Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Graduate Catalog 
    
2019-2020 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Entomology


123 Waters Hall
785-532-6154
Fax: 785-532-6232
entomology@k-state.edu
http://www.entomology.ksu.edu

Department Head:

Brian McCornack Interim

Director of Graduate Studies:

Greg Zolnerowich

Graduate Faculty:

*Frank H. Arthur, Adjunct, U.S. Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Ph.D., North Carolina State University (Stored Product Entomology)
*Lawrent L. Buschman, Emeritus, Ph.D., University of Florida (Integrated Pest Management)
*James F. Campbell, Adjunct, U.S. Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Ph.D., University of California-Davis (Insect Behavior)
*Ming-Shun Chen, Adjunct, Ph.D., Kansas State University (Insect Genetics)
*Raymond Cloyd, Ph.D., Purdue University (Entomology)
Lee Cohnstaedt, Adjunct, Ph.D., Yale University
*Srinivas Kambhampati, Adjunct, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University (Insect Genetics and Phylogenetics)
Tania Kim, Ph.D., Florida State University
*Berlin Luxelly Londono Renteria, Ph.D., Tulane University
*David C. Margolies, Emeritus, Ph.D., North Carolina State University (Insect Ecology and Behavior)
*Jeremy L. Marshall, Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Environmental and Evolutionary Biology)
*Brian P. McCornack, Ph.D., University of Minnesota (Entomology)
*John P. Michaud, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University (Integrated Pest Management and Biological Control)
*William Morrison III, Adjunct, Ph.D., Michigan State University (Entomology)
*Dana Nayduch, Adjunct, Ph.D., Clemson University
*James R. Nechols, Emertitus, Ph.D., Cornell University (Biological Control, Insect Ecology)
Weston Opitz, Adjunct, Ph.D., Rutgers University, New Jersey
*Brenda Oppert, Adjunct, U.S. Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Ph.D., Kansas State University (Insect Physiology)
*Yoonseong Park, Ph.D., University of Arizona (Insect Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics)
*Thomas W. Phillips, Ph.D. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Entomology)
*John C. Reese, Emeritus, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin (Plant Resistance to Insects)
*Erin Scully, Adjunct, Ph.D.,  Pennsylvania State University (Genetics)
*Kristopher Silver, Ph.D., Cornell University (Environmental Toxicology)
*C. Michael Smith, Ph.D., Mississippi State University (Plant Resistance to Insects)
*Brian Spiesman, Ph.D., Florida State University
*Robert Jeffery Whitworth, Ph.D., Kansas State University (Entomology)
*Kun Yan Zhu, Ph.D., Utah State University (Molecular Toxicology and Toxicogenomics)
*Gregory Zolnerowich, Ph.D., Texas A&M University (Insect Systematics)
*Sarah Zukoff, Ph.D., University of Missouri
*Ludek Zurek, Ph.D., University of Alberta, Canada (Medical and Livestock Entomology)

Ancillary Graduate Faculty:

*Subramanyam Bhadriraju, Ph.D., University of Minnesota (Stored Product Insects)
*Susan Brown, Ph.D., University of Missouri (Developmental Genetics)
*Rollie Clem, Ph.D., University of Georgia (Insect Virology)
*Michael Dryden, Ph.D., Purdue University (Flea Biology and Management)
*Roman Reddy Ganta, Ph.D., All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India (Molecular Biology and Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases)
*Tony Joern, PhD, University of Texas (Ecology)
*Michael Kanost, Ph.D., Purdue University (Insect Biochemistry)
*Kristin Michel, PhD, University of California-Riverside (Regulation of mosquito innate immunity; malaria parasite-mosquito interactions)
*Theodore Morgan, PhD, Washington State University (Evolutionary and Ecological Quantitative Genetics)
*Subbaratnam Muthukrishnan, Ph.D., Indian Institute of Science (Biochemistry and Plant Resistance to Insects)
*Lorena Passarelli, Ph.D., University of Georgia (Insect Virology)
Gerald R. Reeck, Ph.D., University of Washington (Molecular Biology of Insect-Plant Interactions)
John Ruberson, Ph.D., Cornell University (Entomology)
*Kim With, Ph.D., Colorado State University (Landscape Ecology)

 

* Denotes graduate faculty that are certified to serve as the major professor for doctoral students

Introduction

The Department of Entomology at Kansas State University has an internationally recognized graduate program, leading to the M.S. or Ph.D. degree and an MS graduate certificate program. A wide variety of opportunities for graduate study are offered in several areas of research in which the faculty have established expertise. These areas include

