Research Interests

Dr. Rosalind James is Research Leader of the Pollinating-Insect Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Unit in Logan, UT. The mission of the laboratory, also known as the Bee Biology and Systematics Lab, is to develop bees as sustainable pollinators of agricultural crops, focusing on domesticating new bee species, that is, bees other than honey bees. Additional research is directed in areas of bee biosystematics and pollination biology. Dr. James obtained a PhD in Entomology from Oregon State University and worked as a Senior Scientist at the EPA Environmental Research Laboratory in Corvallis, OR, before joining ARS as an expert in microbial control of insect pests. Dr. James's expertise is in insect pathology, and she now works on developing novel control options and delivery systems for the management of chalkbrood and other diseases, parasites, and predators in bees, especially the alfalfa leafcutting bee. Her research contributes to our basic understanding of host-pathogen interactions and the improvement of methods for controlling bee diseases in agricultural production systems. Dr. James is currently active in the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, serving as Secretary/Treasurer (2004-2006) and Chair Elect (2006-2008) of the Fungus Division, and has published on a variety of subjects including bee diseases, biological control, genetic engineering, and risk assessment.