Edgerly-Rooks, professor of biology at Santa Clara University, has a Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University. She investigates insect behavior and ecology and teaches courses on animal behavior, entomology, ecology, and environmental biology in the tropics. Her research program on silk-spinning insects involves undergraduate researchers who work in the lab and field, and often act as co-authors on scientific papers. Her recent fieldwork has extended from Mexico to tropical Trinidad and to subtropical Australia. She has served as a consultant for the BBC who recently filmed her research animals for their natural history film Life in the Undergrowth.