EDUCATION

Present              Ph.D. Candidate, University of Louisville, Department of Biology

2016                   B.A., Hendrix College

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Tropical Rainforest Biology, University of Louisville (Summer 2018)

Principles of Quantitative Biology, University of Louisville (Fall 2017 – Spring 2018)

Introduction to Biological Systems, University of Louisville (Fall 2016 – Spring 2017)

Guest Lecturer

Island Biogeography Theory, Conservation Biology Lecture, University of Louisville (Spring 2019)

Cooperation, Animal Behavior Lecture, University of Louisville (Fall 2018)

Tales of a smelly ant: How Azteca trigona influences the tropical canopy system, Chemical Ecology Lecture, University of Louisville (Spring 2018)

Species Approaches to Conservation Biology, Conservation Biology Lecture, University of Louisville (Fall 2016)

Climate Change, Introduction to Biological Systems co-lecture, University of Louisville (Fall 2016)

Graduate Teaching Assistant Academy Part I (Fall 2017) & Part II (current)

Two semester long courses aimed to educate graduates to teaching in higher education.

Non-biological Experience

Blackbird Academy of the Arts taught classical ballet to students ages 6-15, Conway, Arkansas (Fall of 2014 – Spring of 2016)

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PRESENTATIONS

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. The influence of a tropical canopy ant on forest odor composition and heterospecific ant behaviors.  Entomological Society of America 2018 Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. Chemical and behavioral influence of Azteca trigona on BCI.  Bambi Seminar Series, Barro Colorado Island 2018.

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. The influence of Azteca trigona on forest odors and canopy ant behaviors.  Ant Course 2018, Nouragues Field Station, French Guiana.

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. The effects of Azteca trigona pheromones on forest odor composition and heterospecific ant behaviors. International Union for the Society of Social Insects 2018 Conference, Guaruja, Brazil.

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. Environmental effects on the composition of Azteca trigona nest odor plumes. Entomological Society of America 2017 Conference, Denver, Colorado.

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. Characterizing Azteca trigona ant odor plumes in a tropical forest. Midwest Ecology and Evolution 2017 Conference, Champaign, Illinois.

Wells, R.L., Frost, C.J., and S.P. Yanoviak. Chemical characterization of odor plumes around nests of the tropical ant Azteca trigona. Kentucky Academy of Science 2016 Annual Meeting, Louisville, Kentucky.

Wells, R.L., S. K. Murphy, and M.D. Moran. The role of the leaf-cutter ant (Atta cephalotes) in structuring leaf-litter arthropod communities. Ecological Society of America 2016 Annual Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Wells, R.L., S. K. Murphy, and M.D. Moran. Indirect effects of leaf-cutter ants on the litter arthropod community in a tropical rainforest. Arkansas Academy of Science Annual Meeting, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Wells, R.L., Bidny, D., Ellwanger, C., and Fant, J.B. 2015. Platanthera leucophaea: an assessment of genetic diversity in relation to pollinator presence and morphological fitness in the federally threatened Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid. Chicago Botanic Garden Research Symposium, Glencoe, Illinois.

Wells, R.L., Cox, A.B., Benichou C.C., McClung, M.R., and M.D. Moran. 2014. Land use change in north central Arkansas due to the Fayetteville shale development. Hendrix Biological Society Meeting, Conway, Arkansas.

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VOLUNTEER AND OUTREACH

2016-2019     Biology Graduate Student Association, University of Louisville

Active member (2016-2019); Secretary and Graduate Student Committee Representative (2018); Undergraduate Representative (2017)

2018-2019     Graduate Student Council, University of Louisville

Biology Department Representative; Member of the Graduate Student Regional Research Conference Planning Committee

2018               Bambi Seminar Series, Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Bambi Jefe: Planned the research talks for scientists working for or with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 

2017               Capybara Seminar Series, Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Organized Barro Colorado Island resident research talks

2014-2015     Hendrix College, Hendrix College Orientation Team

Orientation Leader; helped plan for and move in the freshman classes of 2018 and 2019; in charge of 14 freshmen for 3 days on off-campus orientation trips