Diana Sammataro Editor & Author

Diana Sammataro, co-author of the Beekeeper’s Handbook, began keeping bees in 1972 in Litchfield, Connecticut, setting up a package colony in her maternal grandfather’s old bee hive equipment. From then on, she decided that her B.S. in Landscape Architecture (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), would not be a career, but that honey bees would. After a year of independent studies on floral pollination (Michigan State University Bee Lab, East Lansing), she earned an M.S. in Urban Forestry (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor). In 1978 she joined the Peace Corps and taught beekeeping in the Philippines for 3 years. On returning, she worked at the USDA Bee Lab in Madison, Wisconsin, under Dr. Eric Erickson, studying the effects of plant breeding and flower attraction of bees in sunflower lines. When the lab closed, she eventually went to work at the A.I. Root Company as Bee Supply Sales Manager in Medina, Ohio.

In 1991, she was accepted at the Rothenbuhler Honey Bee Lab at The Ohio State University, Columbus, to study for a Ph.D. under Drs. Brian Smith and Glen Needham. In 1995, she worked as a post-doctoral assistant at the Ohio State University Agricultural Research Center in Wooster, Ohio, with Dr. James Tew and in 1998 at the Penn State University Bee lab. Early in 2002, she was invited to join the USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Honey Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona. Her current position is as a Research Entomologist and her work includes research on bee nutrition problems, how they influence Varroa, and current pollination problems.

Jay Yoder teaches courses in microbiology/immunology and general biology as professor of Biology at Wittenberg University.His research focuses on disease transmission by insects, ticks and mites of medical-veterinary importance, and biological control emphasizing pheromone-assisted techniques, entomopathogenic fungi, and water balance. This research has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals with undergraduate students as co-authors. In addition, numerous of these undergraduate students have won research awards at regional and national scientific conferences. Jay holds a B.A. from the University of Evansville (Biology, Chemistry, French), a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University (Entomology; laboratory of Dr. David Denlinger) and conducted Post-doctoral work at Harvard University (laboratory of Dr. Andrew Spielman).