participiants->

Co-Principal Investigators

• Robert A Wharton, Texas A&M University,

• James B Woolley, Texas A&M University

Trainees

• Matthew Buffington, Graduate Student (Graduated - currently PhD candidate at University of California, Riverside)

• Robert Kula, Graduate Student (Graduated - currently PhD candidate at Kansas State, Manhantan)
  
  
• Beatriz Rodríguez-Velez, Graduate Student
  
  
• Matthew Yoder, Graduate Student
  

International Collaborating Scientists

• Fredrik Ronquist, Uppsala University, Collaborating Scientist (training Matt Buffington)
  
   Dr. Ronquist is the world's leading specialist on the higher classification of the Cynipoidea and a renowned theoretician.  He provided assistance with the analytical aspects of Mr. Buffington's thesis as well as the interpretation of morphological features.  Dr. Ronquist established Morphbank, an image database for Cynipoidea, to which we have made substantial contributions from Mr. Buffington's eucoiline work.  Dr. Ronquist is now collaborating with Dr. Wharton in a reverse PEET: Wharton is assisting a Swedish student working under Ronquist on the systematics of Biosteres s.l., an opiine braconid.
  

• Goran Nordlander, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Collaborating Scientist (training Matt Buffington)
  
  Dr. Nordlander is the world's leading specialist on the cynipoid subfamily Eucoilinae (Figitidae).  His employment as a forest entomolologist allows little time for work on this large group of approximately 1000 described species.  The depth of his knowledge of eucoilines was of tremendous use to trainee Matt Buffington in the choice of suitable taxa for study and advice on generic limits.

• John S Noyes, Natural History Museum, London, Collaborating Scientist  (training Beti Rodrigueze-Velez)
  
  Dr. Noyes is the world's leading specialist on the family Encyrtidae and works closely with Jim Woolley.  Dr. Noyes' working knowledge of the world's encyrtids has been especially valuable in the selection of suitable taxa for the research of Ms. Rodriguez-Velez.
  

• Lubomir Masner, Canadian National Insect Collection, Collaborating Scientist (training Matt Yoder)
  
  Dr. Masner is the world's authority on proctorupoids (s.l.).  Though retired he is an extremely avid collector and is actively expanding the largest and perhaps most important collection of proctorupoids in the world.

Technical Support

• Terry Junek, Technician
  
  Terry maintains extensive taxonomic databases developed for the Braconidae portion of the PEET program.