 
Winner: Andre J. Riveros.
André Riveros graduated with a B.S. in Biology (2003) from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia. After his college graduation Andrè worked at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for various scientists in the field of insect science, such as: Drs. David Roubik, Elizabeth A. Capaldi, William T. Wcislao, and Robert B. Srygley.
Presently, as a Ph.D. student under the tutelage of Dr. Wulfila Gronenberg, his research focuses on the behavioral studies involving the social behavior of bumblebees. He has learned that the relevance of both, bumblebees and neural substrates does not finish on our understanding of social complexity. He further states that: “Bumblebees have proved for years to be excellent pollinators of crops of economical importance, and our understanding of their behavior certainly will help us to better employ their innate abilities. On the other hand, the integration of behavior and neural systems of insects are the basis for new developments on other areas, such as engineering, optics science, and navigation.”
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