Hello! I am Tugce Karacoban from Turkey. I am new master's degree student at Entomology Department and my specific interest is Bee's diseases. Before interesting with bee, I was working at the surgery and orthopedic animal hospital as a veterinary medicine after my undergraduate education. When I had a chance to get a master's degree in the USA , I , immediately, had decided to change my field of study. Because bees are more important for our world and I really would like to learn most of things about them and I want to focus on their diseases. So, being in here is perfect and I am so glad to change my field.

The Minds of Insects

Hello everyone, Tyler Stading here. I am a biology and psychology double major at UNL!

It may seem odd that someone with a psychology focus would be interested in insects. But you might be interested to know just how intertwined the two are. For instance, one of psychology’s most famous sexuality researchers Alfred Kinsey began his scientific career as an entomologist studying hymenopterans, specifically gall wasps. He was notorious for his methodical nature and meticulous attention to detail, which made his work in psychology all the better!

Some arthropods, such as arachnids, have helped psychologists more directly. For instance, researcher Peter Witt better used common garden spiders to better understand the effects of psychoactive drugs on behavior. By giving spiders appropriate doses of drugs such as LSD, marijuana, speed, sedatives, and even caffeine, Witt could later observe how the drugs affected the spider’s web construction the next morning.

Insects can also help us better understand something as complex as memory! In particular, the eusocial honey bee demonstrates complex learning and communication with its unique waggle dance that helps communicate flower position to other bees. This learning behavior is extremely impressive, especially when you consider that bees have about 100,000 x’s fewer neurons than humans (9.6 10⁵ vs 8.6 10¹⁰).

More than anything though insects are fascinating, they are one of the most diverse and successful animal clades on the planet! Whether they’re a pet, a pest, or ending up on your dinner plate, everyone has a reason to be interested in these amazing and ubiquitous animals!

Entomology Career Podcast

Here is a great podcast from entomologist and curator of the Field Museum in Chicago Corrie Moreau about career paths in Entomology. Check it out!!

Also, a thank you to all the students who have been contributing blogs! We love hearing about your interests and experiences.

Mosquito Control

Hello, I am Austin Stacey a senior biology major. I plan on pursuing dental after undergrad but I will have a semester gap before I attend dental school. I will be living in Florida during next semester and I have taken interest in mosquito control, since it is a huge problem in Florida. I know there are bug control agencies and even government departments that spray for mosquitos and is required in your taxes in certain counties. I hope to get a seasonal job for mosquito control and spraying to control the pests. Many agencies hire people and with me having a biology degree it will certainly help to get that position. My job if i get it would be to travel to many neighborhoods in a county and spray pesticides to limit mosquito growth. This will help protect plants, trees, and limit mosquito bites that could cause zika or other infections. This class has taught me about pest control and how insects survive in different environments. I hope this class has helped prepare me for pest control.

My Journey In Becoming An Insect Science Minor

Hello! My name is Whitney Lovegrove, and I am a senior agronomy major with an entomology minor. I grew up on a farm near Geneva, Nebraska, so agriculture has always been something I've been interested in. For my agronomy requirements, I needed to take a crop pest management course. I loved it so much, I went on to be an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) scout for DuPont Pioneer for two summers. Those experiences inspired me to want to become an insect science minor. After making an insect collection and having my first pet as a Madagascar hissing cockroach, I realized how much passion I have for Entomology and how excited I get when I talk about it to friends and family! These realizations helped land me a job in the department as a lab worker for western corn rootworm research. In the lab, we test for resistance to pyrethroid insecticides amongst various beetle populations from different parts of Nebraska. Part of this research is also learning how to successfully rear beetles from egg-larva-pupa-adult and what their lifecycle needs to thrive (sweet corn because they are a significant crop pest). This job has been nothing but rewarding, and I have had the opportunity to meet almost everyone in the department. As I finish my last semester as an undergrad at UNL, I have been on the lookout for one more defining internship experience. Specifically, I have applied for a summer position in Yakima Valley, Washington as an IPM scout in hops production. As I continue to search for jobs, I hope I am able to take this job as it would provide me with experience outside of Nebraska. It would be neat to see the pest variability in Washington and to observe agricultural production that is not typically seen in Nebraska! After an internship, I am considering a masters in entomology. I love agronomy, but I think I am a bit more of a bug nerd! 

Bugs!

Bugs! They have never really been much interest to me until I started studying about them. I have taken a couple classes through UNL about insects and one of the classes I took I was supposed to keep different kinds of bugs alive. I thought to myself I have been able to keep my 3 year old son alive surely I can keep these bugs alive. Yeah who was I to know how to take care of bugs. It took a lot of research in order to find out what the bugs ate and how they liked the temperature to be in their area. I was a little nervous how I would be able to do this project successfully but surprisingly it was really fun and I was able to learn a lot about bugs that I never would have known before. Studying insects would be really fun and very interesting!

Have a great Wednesday!!

Who I am!

Hello my name is Mollie Taylor ( Mollie Bose) was my maiden name I recently got married last November. I am an online student through UNL where I will be receiving my bachelors degree in Applied Science. I went to the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis and I received my Associates degree in Ag Business. While I was there I took a couple of horticulture classes and really enjoyed them. I have never really been good at keeping plants alive only my indoor plants. The more I try to plant flowers the better I am getting.

I am very excited to write more on the blog and see what everyone else is up to!!