Sara Scarlett

Title: IB PhD Student
Dept/Program: Biology
Email: sss141@uakron.edu

Biography

I graduated with my MS in biological sciences from Bowling Green State University. My research interests lie in arachnology, specifically the behavior of spiders (Araneae). In my masters thesis, I ran the whip spider Phrynus marginemaculatus through a negative patterning discrimination task to test their ability to distinguish between a compound olfactory stimulus and its individual component. During my undergraduate career at Bowling Green, I conducted an independent research project trying to discover if male Phrynus marginemaculatus could detect olfactory cues left behind by other male Phrynus marginemaculatus. My research has been presented at the Sensorium Conference and at Bowling Green State University's undergraduate research symposium.

Outside of arachnid research, I also had the opportunity to assist with nocturnal migration research in songbirds and antibiotic resistant bacteria research during my masters.

I am currently a Ph.D student in Dr. Todd Blackledge's lab and I am studying how front leg autotomy affects foraging behaviors and web architecture in spiders.