Monitoring Monarchs

Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies from the northern US and Canada migrate up to 3,000 miles to overwinter in the same cluster of mountain peaks in central Mexico. However, the number of monarchs completing the journey has steadily declined over the past decades. Developing tracking technology to monitor monarchs’ migration is crucial for conservation efforts, yet the size and weight of the butterfly make developing this technology a challenge. In this talk, Dr. Inhee Lee, an assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering, will discuss his miniature electronic system, which uses the world’s smallest computer, as a proposed solution for tracking monarch migration. The tracking system will allow for the estimation of a butterfly’s daily location as they complete their 3-month migration journey. Come prepared to learn about the monarch’s amazing migration and how Dr. Lee has developed a technology small yet powerful enough to change the way scientists study monarch butterflies to support their conservation.