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I am interested in investigating ecological questions through the lens of plant-insect interactions, especially in applied contexts. As an undergraduate I studied salt marsh arthropod food webs, which sparked my curiosity about predator-prey interactions and how top-down and bottom-up effects can influence food web structure and ecosystem response to disturbance. I then completed a master’s project investigating how diversity in tomato chemical defense affected foraging and survival of a generalist herbivore, as well as its interactions with predators. As a PhD student in the Szendrei lab I am excited to continue exploring questions related to agroecology, biocontrol, and food webs in a setting where they will be useful to growers. 

email: haurikay ‘at’ msu.edu