Dr. Ariel Heminger
PHD FELLOW ALUMNI | Global Change Center
VT Alumni November 2022 • School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
Advisor: Dr. David Haak
arielrh@vt.edu
Dr. Heminger successfully defended her PhD in November of 2022. She will be working for the USDA-APHIS as a biological scientist working with USDA/APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Services.
In Spring 2017, Ariel Heminger joined the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences (SPES) as a Ph.D. student in Dr. David Haak’s lab. Ariel studied the relationships between plants, insects, and microbes. She is interested in understanding how biotic and abiotic factors can impact this relationship and shape traits found in plants and insects. Ariel received her B.S. from the University of Delaware in Entomology in 2014 and a M.S. in Entomology from Virginia Tech in 2016. During her undergraduate training, she worked at USDA-ARS in Newark, DE on the biological control of the brown marmorated stink bug and tarnished plant bugs. During her M.S program, she worked under Dr. Scott Salom on the biological control agent Laricobius nigrinus, assessing its impacts on the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid.
From an early age, Ariel has been curious about insects and plants and particularly insect-plant interactions. Through her research and IGC training at Virginia Tech, she is collaborating across disciplines to learn how scientists approach complex problems that require interdisciplinary solutions.
The ICG IGEP provides PhD students with a unique intellectual focus and training, gaining depth in their specific scientific area of expertise, while simultaneously gaining breadth in the multifaceted realm of global change and the science-policy interface.
When students complete our program, they remain part of our broad community by becoming part of our Global Alumni Network. Our alumni are invited to participate in our graduate seminar courses, provide keynote remarks at our annual graduate research symposium, return to Virginia Tech for GCC gatherings, network with current students regarding career opportunities, and stay connected to each other.
