Entomology
Graduate
Organization

The Entomology Graduate Organization (EGO) was started in February 2002 to improve the level of graduate involvement in department affairs and to increase social interaction among students. The organization facilitates communication among graduate students and between faculty and the Department Head. We also organize social and academic events in the department, such as picnics and departmental seminars.

Department Involvement

Entomology graduate students at Purdue are encouraged to become actively involved in department activities and strategic planning. Several students serve on departmental committees. EGO has provided a venue for sharing information and a process for offering graduate input on important department issues.

Social Activities

Students in EGO organize social events for students and faculty to promote interaction within the department. We also welcome new students by assigning a current student to show them around. Our goal is to improve the academic and social experience of all graduate students in Purdue Entomology. Working together, we can make this department the best it can be!

Academic Activities

Graduate students play a key role in organizing an ongoing Department Seminar Series. This involvement provides opportunities for students to interact with Entomology researchers in many fields from around the globe.

An annual Graduate Student Seminar provides opportunities for students to present their research to faculty and fellow students for practice and feedback. EGO members organize and plan this activity.

Graduate students often present posters and give presentations at national and branch meetings of the Entomology Society of America (ESA) or other professional meetings. EGO provides a network for students to support each other's efforts and make us the best that we can be. This includes a series of professional development workshops we organize each semester, where Entomology faculty and other guests present on topics such as research skills, teaching, grant writing and job-hunting.

Officers and Committee Chairs


Rachel Youngblood

President

Sadhana Chhetri

Vice President

Eze Pojmann-Ezeonyilo

Treasurer

Ella Stroh

Secretary

Christine Elliot

Grad Forum Chair

Gunakeshari Lamsal

Social Chair

Leslie Aviles Lopez

NCB Chair

Activities

Bug-N-Brew
Bug-N-Brew

Bug-N-Brew is a department wide social event with friends and family included. Graduate students, faculty, and staff get together on the first Friday of every month at a local bar or restaurant. It is a good time for everyone to interact on a personal level outside of the walls of Smith and Whistler Halls. We all eat dinner while sharing jokes and stories until our appetites for both food and drink are met. This event really encourages interaction between everyone and there is always a good time had by all. Restaurants visited: Lafayette Brewing Company, Spurlock's, Cajun Connection, The Other Pub, Hunter's Pub Down Under, Buffalo Wild Wings, Parthenon.

Camping
Camping

For the past several summers, EGO has organized a camping & collecting trip to the Feldun-Purdue Agriculture Center in southern Indiana. With its rolling hills, wooded trails, and old rock quarries, this location has been a great place for hiking and insect collecting, and the campfires and night collecting trips are a favorite part of the weekend. Professors, grad students, friends, and family have all taken part in this social event.

Canoeing
Canoeing

Each year around the end of June, we all take a float down Sugar Creek, which runs through Turkey Run State Park. The trip is typically 15 miles and covers parts of the creek that are known to have fossils and Indian artifacts along the way, as well as intersecting a few historical covered bridges. This is a nice relaxing canoe trip that takes most of the day. Many faculty and staff also join in the fun. Most of us end up sun burnt and tired, but it is always a good excuse to get out and enjoy the sites of Indiana.

Paintballing
Paintballing

EGO organizes a departmental paintball trip every year that always proves to be a lot of fun. This social event is geared toward everyone in the department. In 2005 we headed to the Paintball Barn in Attica, Indiana. It's the one opportunity you get to shoot at grad students or professors without getting in trouble!

Halloween Party
Winter Gala (80's Night)
Volleyball
Rock Climbing

Graduate Spotlight

Bridget Blood

Advisor

Dr. Matthew Ginzel

Expected Graduation

December 2016

EGO Officer Position

Intramural Captain

originally from

Barnegat, New Jersey

Future Career Plans

I plan on joining the Peace Corps after I graduate to serve in undeveloped countries and aid as an extension entomologist/forester. After I return home, I want to pursue a PhD and (hopefully) become a professor at a smaller university.

Area of Research

Chemical ecology and forest entomology

Summary of Research

I’m studying the chemical ecology of the walnut twig beetle, the insect vector of thousand cankers disease.

How You Got Into Entomology

I started working for Dr. Cesar Rodriguez-Saona at Rutgers University because I needed a summer job close to home in the Pine Barrens. I was working for a master’s student on his mating disruption experiment with the Oriental beetle (Anomala orientalis). I touched the pheromone lures for a few hours while I placed them throughout some blueberry fields and a few weeks later I was swarmed by hundreds of Oriental beetles every time I went to a blueberry field. Even six months later I was still being swarmed by Oriental beetles! Needless to say, I did not attend a Fourth of July BBQ that year.

I graduated from undergrad with degrees in biology and environmental science with a focus in forestry. Even though I had always planned on becoming a forester, I decided to pursue my education in entomology, studying the chemical ecology of forest insects because the concept that this beetle (and other insects) could be so easily manipulated and controlled amazed me.

Favorite Insect and Why

Any Curculionidae, even bark beetles. The acorn weevil might be my absolute favorite because it is just the cutest insect.

Hobbies

Traveling is by far my favorite hobby. I have driven across the country five times and have been to all but five states. Otherwise (because money is a limiting factor), I like watching sports (soccer, football, and hockey), skyping my sister while we “Netflix”. During the field season, I enjoy walking through forests identifying trees. I also knit scarves and only scarves because they are long rectangles and very easy to make.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

MCC all day. (Mint chocolate chip!)

Favorite Movie

Probably any 80s, 90s, or early 2000s rom-com. Sign me up for Can’t Buy Me Love or She’s All That or 10 Things I Hate About You. (Would Dumb and Dumber be considered a rom-com?)

Favorite Book

The secret life of lobsters by Trevor Corson

Place I Would LIke to Visit in the Future

England. I want to see my favorite soccer team (Arsenal) play in their home stadium. Maybe adventure to other parts of Europe while I’m at it, too.

Graduate Spotlight Archive

Morgan Lucke

March 2014

Adam Salyer

February 2014

Gabriel Hughes

January 2014

Serena Gross

December 2013

Aaron J. Myers

November 2013

Elizabeth Rowen

October 2013