Hello everyone,

My name Is Iris Tabora, I am a sophomore, majoring in Elementary Education with an ELL endorsement. I am super excited to hopefully one day become a teacher so that is what I want to go into after I receive my degree from UNL. I honestly don’t know much about insects but I have always been interested in them. I remember as a child collecting lightening bugs with my siblings or when we had our classroom pet and we got to see a butterfly go through metamorphosis. At the time, it was the most fascinating thing, so that’s why I decided to take this class.

In my opinion insects are such a huge part of our environment and I think it’s interesting learning more about them. I had little/to no experience prior to taking this class but having a pet cockroach for several weeks as well as learning through the modules have definitely expand my knowledge. A particular area of entomology that interests is learning more about insects of the sea. It amazes me that they are similar to humans in certain ways, for example, they can go underwater but for only short periods of time. They have to swim back up to the surface in order to get area which is similar to what we as humans do. I’m very excited to continue this class and to keep learning more interesting things about insects!

My Intro to Bugs!

Greetings fellow readers!

My name is Nicole Luhr and am currently taking this class as a pre-requisite for grad classes for an Entomology Masters. I graduated from South Dakota State University with a bachelor's in Agri-business, but chose to pursue a masters in entomology due to my current work situation.

Currently, I work for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an Entomology Research Technologist. In previous years I worked as a temporary summer employee for the department and became interested in this area due to a great supervisor who taught me many things in which I came to have many questions about various insects and therefore made me curious about the area of study. Pursuing an Entomology Masters will benefit my knowledge as an employee and someday I hope to maybe work for a company and give recommendations for problems that farmers have in their field.

Last year I initiated a study with fall armyworm in soybeans with a grad student from Brazil. I intend to continue the study here in the U.S. for him since the environment isn't as favorable for them in Brazil due to many predators.

A couple of insects that interest me are western corn rootworms and aphids. As a research technologist I have more rootworm trials than others. I also rent crop ground where I plant corn on corn which is where I can utilize research information for my own operation.

Aphids are the other interest since these are a popular pest in areas. There can be a high number of them in a field but the damage from them isn't really noticeable until later on. They can also multiply rapidly by starting at just 50 or so and going to hundreds within a very short period of time given suitable weather conditions.

Danica Meierhenry's Blog

Hi! My name is Danica Meierhenry and I am a sophomore here at UNL. I am majoring in Forensic Science with a double minor in Psychology and Chemistry. After the semester I will hopefully be adding on an Entomology major as well because it goes hand in hand with Forensic Science and throughout this course I have found it very interesting.

The reason why I chose to take Entomology initially is because it's a required course for Forensic Science (CSI), but I never knew how much I would actually enjoy it. This class has been my favorite class by far this semester, which ultimately led me to consider majoring in it as well. So far some of my favorite things I've done include, the hissing cockroach assignment and identifying different insects in lab. This class has been challenging, but I tend to study more and want to learn more about subjects that I enjoy.

In the future, what I want to do with my majors in Forensic Science and Entomology is be a crime scene investigator with a concentration in insect identification. I think it's amazing how much of an impact insects have on forensic science. Insects can ultimately solve a case and determine many different factors such as, where the body was located, how long it's been there, and more. I think having a background in both Forensics and Entomology will give me an advantage in the field I am trying to pursue.

Yajaira Lopez-Villa

          ¡Hola Hola! My name is Yajaira López-Villa. I call home a little town by the name of Crete, that is about 30mins from Lincoln. This is my fourth year at the university. Hopefully, I graduate in December 2018 and attend graduate school! I am a Spanish and Latin American Studies double major, with an Ethnic Studies minor. My passion is creating awareness and educating those around me. I love working with first-generation, minority, low-income students, as I am one of those students. For that reason, I want to pursue a master’s degree in Multicultural Student Affairs and help individuals stay in college and find their home away from home.

          Honestly, I was very intimidated by taking this course. I am very afraid of insects! I will cry if there is anything with more than 4 legs, zero eyes or more than two eyes on me or near me. I really don’t know why I am such a baby when it comes to insects, even butterflies’ kind of bothers me. This course, even though online has helped me understand more about insects and I could say that I am a little more tolerant. Not going to lie, even though we watched over a hissing cockroach for a few weeks and I learned about their importance I don’t think I will ever be okay with having cockroaches around. Granted, it does feel nice to say fun facts about insect when I come across them and my friends are around!

