This little bee was found just outside of Pheasant Run Townhomes in Harrisonburg, Va. He stopped by for some nectar from the flower, but what if he hadn’t? What if this bee had not pollinated this flower? Colony Collapse Disorder (a disease that causes bees to leave the hive, and their absence causes those left to perish), parasites, and airborne pollutants are taking a devastating toll on the honey bee population.
The Bee Team hopes to solve the plight of the honey bees. We sat down and brainstormed ideas to figure out what direction we were going with our project. By writing ideas on sticky notes, we thought that new thoughts would blossom. It didn’t work as well as we hoped. We we do know: our solution to the bee problem will include using drones, tracking the bees’ flight patterns, and observing the activity in both clean and polluted areas of their hives.
About the Team
Stephanie Lugbill-WRTC
I wished to be part of this project to learn about drones and how they can better the environment.
Alec Barney-ISAT
I spent this summer working at the Virginia Center for Wind Energy. The Director, Dr. Jonathan Miles, talked to my coworkers about developing a drone that could obtain wind velocities. I was the only one interested, so when I heard about the project based drone course, I came with this project in mind.
Xavier Lambert- Psychology
I first heard of the Drone Lab when I was in Dr. Ludwig’s Bio class. I was interested in working with drones and developing viable applications for them as they are growing more and more popular.
Kyle Britton- Physics
Drones are a rapidly evolving technology, something that could change the way the world works on many fronts, and I want to be a part of that revolution.
Meet the JMU Bee Team crew: Going clockwise starting
from the front right is Xavier Lambert, Stephanie Lugbill,
and Alec Barney.
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