Jessica Purcell
Assistant Professor
Department of Entomology
University of California, Riverside
jpurcell@ucr.edu
phone:951-827-7258




Madison Sankovitz

I am fascinated by the ecological interactions of insects and their role in soil health. In my Ph.D. research, I take advantage of the widespread ant genus Formica to try to understand the role of environment in shaping their function as soil ecosystem engineers. I use a combination of field sampling, laboratory experiments, genomic analyses, and landscape modeling to investigate variation in ants and their soil impacts along various gradients - latitudinal, elevational, and urbanization gradients in North America.



Academic Background

B.S. University of Colorado Boulder, 2017

Fellowships and Funding

UCR Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellowship (2017-2020)
NRT Integrated Computational Entomology (NICE) Fellowship (2018-2021) Boulder County Parks & Open Space Grant (2019)