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A Dual Commitment to Scholarship and Public Service
The Department of Entomology has a strong sense of shared mission. The Department seeks to advance the fundamental understanding of biology as it relates to insects, and to bring that knowledge to bear on education and public needs. This dual commitment to scholarship and public service reflects the origin of the Department and our discipline as early constituents, respectively, of the University of Maryland and of the Land Grant university movement generally, over a century ago. It is epitomized today by our unique dual citizenship in the College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Entomology serves as a major link between the two Colleges, and is the only campus unit whose faculty includes joint appointees with departments of both colleges. As a member of the The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. Entomology is a full partner in the continuing evolution of exciting new interdisciplinary research and training programs in basic biology, and in the College-wide undergraduate Biology program. Simultaneously, through our participation in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, we are full partners in the programs of the University of Maryland Extension and the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, working closely with campus and field faculty colleagues, industry, state and federal agencies, and the public, on critical issues of pest management and environmental protection broadly defined.
Synergy of Research and Extension
The research programs of the Entomology faculty members, housed in the Plant Sciences Building, span the range of levels of organization from molecular genetics to ecosystem function. A special emphasis of the Department, evident across this spectrum, is strong linkage between basic research and application, both within and between laboratories. Our research programs, in turn, provide close support to the Department’s award-winning Extension programs in agricultural pest management, urban, structural, and green industries pest management, and pesticide education, assessment, and policy.
Training Students to Become Scientific Leaders
Entomology faculty train students through a diverse array of graduate and undergraduate programs, in which they often take leadership roles. In addition to the program in Entomology (ENTM), our faculty participate in inter-departmental and inter-college graduate programs in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (BEES), Marine and Estuarine Environmental Sciences, Molecular and Cell Biology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences, Toxicology, and Community and Public Health. Over the past 15 years the department has placed essentially all its Ph.D. graduates into permanent positions in their fields, split about evenly between academia and government research or regulatory agencies, sometimes immediately though usually after a year or more of postdoctoral study.
The Department is also deeply committed to undergraduate education. In addition to offering an array of upper-level courses serving students in both Colleges, and a highly popular non-majors ‘Insects’ course, Entomology faculty teach lower-division introductory courses required for Biology majors. While there is no formal entomology major, students can readily get the effect of such a specialization through the entomology minor, honors program and their elective courses. The Department is proud of the large and talented corps of undergraduates, from a variety of majors, who find niches in our faculty research labs.
Leading Campus Programs, Reaching Out to the Community
Entomologists also play key roles in other initiatives designed to make a big campus feel small. For example, the late Emeritus Professor Lee Hellman had long directed the College Park Life Science Scholars. Illustrating the close link between education and public outreach, the Department has expanded its outreach to K-12 students. We hold the very popular Bug Camp: Insects. Science & Society every summer which provides a variety of hands-on activities and interactive field trips, teaching kids how amazing and valuable bugs truly are. Campers gain experience with science in the field and the lab, and come away with an understanding of the important relationship between humans and insects.
Our Strategic Location
Entomology’s research and training programs benefit enormously from our close proximity to Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Maryland's I-270 Biotechnology Corridor, which facilitates interaction with an extraordinary range of major scientific agencies and institutions. These include, among many others, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Scientists from these local partners serve as adjunct faculty and informal advisors, greatly augmenting the array of facilities, research opportunities, and funding sources available to our students. These benefits are illustrated, to use one of many examples, by the success of our systematics training partnership with the Smithsonian and USDA, known as the Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology.
Diversity of opportunity describes life at College Park as well. In addition to its vast curriculum, the campus is host to a boundless array of special seminars and workshops, clubs and other shared-interest organizations, recreational facilities, and athletic and performing arts events. The cultural riches of the nation’s capital, where most museums (including the National Museum of Natural History and its Insect Zoo) are free, can be reached from a Washington Metrorail station near our campus. An immense range of habitats for recreation and research, from the Atlantic ocean to the Eastern Continental Divide, lies within a few hours’ drive.
Expanding Our Scope, Retaining our Fundamental Commitments
This is an exciting time to be an entomologist at College Park. The current top priority for our campus, one of the most rapidly advancing public research universities in the country, is growth and strengthening in the life sciences. The The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences is expanding its faculty body to recruit outstanding scientists focused on functional and comparative genomics (including systematics), sensory neurobiology, host-pathogen interactions, and ecological sustainability. Our challenge is to show that a department with our history can take full advantage of this signal advance in the basic sciences, while retaining its deep commitment to the Land Grant ideal of public service. Given especially the rapidly expanding landscape of needs and resources in applied research and outreach, this will require all the energy and creativity we can muster. I confess, however, to exuberant optimism. Our Department is blessed with abundant faculty and student talent, a staff of unsurpassed skill and dedication, and a long tradition of cooperation, collegiality, and social cohesion. Over the next few years we will undertake a strenuous but exhilarating transition, to a new definition and level of excellence for our Department. I hope that some of you will want to join us in this adventure.
