Matherne is studying how honey bees handle, transport, and deposit pollen particles into the hive in an effort to discover new ways to manufacture and manipulate soft materials. Her paper on the topic, “Biomechanics of Pollen Removal By the Honey Bee,” was published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Matherne earned her PhD in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech focusing on particle manipulation in nature where she also helped discover one reason why animals swish their tails. 

Her research has been featured in the New York Times, Business Insider, Science, and Discovery Channel Canada. Matherne is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and Georgia Tech President’s Fellowship.