Day 2: UNL Insect Science by Bree

 

                

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                Our day began at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln with Ms. Pegg sharing information about the college and the degree programs that are offered there. She was joined by a student, Caleb, who gave us a tour of the Englerpreneur facility and explained the opportunities that students have to build on an idea they have to form a business.

                In the continuation of touring the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, we are able to tour as well as meet the head and two professors of the Entomology department. These individuals consisted of Mr. John Robinson, Mr. Doug Golick, and Mrs. Ana Maria Velez. 

                To start off with our introduction into the Entomology department Mr. John Roberson introduced to us the different aspects of entomology such as biomedical entomology, pest management entomology as well as other aspects of entomology. Mr. Roberson is one of the professors of the department as well as is the head of the department. To end off with his introduction he talked about his emphasis of work which focuses on the different insects that target livestock and crops, as well we were told about the 2 research facilities in Nebraska. 

                To speak next was Mr. Doug Golick. Mr. Golick never had the inkling of an idea to become an Entomologist, instead he’s actually an art teacher who became intrigued by Entomology. Therefore, from that he did a game called Good Bug .vs. Bad bug. This game required groups of 3 to 4 to sort a pile of plastic bug models. In the end many students in the group had very contrasting opinions varying based off look, prior knowledge and their own prehensile thoughts of what was bad. These differences are what made Mr.Golick choose this game because of the different perspectives. It allowed him to connect how even though others may think differently they can all be connected through perspective and differences. 

                To finish off with the key speakers was Miss Ana Maria Velez. Miss Velez is the professor of more of the biomedical entomology. Miss Velez's specialty as well as her favorite part of her job is called RNA interference for pest management which is the process of knocking out a certain gene to see how the insect reacts so as to fix a certain problem. For instance, we were able to see a beetle that was a Frankenstein beetle that had a hunchback from her genetic interference. Currently she is working on handling the issue of the Western Corn Root Worm that is wreaking havoc upon corn plants by eating their roots leading to them being unable to withstand strong weather leading to a loss in profit which has totaled to over 2 billon dollars in losses. 

Look closely at the "Frankenstein" larvae.

                In the conclusion of our entomology visit we were allowed to hold some of the insects that were on compass such as hissing cockroaches and a blue feigning death beetle. We as a group are so thankful for the opportunity to meet some very intelligent individuals of their field.