Erica Kistner-Thomas, Ph.D.

Dr. Kistner-Thomas is a National Program Leader in the Institute of Food Production and Sustainability’s Division of Plant Systems – Protection. She provides national leadership for NIFA’s research and extension programs covering beneficial species that provide biological control and pollination services in agricultural production systems. Before joining NIFA, Dr. Kistner-Thomas worked as an ARS postdoctoral research fellow at the USDA Midwest Climate Hub where she examined the impacts of climate change on invasive agricultural pest distribution and abundance. She received a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Notre Dame where studied grasshopper pest population dynamics in western Montana.