Meet our 3MT Finalists: Kate Borchardt

Kate Borchardt is in the second year of her doctoral studies in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Her 3MT presentation is titled "Prairie Plant Communities Improve Plant-Bee Ecosystem Functions & Bee Health in Crop Fields." Learn more about Kate below.

Q: What brought you to Iowa State?

Borchardt

A: I wanted to study the direct and indirect interactions between species in an ecosystem, with my study system being native bees and plants. Amy Toth was one of the only professors I found enthusiastic about me pursuing this for my thesis work and recommended I work within the STRIPS Project here at ISU.

Q: Describe your research in three sentences or less.

A: I am inspired by how characteristics of an ecosystem, namely a plant community, influence how native bees decide to forage within it, creating a plant-bee network of interactions. For my thesis, I plan to investigate how differences in plant communities, habitats, and introduced bee species affect wild bee-plant interactions. By investigating these relationships, I hope to determine how to reconstruct ecosystems beneficial to human society and the targeted conservation of native bees and organisms within agricultural environments.

Q: What do you hope to gain from Three Minute Thesis?

A: I enjoy the challenge and process of condensing my research into something quick and understandable by the general population because I often get stuck on how to simplify the complexities of network analysis.

Q: Share a fun fact about yourself.

A: My favorite bee species is Megachile georgica because the males have enlarged front legs that look like "lobster claws" to me (along with related species).

Founded at the University of Queensland, Three Minute Thesis (3MT) challenges graduate students to present their research to a non-specialist audience in three minutes or less. This year, Iowa State's 3MT competition is entirely virtual. Get to know our seven outstanding finalists before we announce the winner, runner-up, and People's Choice Award recipient on January 25. Watch the full competition and vote for the People's Choice Award recipient.