Murder Hornet Researcher, Shawn Cleveland, Joins the Graduate Program Faculty
Shawn Cleveland is a new Associate Professor in Paul Smith’s College’s Graduate School program, where he will be focusing on Natural Resources. Cleveland will be teaching mostly remote from his hometown of Missoula, Montana, but will be on campus for residencies.
Cleveland earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees down the road from his home at the University of Montana, and completed his PhD at SUNY ESF. At ESF, he had the opportunity for a TA position, but ended being hired as faculty and taught at ESF’s Ranger School in Wanakena, NY for five years.
While at the Ranger School, he became acquainted with Jorie Favreau, Dean of Curriculum & Professor of Wildlife Biology and Val Titus, Associate Professor NRCM and Wildlife Ecology Program Coordinator for Natural Resources Conservation and Management, and Val let him know a position was coming available and it can be remote, so he tossed his hat in the ring.
Cleveland later moved to Olympia, Washington, when his wife got a job there. He taught at Pacific Lutheran University, and it was there that he got his start with the “Murder Hornets.”
When the Murder Hornets arrived in Washington, he used his wildlife knowledge to teach Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney and his team to find the initial nest using radio tags and radio telemetry triangulation methods.
“The concern was: where should we be looking?” Cleveland asks.
He pitched an idea to study their behavior, figure out what resources they are using, evaluate the landscape and research the genetics, in other words, “hornet profiling.”
He shared this idea with Looney who, after six months, came into the brewery Cleveland was pouring pints in, and says “We’re going to South Korea!”
After securing funding, Cleveland traveled to South Korea, working with Cellular Tracking Technologies, to improve tag design for further research and monitoring. The solar-powered, Bluetooth-enabled BluMorpho tags weigh .05g and locate the hornets every 5-10 seconds. “These very light transmitters pushed the technological side to better understand eradication opportunities,” Cleveland explains.
How to Catch a Buzz
Hornets do serve purposes other than “murder.” “Hornets are infused in soju (rice wine), for about nine years, the exoskeletons are extracted from the mix and it creates a great-tasting drink!” Cleveland adds.
Cleveland’s family is involved in natural resource studies. He is the father of three, ranging in age from high school senior to six-month-old. And, his wife is the program director for the Western Dry Forest and Fire Program for the Nature Conservancy.
Murder Hornets—Northern Giant Hornets (Vespa mandarinia)—are the world’s largest wasps. “Murder Hornet” is commonly used, but not quite accurate. They don’t actively hunt humans, but they can kill if they feel threatened. Murder Hornets were first seen in Vancouver, British Columbia in August 2019 and appeared in the U.S. in December 2019, near Blaine, Washington.