Hi! I’m Olga. I’m a PhD student at Georgia Tech in David Hu’s Biolocomotion Lab. I study the collective dynamics of maggots.
My maggot of choice is the black soldier fly larva (Hermetia illucens).
These larvae eat twice their body mass per day in food waste, and are used by startups such as Grubbly Farms as feed for chickens and fish.
Black soldier fly larvae can eat a large pizza in two hours:
I am trying to understand how to best raise these larvae, how they eat, and how they behave as a group. I was originally planning on studying fluid mechanics in grad school, but then I realized I could use my fluids skills to study how groups of animals – such as maggots – move.
I have a lot of science FOMO – if I hear of an exciting new study I want to drop my research and find all about the new thing. Instead of doing that, I write about the science that interests me at softbites.org. Check it out!
Are you a fly expert? Have interesting thoughts on science communication? Just want to chat? Contact me!