Education opportunities?

[slong15]

Hey everyone,

I just thought I'd post on here to see if anyone could give me any advice about any organizations or anything that they know really deal with insects. I'll soon be graduating college, and would loveeee to get into some type of insect research or anything buggy. Anyone know of any great organizations that do this type of stuff? I also definitely want to go to grad school- anyone have any advice on a great entomology type school? I'm not too sure of anyones education backgrounds on here, or whether or not anyone went to school for this type of stuff, but if anyone has any input I'd love to hear! Thanks!

 

[Hypoponera]

There are a number of groups who do "buggy-type" research. But most of those are for after grad school. Pre-grad school and you are very limited in what you can do.

The Univ of Arizona has a good grad level Entomology dept as does Purdue. There are some good depts in a couple CA schools as well, but I don't remember which. Check into Kansas and possibly Texas A+M.

 

[MantidLord]

U.C Davis is a great choice

 

[PhilinYuma]

There are a number of groups who do "buggy-type" research. But most of those are for after grad school. Pre-grad school and you are very limited in what you can do.

The Univ of Arizona has a good grad level Entomology dept as does Purdue. There are some good depts in a couple CA schools as well, but I don't remember which. Check into Kansas and possibly Texas A+M.

Listen to Hypoponera (quick entomology quiz: What does "Hypopnera" mean?); he is the only member I know who took a B.Sc. in entomology rather than zoo or bio. If you asked, though, he would tell you that most entomologists in the U.S. and many other countries study how to kill insects; that's where the money is. How many entomology hours do you have? You must have done at least one stats course, right?

Here's a way-out and adventurous thought. Macquarie University, in Sydney, NSW, does a lot of research in mantids. I have a good friend who is about to complete a zoology degree at the university of Sydney and will then do a year of research at Macquarie in the Bachelor of Advanced Science Program which is the equivalent of BSc honors and will breeze you into any grad school in the US, though you may want to do the master's there as well. I'll be frank with you. Even if you graduated with something cum laude, grad school in many foreign countries can be quite a steep hill to climb. Currently, tuition for an academic year is about $23,000 AUD (I think) which is the equivalent of S20,000 USD, so it's something that you might want to look into.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[Hypoponera]

Hey Phil,

I just spent the last 2 days looking for the meaning/breakdown of the name "Hypoponera". Alas, all I've come up with is info on the genus. I never did learn the meanings of most of the names I had to memorize. Learning the meanings might have made the memorizing a bit easier!

Yep, most work in the buggy field is related to control research or enactment. I did both at one time or another. I actually learned more about insects by working in the pest control biz rather then as a lab tech for the USDA Forest Svc.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Ha, ha, Mike!

I knew I wrote that question badly. I meant "to what genus does Hypoponera belong?" Obviously, you may know something that I don't, but I always think of them as a very insignificant and unexciting genus.

As for the name, "hypo" as you know, means below or less than, and "poner" is from the Greek "ponerus" meaning wicked or useless, so one translation of the name would be "less than useless"

Actually, there is a very obscure science of ponerology, which examines the conditions under which politically evil states arise.

 

[MantidLord]

It's a genus of ants right?

 

[Hypoponera]

Yes, "Hypoponera" is an ant genus. All relatively small and non-descript until you see them under a scope. I always found them in ground mounted termite bait stations. Here is a link on the genus:

http://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=hypoponera&rank=genus&project=worldants