I am broadly interested in the mechanisms and evolution of animal social behavior. Work in my lab focuses on eusocial insect colonies. We have two main lines of research, one focused on behavioral genomics of paper wasps, and another on how nutrition affects behavior and relates to bee health. Our main study systems are honey bees (Apis mellifera) and paper wasps (genus Polistes). Current research projects involve de novo sequencing of paper wasp genomes and transcriptomes, comparative genomic analysis of Hymenoptera, genomic and epigenetic mechanisms regulating caste evolution, and the influences of nutrition and viruses on honey bee behavior and health.