During the Excalibur National Honor Society for Excellence in Science’s meeting on November 21, 2019, our students welcomed back Dr. Aimée K. Thomas, Ph.D. Thomas is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor for the Department of Biological Sciences & Environment Program and the Associate Director of the Honors Program at Loyola University New Orleans.

Dr. Thomas spoke to club members about her passion for and knowledge of spiders and the new research she and her students are doing at Loyola. She brought live brown widow spiders for the students to view, including their egg sacs. The brown widow is a species that has been found in the Greater New Orleans area for about 10 years, but little is known about their life cycles.

Special thanks to Dr. Thomas and her spiders for presenting to our Excalibur members!