Assistant Professor CSU Fullerton (2025-)

Postdoctoral Researcher California Academy of Sciences (2023-2025)

Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley (2016-2023)

B.S. Zoology & Entomology North Carolina State University (2013-2016)

Dr. Anna Holmquist, PI

Principle investigator

I earned my Bachelors degree from North Carolina State University where I studied urban entomology and community ecology. I completed by doctorate at UC Berkeley where I studied the interaction of historical and modern processes in biodiversity formation as well as biotic community response to novel environmental disturbances. I then began a postdoctoral position in the Center for Comparative Genomics at the California Academy of Sciences, leading an initiative to generate a DNA reference library for California insects using natural history collections. 

Like many arachnologists and entomologists, my fascination with spiders and other arthropods began at a young age. I was astonished by the diversity of these creatures and this interest stayed with me. I am interested in the better understand the interplay of ecology and evolution in shaping arthropod biodiversity across scales as well as studying modern-day biodiversity response to global change.

Harrison Porter

Undergraduate researcher

Dept of Biological Science, CSUF

Jayden Phongcharern

Undergraduate researcher

Dept of Biological Science, CSUF

I enjoy tea, cats, chess, and fossils among many other things. The exciting thing about researching insects & spiders is that we know so little about them, despite them being all around us, and this makes every question about the little beasties a novel foray that is worth investigating.

Students

My main interests are learning more about spiders and insects in general. I am interested in careers involving terrestrial restoration, conservation, and environmental consulting. I believe learning about entomology would be a great asset!