Department Overview

Research, teaching, and extension have been the backbone of the Department of Entomology for more than 125 years. Our faculty, students, and post-doctoral fellows remain committed to these three areas, in addition to outreach and public service. We maintain our historical focus on insects and their relatives, while spanning a diversity of subdisciplines, including ecology, aquatic biology, molecular and developmental biology, genetics, biological control of insects and weeds, systematics, evolutionary biology, integrated pest management, toxicology, and insect pathology.

Graduate Programs

The Entomology Department offers M.S. and Ph.D. programs. Students may also enroll in interdisciplinary graduate programs such as Biological Sciences (BISI) or Marine Estuarine and Environmental Sciences (MEES).  The department enrolls 35-40 graduate students annually.

Training of students and the teaching, research and extension activities of faculty and staff are enriched and facilitated by interactions with many off-campus public, governmental, and private organizations. These include the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and National Agricultural Library, Smithsonian Institution, National Institutes of Health, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Park Service, and others. 

Mission

For over 125 years, we have sought to combine the best of basic and applied biology to meet the public need for research, outreach, and instruction in entomology and related subjects, particularly as these bear on pest management and stewardship of the environment. 

The department belongs to the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS), but with many partial appointments in the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and/or University of Maryland Extension (UME), which are administered through the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR). The Entomology Chair reports to both the CMNS and AGNR Deans. 

Strategic Plan 2022-2027

Following a regularly scheduled and highly successful external review in Fall 2021, the Department of Entomology set out to create a strategic plan for the next five years. The resulting strategic plan, like the University-wide strategic plan “Fearlessly Forward: In Pursuit of Excellence and Impact for the Public Good”, attempts to reimagine what our department does to uphold and expand our mission of service to humanity. Like the university plan, ours is underpinned by a commitment to values-driven excellence, diversity, equity and inclusion, impact, innovation, collaboration, and service to humanity. Read our strategic plan.

Location

  • University of Maryland, College Park campus in suburban Maryland
  • 3rd & 4th floor of the Plant Sciences Building, 5-minute walk to nearly all other CMNS and AGNR departments
  • 10 minutes from the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the National Agricultural Library
  • 35 minutes from the Smithsonian Institution and downtown Washington, DC
  • 40 minutes from the National Institutes of Health
  • 1 hour from Wye Research and Education Center (MAES), Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay