Yard & Garden Lecture: Native Bees of Washington State ~ Karen Wright

Dr. Karen Wright is an entomologist, apiarist, and researcher. She received her Master’s degree at Oregon State University in entomology, then she moved to New Mexico where she started her career working on native bees. She received her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico on the Evolution of Diet Breadth in Melissodes bees. After that, she was curator of the insect collection at Texas A&M University for six years until she saw the job listing for the Washington Bee Atlas. She was hired February 1, 2023, by the Washington State Department of Agriculture to develop and manage the Washington Bee Atlas. Karen will talk about native bees (Washington has more than 600 species) and how they differ from honey bees and wasps, and provide an introduction to the Washington Bee Atlas that was formed in 2023.