Kathryn Naherny

Kat is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Ramsey Lab. She is Canadian born and Colorado raised, growing up as third-generation beekeeper. Kat has kept bees since the age of seven and comes from a family of beekeepers with commercial and hobby experience. She graduated from the University of Florida with her Bachelors of Science in Entomology in December 2022.

For her dissertation research, Kat works with stingless bees, also known as meliponines, throughout South America. Her work is primarily based in Peru where she collaborates with Indigenous Ashaninka communities that cultivate these bees. Kat's research focuses on melittophiles, which are organisms that are closely associated with bees, wasps, and ants for at least part of their life cycle. She is interested in the community ecology and evolutionary history of these organisms, including symbioses, mimicry, and parasitism.

In her free time, Kat scuba dives, backpacks, bakes, and creates ceramic and mixed media art.