Lovely Adhikary is a PhD candidate in the Small Fruit Entomology lab, where she works under the guidance of Dr. Sriyanka Lahiri. Originally from India, where she completed her bachelor's degree at North Bengal Agricultural University, Lovely previously earned her M.S working on plant-insect volatile interactions in mesquite at New Mexico State University. Currently, Lovely's research is focused on the control of chili thrips without the use of pesticides, including screening cultivars for genetic resistance and evaluating different natural predators as biological controls. Intending to stay in academia, Lovely plans to pursue a postdoc role related to horticultural entomology after completing her PhD at the GCREC.