Draft:Christopher Plenzich

Christopher Plenzich is a Montreal, Quebec-based artist and researcher known for his unique approach to art and science. His work has been featured in various media outlets, including a notable feature in a VICE article.

Career
Plenzich is known for the "Caterpillar Cartography" project, a collaboration with Alison Reiko Loader. In this project, caterpillar larvae were provided with a piece of paper littered with charcoal dust, which the insects drew upon as they moved around on the paper. This unique approach to art was featured in the 'Animal Intent' exhibit at NYC's apexart.

In addition to his exhibits, Plenzich has also self-published a book titled "Les Blobs". The book invites readers to explore the daily happenings of Les Blobs through a series of short vignettes. The pages of the book are designed to be transformed: cut out, framed, or shared with friends as cards or gifts. Each comic in the book was hand-painted, hand-lettered, and scanned in high resolution.

Researches
Plenzich has made significant contributions to art and science. He was a master's student in Biology at Concordia University, and his researches focuses on the behavior of forest tent caterpillars. He submitted a video to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Science Action! Video Contest, showcasing forest tent caterpillars on the hunt for food.

His research found that when these caterpillars are eating leaves that are not optimally nutritious, they would rather leave the safety of their colony and venture out to find better quality food, but risk encountering a predator.

Plenzich's research has been published in several academic journals. One of his notable publications is titled "Host-plant mediated effects on group cohesion and mobility in a nomadic gregarious caterpillar". This research showed that caterpillars on a poor-quality host plant are not only more mobile (presumably an adaptive response that improves chances of discovering a better food source), but they also split into smaller groups - a side effect of decreased trail fidelity that possibly exposes them to greater risks

Awards and recognition
Plenzich's work has been recognized with several awards. He won the Bayer's award for best oral presentation at the Joint Annual meeting of the Canadian Entomological Society and the Societé d'Entomologie du Québec. The title of his presentation was: "Should I stay or should I go? Host plant quality mediated trade-off decisions in the forest tent caterpillar".