education instructor who has found novel ways to use bees and beekeeping in his classes, he has enrolled in an M.S. in entomology program and is developing a beekeeping curriculum for vocational agriculture education programs.

Robyn Underwood – University of Manitoba. Her M.S. work in formic acid efficacy was so successful that she was moved into a Ph.D. program where she is working on fumigating colonies with formic acid in wintering buildings and on understanding how formic acid acts when used on colonies treated outdoors.