People
Principle Investigator
Megan L. Fritz, PhD.
I am broadly interested in arthropod adaptation in response to human footprints in an ecosystem.  I combine laboratory experiments, field collecting/sampling, and cutting-edge molecular and computational approaches in an integrative way to quantify the impacts of human activities on genomic variation in arthropod species.  While my focal organisms are from disparate taxonomic groups, they serve as models to address a broad evolutionary question: how do human-mediated changes in the landscape sculpt arthropod genomes and produce adaptive phenotypic change?  My research also considers the downstream consequences of rapid adaptive changes for both agricultural productivity and vector-borne disease transmission. 

Senior Lab Members

Thea Bliss
​Lab Manager
Thea graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Ecology and Evolution and minor in Sustainability in 2021. She joined the Fritz lab as the manager and maintains the mosquito and lepidopteran insect cultures currently being used for research. Her current project involves blood meal analysis to quantify vertebrate blood host use in wild Culex.
Kate Taylor, PhD.
Postdoc
Kate’s research interests include evolution, genomics, and speciation. Her current project focuses on the genomic basis of field-evolved Bt resistance in Helicoverpa zea, as well as monitoring for agricultural pest resistance evolution. 
Kate Bell, PhD.
Postdoc Affiliate
Kate is broadly interested in the evolution of biological novelty, and the genetic architecture of adaptive traits and reproductive isolation.  In the Fritz Lab, Kate is studying the genomics of host preference in Culex pipiens.
​Anastasia Naumenko, PhD.
Postdoc
Anastasia joined the lab in 2021. She obtained her Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her Ph.D. project focused on chromosomal rearrangements in several mosquito species, including the southern house mosquito. Her current research aims to understand how differences in the antennal distribution of odorant receptors mediate host-seeking behaviors in Culex pipiens mosquitoes.
Arielle Arsenault-Benoit, M.Sc.
Ph.D. student
Arielle is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Entomology with a passion for  engagement and retention of under-represented groups in STEM.  She is broadly interested in the influence of vector ecology and genomics on disease transmission.  In the Fritz Lab, Arielle is studying how features of the urban, suburban, and rural landscape influence the distribution of Culex West Nile virus vectors, as well as gene flow among Culex pipiens assemblage members.
Rong Guo, M.Sc.
Ph.D. Student
Rong is a Ph.D. student in the CBBG Program (Department of Biology).  She studies patterns of genetic polymorphism in chemosensory genes and their relationship to evolutionary diversification in wild Heliothines.
Theresa Menna
Ph.D. Student
Theresa is a Ph.D. student in the CBBG program (Department of Biology). She uses genomic and transcriptomic data to connect patterns of chemosensory gene expression and polymorphism to host preference in mosquito vectors of disease.
Ben Gregory
Ph.D. Student
Ben is interested in how the built environment shapes animal evolution, and how urban infrastructure can be designed to facilitate more mutualistic interactions between people and wildlife. Ben's Ph.D. research aims to uncover patterns of adaptive genomic divergence and gene flow among Culex pipiens assemblage members along an urban-rural gradient in greater Washington, D.C. 
Ben Burgunder
​M.Sc. Student
Ben Burgunder graduated from Cornell in 2022 with a degree in entomology and a minor in infectious disease biology. He is interested in West Nile virus transmission and vector ecology. His research in the Fritz lab focuses on the spatial ecology of Culex mosquitoes. Outside of the lab, Ben is passionate about insect photography and hiking.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Dominique Desmarattes
Dominique is a senior at UMD.  Her is interested in pursuing data science research, including analysis of large genomic datasets.  She is currently analyzing data to study the of Helicoverpa zea and it's resistance to Bt toxins.
Jane Quackenbush
Jane is a junior at UMD majoring in biology and psychology with a minor a human development. She joined the Fritz lab’s work studying insecticide resistance in Helicoverpa zea because of her interests in genetics.
Harry Heitzig
Harry is a sophomore and a Physiology and Neurobiology major at UMD. He is a part of the Integrated Life Sciences Honors College.
James Tettey
James is rising junior pursuing a degree in Public Health Science on the premedical track. He is interested in epidemiology and virology because of the major impacts that highly transmissible infectious disease can have on public health.
Lab Alumni (and current placements)
Josh Levy
Worcester Polytechnic Data Science Program
Anna Noreuil, M.Sc.
Des Moines University
​College of Osteopathic Medicine
Schyler Nunziata, PhD.
USDA-APHIS Bioinformatic Research Scientist
Joshua Yeroshefsky
Novavax Sample QC Coordinator