University of California Berkeley
Margarita graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2002 with a BSc and MSc in Agriculture with an emphasis in Plant Protection. In 2003 she completed her MSc in Applied Entomology at Imperial College, London, and until 2005 she worked as an entomologist at Rothamsted Research UK and at the Department of Agriculture in Cyprus. She is currently working towards her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley under the guidance of Dr. George Roderick. Her doctoral research focuses on the evolution of cryptic species in the whitefly complex Bemisia tabaci, with particular emphasis on invasive populations. She is interested in population genetics of agricultural and invasive insects. For the Moorea Biocode project, Margarita is collecting invasive and native insects of the Hemipteran suborder Sternorrhyncha (whiteflies, aphids, scale insects, etc) from a wide range of host plants including cultivated crops.