College: College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Designation: Department
Major: Entomology
Degrees Offered: M.S., Ph.D.
Other: Ph.D. Minor
Faculty: Professors Goodman (chair), German, Hogg, Jeanne, Lindroth, Mahr, Paskewitz, Raffa, Young; Associate Professors Lan, Williamson; Assistant Professors Cullen, Gratton, Groves
The Department of Entomology offers graduate work leading to the master of science and the doctor of philosophy in entomology. Opportunities are available for advanced study in a variety of special interest fields including developmental biology, ecology, behavior, systematics and taxonomy, biochemistry, toxicology, symbiosis, physiology, genetics, biological control, economic entomology, medical entomology, and insect-plant interactions. Graduates find employment in research, teaching, and extension in universities, government, and industry. The department office maintains specific information concerning graduate studies and career placement.
The Department of Entomology is housed in the eight floors of the north tower of Russell Laboratories. The laboratories are well equipped for research in the fields described above. There are also growth chambers, a quarantine facility, a Local Area Network with support personnel, and a world-class insect collection with a full-time curator available for assistance in graduate study. Graduate students have access to faculty and graduate consultants in statistics and statistical programming, a core strength within the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Other facilities available for field research near Madison are the Arlington and West Madison Field Laboratories, and the UW-Madison Arboretum. The university also maintains numerous other field laboratories and research areas distributed throughout the state. UW-Madison is recognized as an international leader in biotechnology, and so provides access to a variety of state-of-the-art facilities such as the Biotechnology Center and the Enzyme Institute. Other campus facilities include state-of-the-art greenhouses and the Biotron, a world-class facility for providing high quality environmental control.
Graduate education in the Department of Entomology provides many opportunities for collaborative research. Department faculty participate in joint projects with other faculty in numerous departments on campus, and with scientists at other universities, in federal and state agencies, and in industry. A number of entomology faculty are also adjunct professors in other departments and programs such as Zoology, Forest and Wildlife Ecology, and Molecular and Environmental Toxicology, and so can serve as primary advisors to graduate students majoring in those fields. There are additional opportunities to conduct research in a variety of distant tropical and temperate regions, gain experience in classroom instruction and individual mentoring, and participate in outreach activities such as addressing K-12 classes, naturalist groups, and commodity producers.
For more information: Jim Butts, Department of Entomology, 237 Russell Laboratories, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706; 608/262-0625; butts@entomology.wisc.edu; www.entomology.wisc.edu.