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Rae Olsson, Ph.D.

Rae Olsson: they/them/theirs

Twitter: @RLOlsson

Website: WhatsTheBuzzResearch

Rae (Rachel) has been interested in insects ever since they were a kid, and then they did a summer internship at the Entomology department of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. They went to The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA for undergrad, where they studied Community Development in Food Systems and Agricultural Sciences.

Rae was the first postdoc to join the Hopkins lab in spring of 2020. They completed their Ph.D. in the Crowder lab at Washington State University studying pollinator communities across diverse agricultural landscapes. They also spent a lot of time looking at pollinator-attractive plant traits in canola. Presently, Rae is working on generating tools for beekeepers to monitor colony health and predicting colony success in a variety of landscapes and floral resource areas. They are also the chair of the WSU Entomology Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

Rae has also worked numerous other jobs including several years as a massage therapist, birth and postpartum doula, infant massage instructor, yoga teacher, gymnastics coach, and more retail jobs than they can count. They’ve played and coached roller derby, and were a volunteer with The Trevor Project for a number of years. Now, in their free time they enjoy gardening, playing with their four dogs, and knitting.