Meet our technician (2019) - Shelby Dufton

Hi!  My name is Shelby Dufton and you may have seen some of my posts on the blog before (1, 2, 3).  I have worked in a few different capacities with the Beaverlodge Research Farm since 2014. I started out as a co-op student from the University of British Columbia in my first couple of years at the farm and quickly found my passion for entomological research. Following this, I started a M.Sc. degree through the University of Lethbridge. For my Master’s thesis project, I studied the effects of natural enemies of the wheat midge. I recently defended my thesis in April – and I’m excited to say I passed!

Figure 1.  Shelby (right) and Amanda Jorgensen (left) scouting overnight for
wheat midge in a field near Fort Vermilion AB.

In October of 2018, I was hired on as a full-time research technician with the IPM program. Making the change from Master’s student to technician involves new opportunities for me to learn and grow with the program. Things are ramping up as the field season kicks off and I’m happy to be working outside again.

Currently, I am in the process of scouting for and setting up new fields for our insect monitoring that is part of the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (For more information check out the PPMN blog). Looking forward to seeing you out in the field this summer!

shelby.dufton@canada.ca

Figure 2.  Shelby holding a Polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus, that she reared in 2018.