Graduate Degree Program

Program Description

The Department of Entomology has an internationally recognized graduate program, offering both the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Degree requirements include a combination of core entomology courses plus electives, and completion of a thesis or dissertation project. Students can develop their interests in a wide diversity of focus areas. Graduate students are advised by the Department's faculty and adjunct faculty. Many of the faculty have received awards and recognitions for contributions in teaching, research, extension, and service. They have also been highly successful at winning competitive grants and contracts, which support graduate students’ stipends and provide funds for students’ research projects. Several faculty members participate in international research arrangements, which provide opportunities for graduate student training.

Entomology is also formally linked to several inter-departmental and inter-institutional graduate programs. These include:

• Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Program.
• Center for Biosystems Research
• Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences Program
• Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology
• Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology
• Molecular and Cellular Biology Program
• Toxicology Program

Facilities and support

The Department is housed in the Plant Sciences Building with state-of-the art facilities that provide an excellent environment for research and teaching. The University of Maryland's strategic location in the Washington, DC area provides excellent opportunities for students to conduct research with leading scientists at the Smithsonian Institution, USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Walter Reed Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other nearby governmental agencies. Adjunct and affiliate faculty members from various agencies strengthen and complement different areas of departmental expertise.

Graduate students in the Department are supported by extramural funding, University and departmental fellowships and assistantships, grant-associated research assistantships, and teaching assistantships from the General Biology program as well as from other departments and programs including chemistry, environmental sciences, biostatistics, and others.

Student Success

Our graduates have done very well in securing employment in academia; private industry; federal, state and local governments; and international and national agencies and enterprises.  Highlights include placement in the following fields:

• Tenure-track positions at U.S institutions of higher education including Cornell University, University of South Dakota, Auburn University, University of Connecticut, Fordham University, North Carolina State University, Shepherd University, University of Missouri, Rutgers, University of Wyoming, University of Delaware, University of Illinois, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Minnesota, and other institutions. Within this group, several are or have been department chairs or in positions of higher administration (including president) at their institutions.

• Curatorial and other positions at museums including the American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of Natural Science (Taiwan), and Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard University).

• Positions with US and international government and public agencies including USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Maryland Cooperative Extension, Purdue Extension, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, National Agricultural Library, US Department of Defense, California Department of Food and Agriculture, U.S. General Services Administration, the Maryland Department of Agriculture, and New South Wales (Australia) Department of Primary Industries.

• Faculty and administrative positions in the armed forces including the US Air Force and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.  One of these former grad students was appointed to a position so unique that it required approval by the Secretary of the Air Force, the U.S. Senate and the White House.

• Positions in private industry including pest management services, agricultural production,  pesticide industry research divisions, and private consultancy in agriculture, landscape, and structural pest management.  Several of these former graduate students are owners of their own businesses.

• Faculty and research positions at foreign institutions of higher education including Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hidalgo (Mexico), Universidad de Costa Rica, Mahidol University (Thailand), University of Natal (South Africa), Chungbuk National University (Korea), National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (Korea), National Chung Hsing University (Taiwan), and Université de Neuchâtel (Switzerland).