Bug Talk

This week, Kayleigh talks with Alex Hitchcock, an Entomology Research and Outreach Fellow (EROF; Twitter: @erof_msu) for Summer 2021. We talk about career changes, his work at Josh's Frogs, and growing some of the coolest plants out there!

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see videos of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Dr. Jean Tsao (Twitter: @JTsao1) from MSU's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife talks about everybody's "favorite", ticks! We also chatted about how she became an expert in this group of arthropods and she shared this list of resources with us: 

• Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) page on  tick-borne diseases: https://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,4579,7-186-76935---,00.html
• Current MDHHS Lyme disease risk map (to which Jean's lab has contributed much of the tick data): https://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/Lyme_risk_map2020_697081_7.pdf
• MDHHS document that summarizes the tick and disease risk trends over the last 5 years: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/2021_Tickborne_Disease_Summary_Report_725827_7.pdf
• MDHHS's webpage for ordering tick warning signs, tick ID cards, and tick collection/submission kits for tick ID [only].  You can also submit photos of ticks instead of the ticks themselves and probably get a faster turnaround time on the ID: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/Publication_Order_Form_357623_7.pdf
• Here is the link to The Tick App, a mobile health app colleagues and I developed to improve tick prevention - both through outreach/education about ticks and tick prevention, but also through community science regarding both improving tick prevention practices as well as monitoring for invasive ticks. Here's a recent write-up about the app in the MSU Today.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see videos of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode, Jen and Natalie chat with Riley Bender, an Entomology Research and Outreach Fellow (EROF) for Summer 2021! We chat about Riley's transition into a new career, doing field work, and some of her favorite and not-so favorite movies and books! You can follow Riley on Twitter at @RileyTheRad and on Tik Tok for her cool bug videos @RileyLikesBugs!

Riley's Podcast Recommendation: Hidden Brain by NPR
Riley's Book Recommendation: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see videos of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Zsofia and two guest co-hosts, Julianna Wilson (Entomology DEI committee chair) and Elizeth Cinto Meija (representative of Entomology Department on the CANR DEI committee), talked with Drs. Jabbar Bennett (MSU’s Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Professor of Medicine in the College of Human Medicine) and Quentin Tyler (Associate Dean and Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Director of MSU Extension), two leaders at MSU. We asked them about their current positions, their take on what it means to be a good leader, what the pandemic taught them about leadership, how to move forward after the lockdown, balancing personal views with the larger vision of an institution, their views on the future of the university, their mentors and people who inspire them and, what they think the future will bring. If you'd like to find out more about Dr. Bennett, take a listen here and watch this video to learn more about Dr. Tyler.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see videos of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Ariana, Jen, Natalie and Zsofia chatted with Jenna Walters about the Entomology Research and Outreach Fellowship (EROF). We chatted about how Jenna (Twitter: @Jenna_M_Walters) was inspired by Insects for Inclusion to start this program, what activities had been undertaken by the EROF committee over the last year, funding the program, recruiting and interviewing fellows and finally offering 7 fellowships for this summer. You can also follow them on Twitter and Instagram @erof_msu.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see videos of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

This week Ariana and Jen chatted with Dr. Harit Bal. Harit is the Senior Research Entomologist in Regulatory Sciences at Bayer Crop Science. They discussed what sparked her interest in agricultural work,  and her research and experiences in graduate school. Harit also talked about the importance of networking and building soft skills while in graduate school and beyond. They also discussed Harit's hobbies outside of work and her favorite cuisines.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see video of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Dr. Amanda Lorenz is the undergraduate advisor in the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University. In this episode, Natalie, Ariana and Zsofia chatted with her about our undergraduate program, current recruitment strategies, employment opportunities and courses for entomology undergraduates. Amanda described the demographic of our undergraduate students and strategies used to increase diversity. We also talked about how graduate and undergraduate students interact in our department. Amanda is our Bug House coordinator and she talked about what an important outreach tool this has been. Take a virtual tour of the Bug House! If you are interested in our undergraduate program and have questions, please feel free to send an email to Amanda ([email protected]). You can also find out more about our undergraduate program and how to apply to MSU on our department's website.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see video of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode, Olivia and Zsofia chatted with outgoing MSU Entomology postdocs Andrea Glassmire and Eli Bloom. They shared the challenges of the pandemic-era job market and what they’ll remember fondly about the MSU Entomology community. Andrea is starting a new position working in the Cronin Lab at Louisiana State University and can be found online at aglassmire.com. Eli is on Twitter at @susta1nabeelity and on the Szendrei lab website.
You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to see video of the conversations with guests. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode Andrea Glassmire and Kayleigh Hauri talk with Drs. Kevin Steffey and Zsofia Szendrei, who are the co-editors in chief of American Entomologist. Kevin and Zsofia talked about how they got involved in science communication, the importance of storytelling in scientific writing and making research accessible to broad audiences, especially to those who are not in science. We talked about how social media can be an important method of communicating science to large audiences. This episode is only audio.

You can follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the conversations with guests.

*Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

In this episode, Olivia talked with recent MSU Entomology Seminar speaker Dr. Marianna Karageorgi. Marianna is a postdoc at Stanford University and studies insect adaptation to host plant toxins. We discussed her path into the fascinating world of insect behavior, differences between the US and European academic systems, and what scientific research has in common with dancing the tango. 
You can follow Marianna on Twitter @m_karageorgi, follow Bug Talk on Twitter and Instagram @bugtalkpodcast, and find out more about the podcast on the entomology department website. Thanks to Jason Roedel, audio engineer, for improving sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music, and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!