Presented by Appalachian State University

Join App State’s Rahman Tashakkori for an engaging look at a new beekeeping information system that could help boost U.S. honeybee populations. The system was developed by App State faculty and funded by the UNC System.

Hardworking honeybee populations — responsible for a third of the food on Americans’ plates — are on the decline in the U.S. Last year, Tashakkori began leading a research team in a three-year honeybee research program to help address this decline. The program is supported by a nearly $1.1 million grant through the UNC System’s Research Opportunities Initiative.

As part of the program, the team will create a new beekeeping information system called AppMAIS (App State Multipurpose Apiary Informatics System) to investigate the health, development, and genomic diversity of honeybee hives in North Carolina. The shared data from their research will inform scientists, researchers, educators, beekeepers, and the public.

The researchers will employ an open-source internet platform and the Beemon hive monitoring system designed and built by computer science faculty and students at App State.

About the Speaker:

At App State, Tashakkori serves as the Lowe’s Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and chair of the Department of Computer Science. He is also program director of the National Science Foundation supported S-STEM program and the Computer Science Innovation and Entrepreneurship program. His research interests include image processing, data science, computational methods, honeybee monitoring systems, stochastic simulation, and computer science education.