Nate Haan

Nate Haan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky's Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. His research focuses on insect ecology to enhance agricultural sustainability and biodiversity conservation, particularly examining how agricultural practices can support biodiversity-based ecosystem services like natural pest suppression. Haan leads the Haan Lab, which investigates interactions between insects, their habitats, and farming systems.

Education: PhD in Environmental & Forest Sciences (University of Washington), MS in Natural Resources & Environment (University of Michigan), and BS in Biology (Calvin College).

Research Interests: Sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, agroecosystem design, pest management, and endangered species conservation (e.g., monarch butterflies and Taylor’s checkerspot). His work emphasizes landscape-level approaches to balance ecological and agricultural goals.

Key Contributions: Developed models for optimizing cropland design to balance profit and biodiversity, studied bioenergy crops' effects on ant communities, and explored disturbance regimes' impact on monarch butterfly survival. His research integrates field experiments, ecological modeling, and policy analysis.

Lab and Teams: The Haan Lab collaborates on projects addressing agricultural biodiversity, with a focus on translating ecological findings into actionable management strategies for farmers and policymakers.