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Research Resources

• 3-D Insects → website
  See three dimensional virtual insects over the web. Developed by Alexi Sharov, these insects are fun to manipulate and very realistic.
  
  
• Agricultural Experiment Station Facilities → website
  Access to heavy machinery and test plots of various crops is possible at Blacksburg and other experiment stations throughout the state. Field studies are also done on land owned by cooperators not associated with the university. In all cases arrangements for use of these facilities is made through the Major Professor. Success of such arrangements depends upon good will, responsibility, and commitment of all concerned parties.
  
  
• Aquatic Entomology Laboratory
  The Aquatic Entomology Laboratory contains the space and equipment necessary for analyzing benthic macroinvertebrate samples. The equipment consists primarily of state-of-the-art microscopes and computers. The most recent taxonomic literature is kept here to facilitate accurate identification of specimens. In addition, there is storage space for the sampling gear. The lab consists of approximately 550 square feet that houses a laboratory specialist, two graduate students, and several undergraduate wage employees.
  
  
• Beekeeping at Virginia Tech → website
  Information on apiculture and social insect programs at Virginia Tech.
  
  
• Biological Control → website
  Biological control website created for the public
  
  
• Computer Workstations
  Several Apple and Intel-based computer work-stations, printers, scanners, and a copier are available for instruction and research in Room 300B. These facilities are available on a first come-first serve basis. Paper for the printers is not provided.
  
  
• Decision-Support System for Slowing Gypsy Moth Spread → website
  The decision-support system determines the location of potential colonies from data on moth counts in pheromone traps and suggests what actions to perform in these areas. Also, it evaluates the success of treatments and measures the rate of spread in various project areas.
  
  
• Department Shop
  This production shop includes many hand and power tools for creating and modifying equipment needed for teaching and research. Because of the hazards involved, the facility is restricted for use only by its manager, a highly skilled technician. Requests for services of the shop should be made through the Department Head or, for graduate students, through the student's Major Professor.
  
  
• Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory → website
  The Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory (DUPML) is an educational center that facilitates urban pest extension, research, and teaching. Currently, the DUPML is home to thousands of cockroaches, termites, ants, and bed bugs. These insects are the focus of a number of applied research projects that are intended to improve our ability to manage pests using the most effective, yet least toxic, methods available.
  
  
• Eastern Europe IPM CRSP → website
  The IPM CRSP is an international IPM effort supported by USAID, including several regional projects around the world. The Eastern European regional project deals with several high-value horticultural crops in Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. Doug Pfeiffer is the site chair. Site coordinators are Josef Tedeschini (Albania), Vladimir Todirash (Moldova), Olena Cholovska (Lviv Ukraine), Sasha Pleshko (Odesa Ukraine) and Kateryna Maslikova (Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine).
  
  
• Fralin Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory
  This suite consists of three workrooms, a corridor, and two anterooms. This BSL3 was designed and built specifically for work with mosquitoes and arboviruses, with features including all-white walls, ceilings, and casework; lowered ceilings, and multiple CO2 jets per room for anesthetizing adult mosquitoes as well as running cell culture incubators.
  
  
• Fralin Insectary
  The Fralin Insectaries are located in Rooms 320A, 320A1 and 319 in the Fralin Biotechnology Center. These facilities are shared between researchers in the Departments of Entomology and Biochemistry, and support the CALS and University focus on Vector-Borne Infectious Disease research.
  
  
• Graduate Assistantship Opportunities → website
  PhD Research Assistantship A graduate research assistantship for work toward the PhD degree is available at Virginia Tech’s Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center (AREC), Winchester, VA. The project involves research on the grape root borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) in commercial vineyards in Virginia, with emphasis on applied ecology of larval borers and the factors underlying their establishment, abundance and distribution within and among vineyards. Graduate courses would be taken in the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, while summer field work would occur at the Winchester AREC and it would be anticipated that the student would reside in Winchester upon completion of their courses. Applicants may consider working on the project as a summer wage employee during the 2009 field season and then begin in their official graduate school enrollment in the fall semester. For further information please contact: Dr. Chris Bergh at 540-869-2560 ext. 32 or cbergh@vt.edu. For information about the AHS-AREC, see: http://arecs.vaes.vt.edu/arec.cfm?webname=winchester
  
  
• Greenhouses
  Glass and plastic greenhouses are available for plant production for field, laboratory and greenhouse research.
  
  
• Guide to Trees & Shrubs of Virginia → website
  This guide is intended to assist homeowners in the easy identification of trees and shrubs found throughout Virginia. It also provides characteristic information about the tree or shrub as well as information about the habitat.
  
  
• HRAREC Entomology lab → website
  
  
  
• Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Online Bibliography → website
  Ryan Mays updates the content of this online site in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service
  
  
• Insect Identification Laboratory → website
  Easy to use keys and picture guides covering major groups of insect and mite pests in Virginia, including major pests of vegetables, ornamentals, Christmas trees, stored food, and households. Includes lists of fact sheets of common insect pests, and a printable form that can be used when submitting insect samples to your local county extension office. Also includes many images, illustrations, and links to related information.
  
