Most graduate students read about honey bee decline in papers. This position puts you in the state that still produces more honey than any other in the United States, working with commercial beekeepers who move hundreds of thousands of colonies each summer. North Dakota State University is recruiting a graduate student for a honey bee graduate research assistantship in applied honey bee research. The opening covers both an M.S. and a Ph.D., includes a full tuition waiver, and starts as early as Spring 2027.
If you want a funded graduate program that is tied to real colony losses, real mite treatments, and a real industry, this is one of the more practical opportunities available for 2027.
Scholarship Summary
- Host Country: USA
- Host University: North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, North Dakota
- Scholarship Type: MSC Scholarships/PhD Scholarships
- Eligible Countries: Open to applicants from the United States and abroad who meet U.S. work-eligibility requirements at the time of appointment
- Scholarship Benefits: Full tuition fee, Living stipend, etc.
Why This Honey Bee Graduate Research Assistantship Matters Now
U.S. honey production fell to 116 million pounds in 2025, the lowest level recorded since federal records began in 1939. North Dakota remained first in the nation, but output there also dropped, to about 30.8 million pounds from 460,000 honey-producing colonies.
Varroa destructor is still one of the main reasons colonies fail. The mite feeds on developing and adult bees and spreads viruses. Without management, most colonies collapse within two years. Beekeepers also face growing resistance to common synthetic miticides, including amitraz. That combination of production pressure and pest pressure is exactly why NDSU built a new applied honey bee program.
Dr. Rogan Tokach, assistant professor of applied honey bee entomology in the School of Natural Resource Sciences, leads the work. His program is new. The Tokach Lab currently includes one faculty member and two graduate students. That size is an advantage for a new student: you will not be one of a dozen names on a crowded project list. You will be expected to design experiments, mentor project staff, and talk directly with stakeholders.
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Tokach’s background is mite management. He completed his Ph.D. at Auburn University on sustainable strategies against Varroa destructor and Tropilaelaps mercedesae. In 2026 he received a $115,000 North Dakota Department of Agriculture award for “Strategies for Varroa mite management in commercial beekeeping operations,” with collaborators at the University of Minnesota and Michigan State University.
That funding and those partnerships are part of the environment you would enter.
What the Position Actually Involves
This is not a desk-only assistantship. The selected student will run applied research meant to help commercial beekeepers, in collaboration with USDA laboratories and other universities.
Possible project directions include:
- Field tests of new products or product combinations against Varroa mites
- Studies of resistance to existing Varroa treatments
- Work on how surrounding landscapes affect colony health
- Other applied questions shaped by the student’s background and by what North Dakota beekeepers need at scale
Projects are tailored. The posting is clear that the work will be geared toward large commercial operations because North Dakota houses so many of them. The student is also expected to publish in peer-reviewed journals and in outlets that beekeepers actually read, guest lecture, join collaborative lab work, and take part in public outreach.
Duration
- M.S.: typically two years
- Ph.D.: typically four years
Both can flex with individual need.
Start date
Flexible. Spring 2027, Summer 2027, and Fall 2027 are all possible. The job board lists a start after January 1, 2027.
Hours
At least 20 hours per week, which is the standard full-time graduate assistantship load at NDSU.
Funding: Full Tuition Waiver Plus a Stipend
The assistantship is the funding package.
- Starting salary: $24,000 per year for an M.S. student
- Starting salary: $26,000 per year for a Ph.D. student
- Advancement is possible based on performance
- The Graduate Research Assistant appointment includes a full tuition waiver
The Natural Resources Job Board header lists a lower “starting at $23,000” figure. The detailed posting from the lab is more specific and is the figure to use when you write your materials. Confirm the current rate with Dr. Tokach when you apply.
For many students, the tuition waiver is the larger financial piece. Combined with a living stipend in Fargo, the package is designed so you can treat the degree as a full-time research job rather than a side project funded by loans.
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Who Should Apply for Honey Bee Graduate Research Assistantship
Required
- A bachelor’s degree in Biology, Ecology, Entomology, Horticulture, or a related field from an accredited U.S. institution or an equivalent institution abroad
- Eligibility to work in the United States at the time of appointment
Experience is listed as “none required.” That is unusual for a honey bee lab and worth taking seriously. The lab would rather hire a reliable, collaborative student and train the beekeeping and research skills than miss a strong candidate over a missing season of hive work.