  • arthropod pest management
  • agrospatial, behavioral, chemical ecology
  • biocontrol
  • molecular, developmental, and population genetics
  • physiological, biochemical, toxicological, and molecular insect science
  • plant resistance to insects
  • molecular and ecosystem plant/insect interactions
  • stored-product entomology
  • ecology, systematics, and evolution
  • public and animal health entomology

The department is housed in Waters Hall, and maintains excellent research facilities with state of the art research equipment, a student computer laboratory, and a research insect collection. Classrooms and teaching laboratories have been renovated and utilize multimedia-assisted instructional aids. Facilities include 22 greenhouses of various sizes, bioclimatic chambers, and rearing rooms. Field research is conducted on experimental farms at Manhattan and at branch experiment stations throughout the state. Cooperative research programs exist with the KSU Departments of Animal Sciences and Industry; Agronomy; Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Grain Science and Industry; Plant Pathology; Horticulture, Forestry and Recreational Resources; the Wheat Genetics Resource Center; the College of Veterinary Medicine; the U.S. Grain Marketing Production and Research Center , and other U.S. and international organizations.

Extension Entomologists are broadly knowledgeable over a wide range of insect and related arthropod topics. Public support is offered through an insect identification and diagnostic service, 4-H and Youth programs, pesticide safety training, and training for pesticide application certification. An integrated pest management approach is used in providing the public with programs and information on insects and other arthropods of importance to field and horticultural crops, livestock, stored grain, residential environs, and human health. Programming is routinely coordinated among entomologists and members of other academic departments and many governmental agencies.

The department offers unparalleled outreach opportunities through its outstanding and well-recognized Insect Zoo, which is located in the Kansas State University Gardens. Students, staff, and faculty volunteer to serve as tour guides and in its maintenance. The mission of the Insect Zoo is to foster a better understanding and increased awareness of our natural world and of the important roles that insects and their relatives play in it. The Insect Zoo offers an interactive experience for visitors who will experience the sights, sounds, and smells of live creepy crawlies, including giant cockroaches, centipedes, scorpions, spiders, tarantulas, beetles, walking stick, and praying mantises. Visitors also can “pet” some of the animals during show-and-tell demonstrations by the staff. The Insect Zoo, designed by Lee Manske, a former KSU architecture student, and former KSU entomology professors Ralph Charlton and Sonny Ramaswamy, features a number of exciting educational exhibits including the Mick Hilleary-designed Tropical tree/flooded Amazonian Rainforest. Other fascinating exhibits are The Desert-Scape, observation beehive, and a mock kitchen. Many interactive learning stations with touch-screen computers along with colorful posters offer additional information on butterflies, insects, arthropods, and plants.

The department currently has 17 permanent, and 30 adjunct/ancillary faculty, four full-time office staff, about 30 postdoctoral and technical support staff, over 30 graduate students, and several other temporary personnel and numerous undergraduate students involved in research. The faculty have received awards for excellence in research, teaching, and extension, and serve in leadership positions with various professional societies, grant panels, blue ribbon panels, etc. Faculty receive competitive research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute for Food and Agriculture Programs, Pest Management Alternatives Program, Risk Avoidance and Mitigation Program, etc., in addition to various industries and commodity commissions.

The goal of the department is to provide graduate students with opportunities for basic and practical experiences in research, teaching and extension, and for significant professional development. Students publish their research findings in leading scientific journals and participate in the preparation of extramural grant proposals. All students are afforded opportunities to present their findings at professional meetings. Our graduate students routinely win local, regional, national, and international awards for their research endeavors, and compete  in the annual Linnaean Games sponsored by the Entomological Society of America, winning national and regional championships several times. In addition to a seminar series that brings nationally and internationally recognized scientists to the department, faculty and students participate in journal discussion groups on a variety of entomological topics.

Financial assistance

Stipends

The Department of Entomology supports graduate study and development in numerous ways. Stipends are available as graduate research and teaching assistantships. Department faculty successfully secure research grants from federal agencies, commodity commissions, agribusiness corporations, and private foundations that fund many graduate students on research assistantships. Check with the department for current rates. Student tuition and fees are not waived, but are assessed at in-state rates for all graduate assistants.

Master’s students are encouraged to seek teaching experience. Ph.D. students are required to seek teaching experience. A student can obtain teaching experience as a paid, non-credit hour teaching assistant or a graduate teaching assistant receiving variable credit for ENTOM 932 Topics in General and Systematic Entomology.

Performance requirements for continuation

In order to maintain financial assistance from assistantships or fellowships for teaching or research, graduate students are expected to maintain a B average in all course work. Failure to maintain a B average will result in academic probation for one semester before reinstatement as a regular graduate student.

 

Programs

Doctor of Philosophy

Master of Science

Graduate Certificate

Courses

Entomology