Ames Senior Wasp Studies Published

Vera Zhao's work to collect wasp brains or count their spots isn't something she often talks about to her classmates.

“It wasn't super exciting,” Zhao, 18, said of her internship at .

But the fact that some of her research on paper wasps has been published in a peer reviewed journal has been something worth bragging about.

“It's pretty cool to get published at age 17,” Zhao said.

Another professor, Elizabeth Tibbetts, at the University of Michigan, used Zhao's research when writing “Geographic Variation in the Status Signals of Polistes dominulus Paper Wasps.” a scientific journal article published in PLoS so Zhao was named as one of the journal's co-authors. The work was published in December.

“It was very surreal,” Zhao said. “I was just surprised my research was going for something a lot bigger.”

Zhao began studying wasp heads in the fall of 2010 with ISU professor Amy Toth. Zhao first examined how paper wasps recognize one another by the spots on their faces. Later she used computer models to count the spots on wasp faces of both Hungarian and Italian paper wasps. Scientists wanted to know if a wasp's spots or its size was affected by the parasites wasps sometimes get.

The wasp heads Zhao used came in boxes separate from the rest of their bodies. Zhao simply mounted the heads on puddy and used programs to photograph and document spots and their patterns.

When that work was done she began dissecting heads to collect wasp brains so that other researchers could collect genetic material for further study.

Zhao chose the wasp project from a handful she was offered.

“This one sounded the most interesting,” Zhao said.

Surprisingly Zhao who hopes to attend an east coast university next fall won't major in science. She plans to study history or international relations but focused on science in high school because she said she knew her post graduate studies would be focused on the humanities.

“I wanted a more well rounded high school education,” Zhao said. “I knew I wouldn't have time for science when I was in college.”