Preferred
- Punctual, proactive work habits
- Basic research knowledge
- Prior honey bee health research
- Beekeeping management skills
Hard work and the ability to work with other people are described as more important than a perfect resume. That is consistent with a field program that depends on commercial yards, seasonal labor, and USDA partners.
International applicants can be considered if they can meet U.S. work-eligibility rules at appointment. Admission to the NDSU Graduate School is a separate step and includes English proficiency rules for applicants who need them. Review current requirements here:
- NDSU Graduate School admission requirements
- How to apply to NDSU Graduate School
- Graduate assistantship policies
A typical NDSU graduate admission baseline is a 3.0 undergraduate GPA, though programs make their own recommendations. Do not treat the lab email as a substitute for the official Graduate School application once an offer is in view.
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How to Apply for the Honey Bee Graduate Research Assistantship
Applications go directly to the lab, not through a generic faculty search portal.
Compile one PDF that contains:
- A one-page cover letter on your experience, goals, and how you meet the required and desired qualifications
- A curriculum vitae
- Contact information for three references
- Copies of all post-secondary transcripts (unofficial copies are acceptable)
Email the PDF to Dr. Rogan Tokach at rogan.tokach@ndsu.edu.
Subject line: Graduate Student Opportunity
Review begins Monday, October 12, 2026, and continues until a candidate is selected. The job board also lists October 30, 2026. Treat mid-October as the date that matters if you want to be in the first group read.
Cover letter advice that matches this posting
- Say whether you are targeting the M.S. or the Ph.D.
- Name a start term you can actually make
- Connect your skills to commercial-scale problems, not only to classroom entomology
- If you have hive experience, describe what you did (mite washes, treatment timing, queen work, migratory yards), not only that you “like bees”
- If you do not have hive experience, show evidence you can learn fast in the field and work long seasonal days
- Mention writing. This lab expects papers for scientists and articles for beekeepers
Official contact page: Rogan Tokach, NDSU Agriculture
The Lab, the School, and the State
NDSU is a Carnegie R1 public land-grant university with about 12,000 students. The School of Natural Resource Sciences sits in the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources and covers entomology, natural resources management, range science, and soil science. Program page: School of Natural Resource Sciences.
Fargo is North Dakota’s largest city, on the Red River, a short drive from Minnesota and within reach of Minneapolis–St. Paul and Winnipeg. For a field entomologist, the more important geography is the surrounding commercial beekeeping landscape. North Dakota has ranked first in U.S. honey production for more than two decades. In 2024 the state produced 36.3 million pounds from 490,000 colonies. In 2025 production declined with the rest of the country, but the state still led the rankings.
Tokach has argued that a large share of U.S. Varroa research happens in the Southeast, under climate and colony conditions that do not match a Northern Plains season. His program is built as a testing site for treatments that have to work in North Dakota yards. That is the research niche a new student would inherit. Read his introduction to the program: The Bees and the Bison, North Dakota Beekeepers Association.
Related reading on the current Varroa project: Tokach receives NDDA award to help manage Varroa mites.
What Strong Candidates Usually Do Before They Hit Send
- Read the job board post in full: jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id=119011
- Skim Tokach’s recent papers on Varroa treatment alternatives and Tropilaelaps
- Learn the difference between a backyard apiary trial and a commercial-scale trial
- Prepare unofficial transcripts early so the PDF is complete
- Ask referees now. October review dates arrive faster than most students expect
- If you are outside the United States, confirm visa and work-eligibility timing before you promise a Spring 2027 start
Who This Opportunity Is For
This honey bee graduate research assistantship fits students who want applied entomology more than a purely theoretical insect-ecology project. It also fits career paths in extension, USDA research, commercial apiculture, and industry product evaluation.
It is a weaker fit if you want a large, long-established bee lab with a dozen senior students and a fixed project already written for you. The Tokach Lab is young. The tradeoff is influence: you help set the first years of a program in the country’s leading honey state.
Colony losses are not an abstract conservation story here. They show up as missing yards, thinner honey crops, and treatment plans that no longer work the way labels promise. A funded M.S. or Ph.D. that tries to answer those questions in the field is rare. The application is a single PDF and one email.
Send it to rogan.tokach@ndsu.edu with the subject line Graduate Student Opportunity, and keep a copy of the official posting at the Natural Resources Job Board.
Official listing: Honey bee graduate research assistant on the TAMU Natural Resources Job Board