      Hi everyone, my name is Emily Robinson! I am a freshman and majoring in Elementary Education! Ever since I was little I have always loved being outdoors. Back then I had my own insect kit that came with a net, microscope and an insect cage and I would go outside and collect my own insects. I would make a nice place for them with grass, leaves, sticks and watch them under my microscope until I released them back outside. Still today I think insects are very interesting to observe and important to learn about.

      Before taking this class I never knew how many different kinds of insects there were! It's so interesting to me to see how they are all categorized and how a certain insect order can have so many families that go along with that order. Not only that, but all the different ways you can distinguish between insects. For example the butterflies, I have always been interested in butterflies but I never knew that there are characteristics that can help you distinguish between the different butterfly families. For instance, my favorite is Pieridae because they have a beautiful white or orange color with tiny little black dots on their wings. Now whenever I see a butterfly I will be trying to guess what family it belongs to! This class has really opened my eyes to how many insects we have and their importance. I have already learned so much that I never knew before and I cannot wait to keep learning more!

Hello! My name is Abbie Epperson. I am a senior from Texas who is majoring in Criminology and Criminal Justice. My plans after college are to attend Law School to become an attorney in criminal law. The fact that I am taking an Entomology class is actually pretty random. I have had numerous peers of mine recommend this class to me, so I decided to enroll solely based on their recommendations. I actually never thought that I would finish out my last semester of undergrad studying insects. However, I will admit that I have actually enjoyed it. Also, never thought I would say that. This will be the one class that I will look back on 30 years from now and think, "yup, that was pretty random... but, now I know so many fun-facts that most people do not!"

This might sound whack, but I think the reason I enjoy it so much is the challenge that comes along with spelling out the crazy words. I have always loved participating in "Spelling-Bee" contests, or  anything that involves memorization, and in our Entomology LAB we are deducted points for the words that we misspell. If you were to ask me to pronounce any of these words... that would be tough, but so far I think I've got the spelling down!

I have always been a huge baby when it comes to insects- still sort of am. Although, the more we continue to learn about each of them, they are starting to become less intimidating. There are more insects out there that do not bite, than I thought :) So, that's a relief. I am looking forward to the next couple months of this class, and excited to put our final collections together!

    You know those annoying insects that always seem to be flying and buzzing around you, or even those that just seem to show up when you least want them? Well little did you know, they serve a much larger purpose than we originally thought! 

     I am Emily Cumming, a student at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. I am a Forensic Science and Entomology dual major. I am from Saint Edward, a small town in Nebraska, where agriculture is all around me. I grew up on a farm just outside of town with my five other siblings. My dad would have my siblings and myself help with different chores on the farm, sometimes with livestock and other times out in the field with crops. I always enjoyed working with the livestock side of the chores, but being the out-of-the-box sibling that I was, I wanted to connect with livestock in agriculture in a different way. Little did I know, it would be both the livestock and crop related.

     As I grew up, I would attend the Nebraska State Fair with my family, looking at all of the farm equipment and different 4-H projects that were made. We always made sure to stop by the Nebraska Beekeeper’s Association booth in the Open Class building. I seemed to always go to the observation hives they had set up. Through my interest in the honeybees, I was able to apply for, and received, a scholarship through the Nebraska Beekeeper’s Association to start a hive of my own. I really enjoyed learning about the importance and role that honeybees play in agriculture and the world in general. Having this exposure to insects while I was still young, led me to discover my passion for insects. 

    When I graduated from high school, I had been a beekeeper for almost five years. Coming to the University, I was unsure of where I wanted to take my career. I ultimately decided on forensic science, but found that it was challenging, yet it did not hold my interest as I had hoped it would. I began to look at my different options. I discovered that I could pursue my passion for insects by taking up the entomology major. Then I found out that I could dual major and keep the classes I had already taken and build on them by adding in the entomology courses. I brought the things I enjoyed from both majors together and now I can learn about them both! I am in love with what I am learning and I can’t wait to share the knowledge with others!

    I am hoping to continue my education after I receive my bachelor’s and work towards my master’s in Entomology. From there I hope to start my career in the military as an entomologist. In the event that the entomologist position is unavailable, I hope to use my forensic science with the entomology by working in a lab. This would be to collect specimens from a crime scene or to analyze any evidence collected to help aid the investigation. I also plan to maintain my small entrepreneurial business of selling honey and honeybee products as well as helping members in my community with pollination by providing a hive for their orchards and gardens. Regardless of which path my career takes; I plan to keep my business going.  I am open to many options for my career, whether that is agriculturally related or not. I hope that no matter what I do, I can share my passion for insects with those around me.

    Don’t be afraid of an insect, because more often than not, the insect more afraid of you than you are of them. Learn a little bit about the role of those annoying insects and see just what they are doing to impact you.