CRYSTAL ESPINDOLA

Address: 15280 W C St, Kerman, CA 93630

Phone: (559) 288-7730
Email: crystal.espindola@usda.gov

OBJECTIVE

• A highly organized, reliable individual with an interdisciplinary degree in Plant Science and Biology,
interested in entomological behavioral research.

EDUCATION

California State University, Fresno Fresno, CA

BS in Agriculture Ecology, an Interdisciplinary Graduate of Fall 2019
degree in Plant Science and Biology
• Relevant coursework includes: Crop Science, Entomology, Biological Control, Integrated Pest Management,
Pathology, Mycology, Weed Sciences, Soil Science, Irrigation Management, Ecology, Terrestrial Ecology,
Plant Physiology, Genetics, Statistics

Kerman High School Kerman, CA

Graduate of 2010

EXPERIENCE

USDA-ARS
Biological Science Technician November 2017–Present | 20 hrs/week | Grade 5
(Crop Disease and Genetics Division)
• Maintaining plants for use in greenhouses, laboratories, and fields. Duties include: Maintaining biologically
controlled greenhouses. Planting, transplanting, cutting, fertilizing, and watering fodder plants. Monitoring for
unwanted pests. Providing biological or cultural control aids when necessary. Spreading beneficial insects.
Maintaining adequate temperature controls.
• Establishing and maintaining insect colonies. Duties include: Maintaining quarantine insectary green houses,
rearing rooms, and environmental chambers. Changing and washing insect colony cages and tubes. Safely
disposing of waste materials. Loading and unloading hotboxes. Rearing and maintaining glassy-winged
sharpshooter colonies, blue-green sharpshooter colonies, and parasitic wasp colonies.
• Performing recurring routines, techniques, and studies using a variety of specialized equipment. Maintaining
records. Locating and compiling data and other information from various sources. Tabulating statistical
analyses and summarizing data using personal computers and software packages.
• Worked with lead research scientists, high school SEED students, master's students, and PhD students with
various research projects involving bio-acoustic data accumulation and analysis.

Glassy-wing sharpshooter bio-acoustic mating disruption experiment.

• Collecting egg masses, rearing and maintaining glassy-wing sharpshooter insect colonies. Analyzing male
female mating call files on audition and raven. Distinguishing male and female mating calls, as well as
mating stages and determining frequency analysis for each call and stage using audition. Using Raven data
to create an ethogram for glassy-wing sharpshooter mating. For lead scientist.

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Blue-green sharpshooter bio-acoustic mating disruption experiment.
• Rearing insects, maintaining insect colonies, setting up Polytec laser vibrometer and table. Using audition
software to distinguish male and female calls. Using audition software to record and observe male female
mating calls. Using audition software to observe and record male competition calls. For lead scientist.

Black widow bio-acoustic rivalry experiment.

• Collecting and maintaining black widow colonies. Setting up raven software, audition software, VibSoft
software, high speed cameras, Polytec software, laser vibrometer and rails for experiment. Recording
female-female rivalry interactions via high speed cameras. Recording female-female rivalry calls via audition
software, VibSoft software and laser vibrometer. Converting audition files into raven files. Collecting
behavior data on female black widow rivalry, combat interactions and calls. For lead scientist.

Lacewing interspecies communication experiment.

• Maintaining various lacewing species and lacewing hybrid colonies. Setting up Polytec laser vibrometer and
table. Setting up shakers and mp3 player with various lacewing playback calls for a project investigating
lacewing's response to different lacewing species and hybrid lacewing calls. Organizing and collecting
lacewing response data using audition and excel for PhD student.

Playback field trials on various substrate experiments.

• Setting up shakers, laser vibrometer, and mp3 player for playback field trials. Collecting insect call data for
frequency analysis. Teaching high school SEED students how to use audition bio-acoustic software to
collect call intensity data on different substrates.

Efficiency of playback call equipment experiment.

• Setting up shakers, laser vibrometer, and mp3 player for playback trials on glassy-wing sharpshooters.
Collecting data for shaker’s efficiency in playback call when played from various substrates. Organizing and
analysis call intensity data for master’s student.

Bioengineering glassy-wing sharpshooter excreta project.

• Cutting hairs for glassy-wing sharpshooters excreta bioengineering project. Recording high speed videos of
sharpshooter excreta.

Oviposition in female glassy-wing sharpshooter experiment.

• Maintaining insect tube colonies for PhD Student conducting research on female glassy-wing sharpshooter
oviposition. Watering, changing tubes, watering plants.

Transmission of Xylella fastidiosa on grapevines.

• Maintaining plants, moving insects from infected plants to uninfected plants, collected plant samples and
insects for study.

