| | Written By: Nancy Harding In December 2018 the Entomology Department conducted an educational outreach event that provided hands-on experience with insects and other arthropods to 7thand 8thgrade students along with their teachers: Karen McCabe, Phyllis Porter and John Roach from Pocomoke Middle School of Pocomoke City MD. Students were provided with an overview of some of the innovative and important research currently being conducted in the department. Anna Noreuil, Ph.D.student (Fritz lab) provided a presentation and hands-on activity regarding the northern house mosquito; Rachel Kuipers, Lab Assistant (vanEnglesdorp lab) gave an overview of research to further understand the loss in honey bee colonies in the United States. Alexander Forde, Ph.D.student (Gruner lab), and Todd Waters, Agricultural Technician Supervisor and caretaker of the department’s insect zoo, gave the students an opportunity to look at and hold native and exotic arthropods. Nancy Harding, Research Assistant, (Shrewsbury lab) set up and coordinated the visit from Pocomoke Middle School. Feedback from the students and teachers was extremely positive. The event was extremely educational and enjoyable for all the attendees. |
 !Congratulations to the recipients of the Spring 2019 Ernest N. Cory Undergraduate Scholarship! This scholarship provides up to $1,000 for undergraduate students each semester who have creatively contributed to Entomology Department research and/or extension efforts. Choose, "Read More" to find out about Justin Lee, Madeline Potter, Catherine Trelstad, and Betsy Wang and their extraordinary efforts in Entomology!
 Image credit: UMD/USDA/PNAS Congratulations to Entomology researchers Samuel Ramsey, Dennis vanEngelsdorp, David Hawthorne, & their colleagues on their new paper, “Varroa destructor feeds primarily on honey bee fat body tissue and not hemolymph,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research provides new details on the feeding habits of the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, which is one of the major threats to honey bee colonies worldwide.
Read the full CMNS press release here.  The Entomological Society of America has nominated Assistant Professor, Megan Fritz, to serve on the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.
Announcement from ESA newsletter: "In response to a Federal Register notice calling for nominees to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tick-Borne Disease Working Group, ESA submitted a letter of support for the nomination of Megan Fritz, Ph.D., a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland. Fritz's work in the field, which supports public health efforts in Maryland, is representative of the Society's mission to share entomological science with the world, and ESA is proud to support her nomination." Fritz's recommendation letter may be found here.  Photo Credit: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times ENTM Associate Professor comments on the prospect of a vaccine for honeybees.
Quote: “This is a very new way of thinking about how we can help bee health,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an entomologist with the University of Maryland. “As a proof of concept, this is really exciting.” Read full article here. The Burghardt lab in the Entomology department at the University of Maryland-College Park is hiring a Faculty Assistant. The lab focuses on understanding the ecology of plant/insect/soil interactions within human-managed landscapes.
The Faculty Assistant will function as a lab manager and technician. They will aid in laboratory and protocol setup and contribute to the maintenance and data collection for at least two current lab projects: (1) quantifying insect herbivore communities, predation/parasitism rates, and plant traits within a large-scale tree diversity experiment (BiodiversiTREE) located at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and (2) examining whether rhizobial diversity determines soybean resistant to drought and herbivore stress. The position will provide opportunities to work with Smithsonian researchers and UMD extension scientists and involves interaction with stakeholders and citizen scientists. Click here for the complete Job Announcement. A NY Times Article Features New England Journal of Medicine Paper, to which the Pick lab contributed1/8/2019
 Credit: Julia Rendleman for The New York Times The New York Times published an article, When the Illness Is a Mystery, Patients Turn to These Detectives, about a recent paper published in New England Journal of Medicine, to which the Pick lab contributed.
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