Bug Talk

Zsofia and Jean Tsao (https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/jean_tsao; former guest of the podcast on Ep. 62) cohosted this episode featuring Dr. Jannelle Couret, a first-generation Afro-Caribbean/Latina scientist. She researches the biology of arthropod vectors and the eco-epidemiology of vector-borne human pathogens. She completed her PhD in Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution of Infectious Disease at Emory University. We chatted with her about how she found her current faculty position and a unique fellowship she had as a postdoc. Check out her website for some of the fantastic art we talked about during the podcast: http://www.vectorbiology.org/
*Contact/follow us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
Thanks to Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Dr. Megan Fritz (http://www.meganfritzlab.com/people.html) is alumna of the MSU Department of Entomology.  She sat down in person with Zsofia to talk about career and family. She chatted about being an undergraduate research assistant in an entomology lab, being inspired by the people around her to choose entomology as a career, and going to grad school without getting an M.S. first. Meghan also discussed her choice to start a family in graduate school, raising children while completing her Ph.D., the role of a supportive adviser and community to be able to do this and thinking about why it might be a good option for some to have kids during this time of life.
*Contact/follow us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
Thanks to Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!

Dr. Ned Walker (https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/edward_walker) is a professor in the Entomology Department at Michigan State University. His work focuses on mosquitos, ticks and other insects important from a human health perspective. In this conversation, Ned talked about his life growing up in Ohio, getting into medical entomology during his undergrad, growing his interest in mosquito ecology and eventually coming to MSU as a postdoc in Rich Merritt's aquatic entomology lab. After getting his current position, he developed an international research program that took him to many different countries around the World. It is interesting that Ned's life today would be very different if it wasn't for an early mentor he met in college who encouraged and taught him at a critical time of his life. Ned also talked about his love of music, playing the guitar and being in bands.

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact/follow us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

In this episode Osten Echedor (MSU Bug Club President) and Nate Howder (MSU Bug Club Vice President) talked about everything MSU Bug Club related! Bug Club's mission is to provide a welcoming environment for students interested in learning about entomology to connect with fellow arthropod enthusiasts and develop professional skills. We chatted about the club's history, current activities, membership, meetings and future plans. This fun group has members from many different undergraduate majors and love to play games at their meetings. They also organize collecting trips and feed you snacks that have arthropods in them!
Follow Bug Club on Discord (https://discord.gg/6tqT6fA6ZV), Instagram (@bugclubmsu), and join them at Springticipation 2022 (Student Involvement Fair on Wednesday, January 19 2022, 6:00 PM-8:00 PM at the Duffy Daugherty Building - Indoor Football Practice Center 771 Chestnut Rd , East Lansing , MI)
Email them at [email protected].

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact/follow us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

In this episode Zsofia talked with Dr. Inga Zasada, nematologist with the USDA-ARS based out of Corvallis, OR (https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/corvallis-or/horticultural-crops-research/people/zasada-inga/). We chatted about how Inga was inspired by her scientist parents and growing up in Alaska and Oregon to want to become a biologist. She also talked about her unusual path to nematology, including being a Peace Corps volunteer on the Maltese Islands for 2 years where she had to learn on the job. We chatted about her graduate education at North Carolina State University and UC Davis and then working for the USDA as a nematologist. 

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

On this episode of Bug Talk, Jen and Julie chat with Liz Schultheis, Kellogg Biological Station's Long Term Ecological Research Education (LTER) and Outreach Coordinator and the founder of Data Nuggets. We talk about the founding of the program, its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how you can become involved with the Data Nuggets program!

Follow Data Nuggets along on Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop!


Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

This episode features Dr. Hannah Burrack, incoming chair of the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University (https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/canr-names-new-chair-to-lead-department-of-entomology). This new position starts on Jan. 1, 2022, and in this episode we chatted about her background and thoughts on leadership.

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

In this episode Julie and Zsofia talked with Raul Medina (https://medinalab.tamu.edu/), professor of entomology at Texas A&M. Raul received the Entomological Society of America's 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Award. We chatted about how foreign-born people currently living in the US can work with US-born minorities to strengthen each other, how he came to connect his personal experiences to societal issues and how he has been active in the DEI movement since his time as a young professional. We discussed issues such as implicit bias, you can take the Harvard test we mentioned here: (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html). We also talked about why it is sometimes difficult to have conversations about DEI and what we can do to normalize these.

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

Jen and Zsofia talked to Dr. Julio Bernal (https://entomology.tamu.edu/people/bernal-julio/), professor of entomology at Texas A&M.  Julio told us about his background in agriculture and how he got interested in entomology. He also told us about his graduate education and postdoc working with citrus biocontrol. We also chatted about the structure of the A&M system and the undergraduate and graduate programs in his department.

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.

In this episode, Zsofia and Jen chat with Dr. Katja Poveda, associate professor of Entomology at Cornell University. Dr. Poveda studies plant-insect interactions from the plant to landscape scale in agroecosystems. We chat about her global research in Malawi and Kenya, her teaching interests, and some of the awesome research she has done!

You can follow the Poveda lab on Twitter @PovedaLab to stay updated with Dr. Poveda's current research!

Thanks to Jason Roedel for improving the sound quality, Matt Grieshop for the music and Ellie Darling for designing the Bug Talk logo!
*Contact us @bugtalkpodcast on Instagram or Twitter.
*Visit us on our YouTube channel.