Migrant Institute of STEM and Leadership

Plant Science Instructor June 2017–July 2017 | 40 hrs/week
• Preparing a schedule and syllabus for students.
• Developing lesson plans for plant science lectures and labs.
• Preparing PowerPoint presentations and lectures.
• Setting up labs.

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 • Ordering and purchasing supplies for class.
• Preparing and providing students with quizzes to test their knowledge of what they've learned.
• Educating high school students on soil science, entomology, and weed science.
• Oversaw 24-30 students at a time.
• Taught students how to identify soil types.
• Taught students about integrated pest management and how to collect and pin insects correctly.
• Taught students how to identify problematic weeds and how to press and preserve plant specimens.

USDA-NLGCA Internship Project

Student Internship February 2016–April 2017 | 10 hrs/week
• Research internship "promoting undergraduate research in agriculture: opportunities for experiential learning
and a pathway to graduate studies."
• Project title was Pesticide effects on microbial activity in nectar.
• Duties involved developing a procedure for the project, preparing pesticide nectar dilutions, running bee
preference trials, preparing yeast agar media and LB media, inoculating and monitoring fungal and bacterial
growth, as well as recording and analyzing data.
• Project was presented at the Entomological Pacific Branch meeting in 2017.

Dow AgroSciences
Student Internship November 2016–April 2017 | 20 hrs/week
• Maintaining greenhouse and shade houses.
• Planting seedlings; transplanting, watering, fertilizing; providing plants with micronutrients; monitoring and
spraying for pests when necessary.
• Maintaining insect colonies and fungi colonies.
• Rearing and collecting various insects.
• Assisting with preparation of field trials, from labels to setting up trials, sprayings, and sample collecting,
washing, vacuuming, and analyzing.
• Running biological asset trials, fertilizer trials, and pesticide trials.

NSF and USFS Urban Water-Wise Project

Student Internship November 2012–November 2013 | 20 hrs/week
• Worked with the National Science Foundation and US Forest Service on a project investigating
socioeconomical views on urban landscapes and the use of residential water due to changes in water
policies in the Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area.
• Duties included identifying plant species as well as collecting and comparing biodiversity data in traditional
grass lawns and water-wise gardens for semi-desert urban landscapes.
• Biodiversity data was specifically collected for plants, insects, and birds.
• Project was supervised by Kaberi Gupta, a part-time Fresno State Faculty member at the time, and John
Constable, a biology professor.

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McDonald’s
Manager July 2013–February 2016 | 30 hrs/week
• Overseeing 5-10 employees as well as assisting with duties ranging from washing dishes, cleaning the
restaurant lobby, cooking, distributing orders, cashiering, and answering public inquiries.

LEADERSHIP

• Plant Science Club – Member and delegate of the Entomological Society of America, American Society of
Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America (TriSocieties) (2015).
• Plant Health Society – Member and delegate of the American Phytopathological Society Conference
(2015), Entomological Society of America (2017).
• Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation – Member.
• Future Farmers of America Field Day Contest – Ag contest grader (2015-2019), Ag pest contest co-chair
(2016-2017); creating an Ag pest exam, collecting insect specimens for the exam, setting up the exam,
monitoring the exam, rotating students, grading the exam, and presenting the results and key.
• Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship – Worship team member (2016-2017); setting up equipment, singing
soprano and alto vocals.
• LifeBridge Community Church – Worship team member (2018-2019), Spanish worship team leader
(2019); in charge of scheduling, assigning positions, picking out set lists, ensuring printing of accurate
music, setting up equipment, and guiding the rest of the team musically.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

• Plant Science Club – Volunteer for: Fresno Fair Ag booth (2017/2018), Welcome Back BBQ (2015-2017),
Ag Day basketball game (2017), Ronald McDonald house garden (2017), Chaffee Zoo ZooBoo (2016), Ag
Day booth (2016), Job Fair Dinner (2016).
• Plant Health Society – Volunteer for: Fresno State Preview Day (2016), Ag Day (2015), Chaffee Zoo
ZooBoo (2015).
• California Women for Agriculture – Volunteer for: Ag One Dinner (2016/2017), Chaffee Zoo (2015).
• Migrant Institute for STEM and Leadership – Guest speaker (2016, 2018).
• Department of Plant Science – Assistant with department activities.
• Cases for Kids – Volunteer for: Dinner banquet (2018), organizing storage (2018).
• LifeBridge Community Church – Volunteer for Thanksgiving outreach, Biola-Migrant Institute (2019)

REFERENCES

• Jorge M. Gonzalez – Phone: (706) 338-9876 | Email: jogonzalez@csufresno.edu

• Kaberi Kar Gupta – Email: lorises@me.com
• John Constable – Phone: (559) 278-2410 | Email: jconstable@csufresno.edu

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