Dr. Ramsey received his B.S. in entomology from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Maryland College Park. He completed his post-doctoral training with Dr. Jay Evans, Steve Cook, and Daniel Sonenshine at USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory and now serves as Endowed Professor of Entomology at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. He has been featured on Hulu’s Docuseries–as well as in the Washington Post, New York Times, on NPR, CNN, Wired, CBS’s This Morning, Khan Academy, Seeker, The Today Show, and several local news segments, Dr. Sammy is celebrated as an engaging science communicator, and he uses this talent to make science more accessible to a broad audience. His nonprofit, The Ramsey Research Foundation, works to develop novel pathways for scientific funding by removing paywalls that keep the public from engaging with published scientific work.

Dr. David Tarpy is a Professor of Applied Ecology at NC State University and Director of the NC State Apiculture Program. He received a BS from Hobart College, an MS from Bucknell University, a Ph.D. from University of California at Davis, and completed a USDA postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. His research focuses on honey bee biology and behavior, including queen quality, mating systems, genetic diversity, disease ecology, and factors that influence colony health. A particular focus of his lab group has been on the reproductive plasticity of queens in an effort to improve queen quality and colony productivity.  He has authored more than 150 peer‑reviewed papers and has served on the boards of the Bee Informed Partnership, the Eastern Apicultural Society, and several national working groups. He is an editor for the Journal of Economic Entomology and Apidologie and was named a University Faculty Scholar at NC State in 2015.

Kaylee Richardson is a beekeeper, herbalist, author, and the founder of The Honeystead and Bee Attuned Mushroom Blend. She is the author of The Beekeeper’s Apothecary, a top‑ranking title in Alternative Medicine that explores the relationship between honey bees, herbal remedies, and the body’s natural healing processes. Her work is rooted in observing honey bees and their relationship to herbal medicine and the body’s natural healing processes.

Rebecca Craps is a Natural Resources and Environmental Systems Agent with N.C. Cooperative Extension in Forsyth County, where she provides research-based education to promote sustainable environmental practices and community-based conservation. Her work includes programs on water resource protection, native plant and pollinator habitat restoration, invasive species management, forestry, and human–wildlife interactions. She also coordinates the Northwest Piedmont Master Naturalist Volunteer Program. Through her work, she empowers community members to become informed stewards of natural resources and to better understand and care for the natural systems around them.

Molly Carlson, 2026 John T. Ambrose Student Award Recipient, is a master’s student in the NCSU Apiculture Lab. She began her beekeeping journey with the NCSBA in 2013 as a sponsored 4 H student and later interned in several USDA ARS honey bee research labs. After completing her B.S. in Biology at NC State, she developed a strong interest in honey bee behavior and communication. Her current research focuses on the long standing question of queen supersedure. Molly’s master’s project examines the factors that drive queen acceptance and rejection, with particular attention to queen and brood pheromones. Her talk highlights the brood pheromone E beta ocimene and its role in colony growth and queen replacement in newly installed packages.