Thomas O'Rourke defends thesis on the "Murder Hornet"

Thomas O'Rourke presented his thesis defense on May 22, 2020 on "Modeling An Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) Invasion in North America." His work was especially timely given that the Asian Hornet, sometimes referred to as the "murder hornet," was spotted in early May in Washington state near the Canadian border. These invasive, predatory hornets are a threat to the honeybee industry. Tommy presented a computer model of the invasion of the Asian Hornet in the United States. Tommy's thesis advisor is Dr. John Hranitz.  Drs. Clay Corbin and Abby Hare-Harris served as members of his committee. Tommy earned a B.A. in Philosophy with minors in Biology and Genetics, Rutger’s University. Tommy plans to continue pursuing his interest in computational biology as a doctoral student at Lehigh University. Congratulations Tommy!



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