Discovering the World of Honey Bees and Beekeeping

Natalie J. Carroll is a Purdue University professor with extensive experience in curriculum development. She and her creative writing teams have composed thirty-two natural resource, activity-based curricula for youth and twenty-three grant-funded projects. She and her coauthors have received ten national awards for their work. She has also published numerous journal articles and educational works for youth and adults, and has presented her work to hundreds of conferences in Indiana and around the world. Carroll has received seven awards for curriculum development from professional associations in addition to Purdue's Christian J. Foster Award for Contributions to K-12 STEM Education and the Frederick L. Hovde Award of Excellence in Educational Service to the Rural People of Indiana from the Indiana Farm Bureau. Greg Hunt is professor emeritus of entomology at Purdue University. His research focused on honey bee genetics and behavior, and he created the first genetic map of the honey bee genome in order to study behavioral genetics. He has collaborated with beekeepers in applied research and extension projects around the world. Together with Krispn Given, his program at Purdue selected for resistance to the major cause of honey bee mortality, the introduced parasitic Varroa mites. Hunt also served as one of the cofounders of the first Midwestern beekeeping association, the Heartland Apicultural Society. Krispn Given is a leading international authority in honey bee breeding and instrumental insemination. Serving as the senior apiculture specialist at Purdue University, he has directed the honey bee breeding program for more than 20 years. He helped pioneer the landmark "Indiana Mite-biter" honey bee strain alongside Greg Hunt and designed insemination devices utilized by researchers around the world. Given is also the cofounder of Apis Engineering, which develops and manufactures these innovative tools. As an educator, he designed two advanced courses in queen rearing and instrumental insemination. An author of numerous scientific publications and book chapters, Given has received multiple prestigious honors for his contributions, including the 2023 international Roger A. Morse Outstanding Teaching Award in recognition of his innovative work in sustainable apiculture research.