UMass Bee Campus Committee

Axel Boy works for the UMass Landscape department as a maintenance working foreman and serves as the co-chair of the UMass Bee Campus Committee. Axel has been with UMass for 8 years.  Prior to that he worked for various parks departments in conservation and recreation. He has a strong interest in wildlife conservation and especially how modern landscaping can benefit native species. His goal is to see the landscape department move towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly land management practices. 

As co-chair of the Bee Campus Committee, Aliza coordinates meetings, leads outreach events, and documents and studies wild bee species on campus. Aliza is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Conservation Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her PhD research focuses on improving habitats for wild bees as part of sustainable logging practices in the Lower Midwest, and she is passionate about sharing her love for wild bees and other insects!

Michael is a PhD student in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. As a member of the Bee Campus Committee, Michael utilizes GIS tools to map and analyze volunteered geographic pollinator observations on campus. In collaboration with Aliza Fassler, Michael has also been documenting pollinators on campus through a catch and release process that involves photographing each observation with a macro camera. His research interests in his PhD program include conservation paradigms, access to common land, co-housing, and limited development.

Jeremy Andersen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation. His research focuses on the conservation of native forest insects and the biological control of non-native invasive insects. This research integrates evolutionary and ecological research, as well as outreach to reduce the ecological and economic impacts of invasive species while highlighting and describing the diversity of native insects. You can learn more about his lab and work here.

Nicole works for UMass Amherst Extension as a pollinator specialist, focusing primarily on outreach and education related to wild bees and non-bee insects. She created and is the primary facilitator of UMass Amherst’s Pollinator Steward Certification program, and disseminates pollinator-focused outreach via lectures around Massachusetts, social media, and extension publications. Her prior research includes honeybee health, the impacts of wildfire on managed native bees, and the functional traits of wild bees in urban gardens.

As Head of Grounds, Todd plays a vital role in championing our campus trees and pollinator habitats. When he's not giving his famous tree walks, Todd is responsible for overseeing the stewardship of the entire campus landscape including construction and digsafe operations. Todd has been a member of the UMass community for over thirty years. 

Stella Dee is an arborist, a PhD Candidate in Environmental Conservation, and a research associate with UMass Facilities. Her academic work looks at the efficacy of arboricultural strategies for mature tree retention in the built environment, including how pruning affects the invertebrate community associated with a tree. Her work for Facilities includes assisting with maintaining the campus tree ArcGIS inventory as well as building interfaces for Facilities to track IPM treatments and other management interventions.

Dr. Figueroa is a conservation ecologist and entomologist interested in understanding how interacting stressors influence pollinator health and critically assessing the effectiveness of restoration/conservation efforts. Her work is primarily field based, and takes place in temperate and tropical forests, agroecosystems, and urban settings. She uses emerging machine learning bioacoustics methods to monitor bees in a standardized and non-lethal manner.

Grace Gutierrez is a PhD Student in the Figueroa Lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research broadly focuses on pollinator conservation, looking at the creation of climate-smart pollinator habitats as well as non-native pollinator species and their impact on native species and the environment. Her favorite bee species is Osmia taurus, a non-native cavity nesting species found here in Massachusetts! In her free time you can find her walking her dog or reading whatever fantasy book has caught her eye recently.

Dr. Susannah Lerman is a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts. Her research assesses how wildlife communities respond to different management practices, with a focus on birds, bees, and bison, and how people interact with nearby nature. Her research emphasis is on working landscapes, i.e., National Forests and Grasslands, and living landscapes i.e., residential yards. National Forest and Grassland research identifies opportunities for promoting productive forests while supporting wildlife habitat, and how different disturbance regimes, such as fire and grazing, influence wildlife habitat conditions. Residential yard research highlights opportunities for the public to participate in science, biodiversity conservation, and shared stewardship. She mentors an exceptional group of young and early career scholars.

The focus of my research is on native bee taxonomy, biodiversity, and conservation. I work in collaboration with Federal and State agencies, and NGO’s to provide inventories and baseline data for monitoring native bees in managed habitats. My research has included a systematic review of the bee fauna of Massachusetts, the effects of habitat restoration and fuels control on pine-barrens habitats, the bee fauna of remnant glacial outwash areas, the role of silviculture in enhancing bee pollination services in forested landscapes, and surveys of the bee fauna of suburban lawns in relation to management.

Justin Roch is a research fellow in the Andersen lab in the Environmental Conservation department, where he works on using DNA sequencing and other methods to assist with native bee identification. Justin is also a curatorial fellow in the UMass Entomology Collection, where he manages ongoing collection curation and outreach efforts, and maintains the UMass Live Insect Zoo. Justin is interested in the taxonomy and conservation of a wide variety of insects but especially pollinators, and is a UMass alum with a master’s in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (’23).

Heather Siart is a PhD candidate whose research interests focus on the effects of
climate change and human impact on insects, specifically Lepidoptera. She is studying
the effects of climate change on the at-risk butterfly species. Her research partners with
New Hampshire Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which allows
her to participate in translational ecology, citizen science, and science education.

Ezra Small (‘07G) has served as the Campus Sustainability Manager at UMass Amherst since 2011.  Ezra’s role within Facilities & Campus Services includes implementing sustainable systems to reduce the campus environmental footprint in energy, transportation, and waste as well as integrate sustainability across the academic curriculum.  Notable accomplishments include establishing the Sustainability, Innovation & Engagement Fund, installing the largest solar project on a college campus in New England, launching ValleyBike, one of the largest electric-assist bike share programs in the US, founding the New2U sustainable reuse program and campus thrift-store, receiving the Massachusetts Leading by Example Award for outstanding environmental and energy leadership, helping the campus win the Second Nature Climate Leadership Award, and most recently completing a yearlong Carbon Mitigation Planning process for the campus to reach 100% renewable energy by 2032, now called UMass Carbon Zero (UMCZ).