CO-ORGANIZERS

 Dr. Eric Erickson is Director of the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center and a co- organizer of the conference.  He is the designated lead contact on Africanized bee issues for the USDA and ARS.  Dr. Erickson is an internationally recognized scientist who has conducted research in apiculture and crop pollination for nearly thirty years.  He has published over 150 scientific papers, several book chapters and a book.  His current research involves studies leading to non- chemical control of varroa mites and the development of strategies for mitigating attacks by Africanized honey bees.

 Dr. Robert Page is an internationally recognized a Honey Bee Geneticist in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Davis.  He was also the lead co-organizer of the First International Conference on Africanized Honey Bees and Bee Mites at Ohio State University.  Dr. Page  has studied the biology of tracheal mites and mechanisms of mite resistance.  He has considerable experience in international apiculture having worked in Egypt on a USAID honey bee breeding project and with Africanized honey bees in Venezuela.  His major research area is in honey bee behavior and genetics, areas of vital importance for understanding and controlling Africanized bees in North America.  He is currently mapping the honey bee genome.