2 Million Blossoms: The Beauty Of Our Diverse Pollinators, Dr. Kirsten Traynor

Introducing a new magazine for pollinators and the people who love them.

Kirsten’s interest in bees came quite by accident when a local beekeeper put colonies on her property. She loved the flavor of fresh honey, but even more, she enjoyed having the bees nearby. Then one night, the beekeeper quietly and without notice removed the colonies and hence no more bees. But, but, but, this couldn’t happen because she was hooked. Kirsten decided to take matters into her own hands this time and attended a short beekeeping course. While there, she won the raffle prize, a hive body. This was only the beginning; next, she ordered bees, and as with most beekeepers, one hive becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes 40, and your life completely immersed in the world of honey bees.

Kirsten wanted to combine her love of travel and her fascination with bees, so she decided to apply for the fellowship. She received the prestigious German Chancellor Scholarship from the Humboldt Foundation in 2006-2007, annually awarded to ten American leaders in their field. She drove over 50,000 miles throughout Western Europe to study the differences between European and American beekeeping, reporting her findings through 50+ published articles in national and international magazines. At the same time, she interviewed scientists and medical doctors, gathering information for her book: Two Million Blossoms: Discovering the Medicinal Benefits of Honey.

Fascinated with the social complexity of a honey bee colony, Kirsten earned her Ph.D. in biology from Arizona State University. While a grad student, she spent almost a year in Avignon, France, in the lab of Dr. Yves Le Conte as a Fulbright Fellow. She investigated how pesticides impact honey bee health as a postdoc at the University of Maryland in the lab of Dr. vanEngelsdorp. From 2015-2017 she edited Bee World, published by the International Bee Research Association. Next, she edited American Bee Journal, Dadant’s monthly magazine that has been published since 1861. In 2018 -2019, she took on a fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, Germany.

In 2020 Kirsten was a research associate at Arizona State University in the Global Biosocial Complexity Initiative. Her studies included honey bee communication, health, and nutrition. While there, she launched: new quarterly magazine, 2 Million Blossoms, which is all about protecting our pollinators. Recently, Kirsten has moved to Germany and is now the Director of the Institute of Bee Research Celle.