The Department of Entomology has a strong sense of shared mission. The Department seeks to advance the fundamental understanding of biology as it relates to insects, and to bring that knowledge to bear on education and public needs. This dual commitment to scholarship and public service reflects the origin of the Department and our discipline as early constituents, respectively, of the University of Maryland and of the Land Grant university movement generally, over a century ago. It is epitomized today by our unique dual citizenship in the College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Entomology serves as a major link between the two Colleges, and is the only campus unit whose faculty includes joint appointees with departments of both colleges. As a member of the The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. Entomology is a full partner in the continuing evolution of exciting new interdisciplinary research and training programs in basic biology, and in the College-wide undergraduate Biology program. Simultaneously, through our participation in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, we are full partners in the programs of the University of Maryland Extension and the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, working closely with campus and field faculty colleagues, industry, state and federal agencies, and the public, on critical issues of pest management and environmental protection broadly defined.
Synergy of Research and Extension
The research programs of the Entomology faculty members, housed in the Plant Sciences Building, span the range of levels of organization from molecular genetics to ecosystem function. A special emphasis of the Department, evident across this spectrum, is strong linkage between basic research and application, both within and between laboratories. Our research programs, in turn, provide close support to the Department’s award-winning Extension programs in agricultural pest management, urban, structural, and green industries pest management, and pesticide education, assessment, and policy.
Training Students to Become Scientific Leaders
Entomology faculty train students through a diverse array of graduate and undergraduate programs, in which they often take leadership roles. In addition to the program in Entomology (ENTM), our faculty participate in inter-departmental and inter-college graduate programs in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (BEES), Marine and Estuarine Environmental Sciences, Molecular and Cell Biology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences, Toxicology, and Community and Public Health. Over the past 15 years the department has placed essentially all its Ph.D. graduates into permanent positions in their fields, split about evenly between academia and government research or regulatory agencies, sometimes immediately though usually after a year or more of postdoctoral study.
The Department is also deeply committed to undergraduate education. In addition to offering an array of upper-level courses serving students in both Colleges, and a highly popular non-majors ‘Insects’ course, Entomology faculty teach lower-division introductory courses required for Biology majors. While there is no formal entomology major, students can readily get the effect of such a specialization through the entomology minor, honors program and their elective courses. The Department is proud of the large and talented corps of undergraduates, from a variety of majors, who find niches in our faculty research labs.
Leading Campus Programs, Reaching Out to the Community
Entomologists also play key roles in other initiatives designed to make a big campus feel small. For example, the late Emeritus Professor Lee Hellman had long directed the College Park Life Science Scholars. Illustrating the close link between education and public outreach, the Department has expanded its outreach to K-12 students. We hold the very popular Bug Camp: Insects. Science & Society every summer which provides a variety of hands-on activities and interactive field trips, teaching kids how amazing and valuable bugs truly are. Campers gain experience with science in the field and the lab, and come away with an understanding of the important relationship between humans and insects.
Our Strategic Location
Entomology’s research and training programs benefit enormously from our close proximity to Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Maryland's I-270 Biotechnology Corridor, which facilitates interaction with an extraordinary range of major scientific agencies and institutions. These include, among many others, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Scientists from these local partners serve as adjunct faculty and informal advisors, greatly augmenting the array of facilities, research opportunities, and funding sources available to our students. These benefits are illustrated, to use one of many examples, by the success of our systematics training partnership with the Smithsonian and USDA, known as the Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology.
Diversity of opportunity describes life at College Park as well. In addition to its vast curriculum, the campus is host to a boundless array of special seminars and workshops, clubs and other shared-interest organizations, recreational facilities, and athletic and performing arts events. The cultural riches of the nation’s capital, where most museums (including the National Museum of Natural History and its Insect Zoo) are free, can be reached from a Washington Metrorail station near our campus. An immense range of habitats for recreation and research, from the Atlantic ocean to the Eastern Continental Divide, lies within a few hours’ drive.
Expanding Our Scope, Retaining our Fundamental Commitments
This is an exciting time to be an entomologist at College Park. The current top priority for our campus, one of the most rapidly advancing public research universities in the country, is growth and strengthening in the life sciences. The The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences is expanding its faculty body to recruit outstanding scientists focused on functional and comparative genomics (including systematics), sensory neurobiology, host-pathogen interactions, and ecological sustainability. Our challenge is to show that a department with our history can take full advantage of this signal advance in the basic sciences, while retaining its deep commitment to the Land Grant ideal of public service. Given especially the rapidly expanding landscape of needs and resources in applied research and outreach, this will require all the energy and creativity we can muster. I confess, however, to exuberant optimism. Our Department is blessed with abundant faculty and student talent, a staff of unsurpassed skill and dedication, and a long tradition of cooperation, collegiality, and social cohesion. Over the next few years we will undertake a strenuous but exhilarating transition, to a new definition and level of excellence for our Department. I hope that some of you will want to join us in this adventure.
