Research (30%) - Small grains, soybeans, corn, and cotton

My lab's research objectives include the improvement and expansion of integrated pest management practices and knowledge for insect pests of field crops.  This focuses on four broad areas:

1.      Evaluation and establishment of sampling procedures for estimating pest abundance in major field crops.

2.      Evaluation and establishment of economic thresholds for major and emerging pests of corn, wheat, soybean, and cotton.

3.      Evaluation of insecticides and alternative management tactics (e.g. varietal tolerance, planting dates, and other cultural, physical, and mechanical tactics) to minimize insect damage and environmental impacts.

4.      Developing integrated pest management practices on various spatial and temporal scales using global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies.

I also wish to characterize important biological and ecological factors of arthropod pests and associated organisms of field crops, including the delineation of pest flow through major and minor agricultural crops.