In her role with Cornell Integrated Pest Management, Diana assesses the effects of key chemical, biological and physical stressors on terrestrial organisms in agricultural and urban systems, with an emphasis on pollinators, beneficial arthropods and native plants. Her work is used to develop and improve best management practices to reduce risks associated with pest management. Diana also oversees efforts to revamp Cornell IPM’s Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) including revising the current model, maintaining the pesticide database and expanding it to generate and includeefficacy data and other risk parameters particularly for those products currently registered in New York. Her work is being conducted in collaboration with Cornell IPM and Cornell University faculty and the state agencies.
Education
P.h.D., Entomology, Cornell University
M.S., Entomology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
B.S., Agronomic/Agricultural Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Recent Research
I am broadly interested in contributing to dealing with the trade-off between pollinator conservation and pest management in agricultural settings applying concepts of agroecology, landscape ecology, and chemical ecology. In the Poveda Lab, I am studying how the loss of natural habitat and pesticides are affecting bees and pollination services. My fieldwork is developed in Colombia studying stingless bees in fruit and cattle ranching farms, and in the US, studying squash crops and their pollinators. Ultimately, my goal is to provide useful recommendations to sustainable agriculture for growers, policymakers, and stakeholders.
Given annually to an individual or organization whose work on integrated pest management in the Northeast deserves special recognition, the award celebrates those who contribute to the development of new IPM tools; implement or evaluate IPM...