2025 Winner: Center for Pollinator Research

Pollinators contribute over $30 billion annually to U.S. agriculture and are essential for many of Pennsylvania's most valuable crops, including apples, blueberries, and pumpkins. Yet, pollinator populations are declining worldwide. The BeeSuite Team has risen to this challenge by integrating expertise in entomology, agroecology, geospatial data science, statistical modeling, and stakeholder engagement to create dynamic, high-resolution decision-support tools that link local environmental conditions to pollinator health and ecosystem services.

Their work has resulted in the BeeSuite platform, which includes:

• Beescape, helping stakeholders understand how land use and climate affect pollinator health.
• BeeSpatial, providing interactive geospatial visualizations for researchers and policymakers.
• BeeWinterwise, forecasting honey bee winter survival to support beekeepers.

These tools deliver actionable insights for growers, conservation groups, and policymakers. For example:

• Pennsylvania beekeepers use Winterwise to improve colony survival.
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs BeeSuite data to prioritize lands for conservation.
• Major agricultural producers, like Wyman's—the largest blueberry producer in the U.S.—use BeeSuite models to optimize pollination management and habitat restoration.

Since forming in 2017, the BeeSuite Team has secured over $3.3 million in extramural funding, mentored graduate students and postdoctoral scholars across multiple disciplines, and published numerous high-impact papers. Their collaborative approach has brought together Penn State faculty from multiple colleges, USDA scientists, and partners at universities nationwide. They have also organized national workshops, stakeholder co-design sessions, and symposia to ensure that their tools are user-centered and widely adopted.

The BeeSuite Team exemplifies the spirit of interdisciplinary excellence—advancing fundamental science while delivering practical solutions that help farmers, conservationists, and policymakers make better decisions.