Isabelle Betancourt is an entomologist, science communicator, and photographer.

As a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellow, Isa is conducting entomological research in collaboration with Universitas Nasional and Rutgers University. She is studying and documenting the uncharted insect life in the alluvial peat swamp forest at the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station, a long-term wild orangutan research site in Central Kalimantan. The project examines how fires and hydrologic restoration efforts are influencing the insect community and explores how the creation of nests by orangutans each night creates habitats for other animals like insects.

She studied entomology and plant science for her bachelor’s at Cornell University and completed a master’s in communication at Drexel University. She has worked in the 4-million-specimen entomology collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia for over nine years.

*Isabelle Betancourt is a Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Fulbright National Geographic Fellowship grantee. Due to the global pandemic, her grant was deferred to FY 2022.