Dr. Angela Chuang, formerly of the Riechert lab, was consulted for this NY Times article on Joro Spiders, and whether current research is in fact proving how shy the species can be.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/science/joro-spiders.html
UTK EEB PhD student Sara Kuebbing was recently featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel for her work as part of the Tennessee Exotic Plant Pest Council. She uses an iPad app to identify and track species that are invading the US from elsewhere, typically after introduction by humans. Such species can dramatically affect functioning of ecosystems: examples in the United States include kudzu, zebra mussels, and pythons.