about me

Hi Internet!

I'm Leland! I'm currently a PhD student at Cornell University in the Moreau Lab studying ant systematics and microbiomes. The current focus of my research is on the microbiome of the seed-feeding harvester ants in genus Pogonomyrmex, as well as the phylogenetic relationships of Pogonomyrmex species.

I'm originally from rural South Dakota. I got my B.S. in Plant Biology with a minor in Entomology from the University of Minnesota in 2017, and was a postbac fellow at NIAID for two years before starting at Cornell. I've done research on honey bee resin foraging, springtails that have asexual reproduction facilitated by the Wolbachia bacteria, and malaria mosquito ecology.

When I'm not staring at insects, I spend most of my time reading, hiking, or making the occasional art. I designed a mug with ants on it for the 2019 Cornell University Insectapalooza. Back at University of Minnesota, I wrote political cartoons for the student newspaper. Some of them were good.