Joyce Bell

Joyce Elaine Rockenbach Bell (born ) is an American nursing teacher and entomologist. She worked on insect taxonomy at the University of Vermont, together with her husband Ross Bell (1929–2019). The pair described more than 75% of the rhysodine species known to science.

Life Joyce Elaine Rockenbach grew up in Whitestone, Queens, New York City. Her grandfather apparently told her that "a woman can teach or be a nurse". She gained a B.S. at Queens College and spent eight years as a research assistant at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons before coming to the University of Vermont to do a Master's. She taught in the UVM School of Nursing for ten years.

Recognition

An issue of ZooKeys was published as a Festschrift for Ross and Joyce Bell, following a meeting of coleopterists held in celebration of their work and of Ross's 80th birthday.

The Coleopterists Society offers an annual Ross Taylor Bell and Joyce Rockenbach Bell Research Grant for "an outstanding proposal for beetle research whose work would otherwise not be funded", favouring taxonomy or systematics.