Project Description
Western honey bee behavior and communication has been a subject of study for hundreds of years, yet much remains unknown about how they coordinate with each other to succeed as a colony without a central leader. In the Peleg lab, we investigate how they accomplish tasks such as building hives and linking together into hanging swarms using physics, engineering, and computer science tools.
We are looking for a DLA student to assist with analyzing experimental data of honey bee behavior. We have a variety of projects that the student might assist with depending on student skills and interest, including:
- Analyzing how bees connect to each other in swarms and beehives with data taken with x-ray CT and videography.
- Investigating how bees fan pheromones to one another to communicate.
- Studying how bees build hexagonal comb of different sizes for brood and honey with photography and image analysis.
The student will work with their lab mentor to analyze data from experiments. The student might need to do x-ray training. There is a possibility of doing experiments with live bees at the end of the Spring semester.
Special Requirements
The following skills are helpful but not mandatory: programming (MATLAB), working with radiation, beekeeping or other work with animals, prototyping.
Contact
- Orit Peleg (faculty)
- Olga Shishkov (graduate student)