  
• Journal of Pesticide Safety Education (electronic journal web site) → website
  The official scholarly peer reviewed journal of the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE).
  
  
• Med & Vet Entomology Lab
  A cell culture and arbovirus laboratory. This facility is maintained at the Biosafety Level 2 for work involving agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment. Equipment includes a biological safety cabinet, carbon dioxide incubators and an ultralow freezer. A walk-in environmental chamber is used for maintaining mosquito colonies.
  
  
• Med & Vet Entomology Lab II
  This lab is the hub for field research activities. Also, it contains 2 walk-in environmental chambers for additional mosquito rearing.
  
  
• Photographic Darkroom
  The Darkroom is available for use in preparing materials for research, teaching and extension activities. Because it is a shared facility, certain rules are necessary to protect the rights of persons using the darkroom. The set of rules posted in the darkroom are meant to form minimal guidelines for use of the darkroom.
  
  
• Physiology Laboratories
  These laboratories provide the opportunity for research using spectrophotometry, spectrofluorometry, respirometry, chromatography (HPTLC, HPLC, and GLC), centrifugation, radioisotopes, microscopy, and many other techniques. Environmental chambers are also available for use. Facilities also allow for the study of histology, fine structure and neurophysiology. These facilities include equipment for tissue sectioning, photomicroscopy and electrophysiology. Both scanning and transmission electron microscopes are also accessible on campus.
  
  
• Price Hall
  Price Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus. Completed nearly 100 years ago, it was originally the Agriculture Building. Later, it was dedicated to Harvey Price, and today, it houses the Department's main office, classrooms, research labs, and faculty offices. We share the building with the Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Sciences Department.
  
  
• Quarantine Laboratory
  A Beneficial Insect Quarantine Laboratory with an adjacent greenhouse is located at Prices Fork. It is used to screen insects with potential as biological control agents. This is a federally approved facility consisting of a single-story building with unique features which meet the specifications of USDA, APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services). It is currently being used for the evaluation of the host specificity of potential biological control agents of weeds. Access to this building is restricted to personnel directly involved in the on-going research and other authorized personnel.
  
  
• State-Owned Vehicles
  Several trucks are assigned to faculty members of the department; other vehicles may be rented from the motor pool by the faculty. The following are guidelines for vehicle use:
  1. You must have a valid driver's license and be an employee of or be specifically authorized by the Department Head to drive a State-owned vehicle;
  2. Always observe speed limits and traffic laws. The driver is liable for any penalties resulting from traffic violations. The driver is also responsible for damage to vehicles resulting from negligence, misuse or abuse;
  3. If you have an accident, report it immediately to the Virginia State Police. An accident report must also be filed with;
  4. State-owned vehicles may not be used for personal transportation or hauling;
  5. Keep vehicles clean and lock them after use.
  6. Do not leave equipment in vehicles;
  7. Report mechanical malfunctions to the person in charge of the vehicle;
  8. Try to share rides and avoid unnecessary trips to maximize efficiency of vehicle use;
  9. The research program for which the vehicle was purchased has priority, but vehicles may be borrowed for other appropriate uses.
  
  
  
• The Cyber Cockroach at Virginia Tech → website
  This site has been developed to provide visual information on the anatomy and physiology of one of man's most ancient associates... the cockroach! One of its intended uses is as an instructional aid for students studying the biology of insects... entomology. Cockroaches represent a more or less primitive insect and is quite often used as a representative model for studies on insect anatomy.
  
  
• The Genetic Stock Center for the German Cockroach → website
  

  The Virginia Tech Department of Entomology established this Genetic Stock Center to organize and maintain the results of years of research on the genetics of the German cockroach, its biology, cytogenetics, behavior and insecticide resistance.

  The center houses mutant stocks of the German cockroach and approximately 30 other cockroach species. It also contains equipment necessary to perform routine procedures such as sexing and phenotyping. A phase contrast photomicroscope and materials requisite to chromosome studies are also available.

  The stocks are a resource unique to Virginia Tech. They constitute the only formal genetics for a hemimetabolous insect. Also, they are needed to detect, understand, and utilize genetic variation in order to devise optimum control strategies, as well as in research on the genetics of insecticide resistance and other traits important to cockroach pest management.

  
  
  
• The Gypsy Moth STS Project Server → website
  The Gypsy Moth STS Project Information Server is the primary gateway to the information processing and distribution of population data collected from the ten states involved in the Slow the Spread Project.
  
  
• The Gypsy Moth Server → website
  Information on identification, biology, and control of gypsy moth, as well as summaries of research on the pest.
  
  
• Virginia Fruit Web Site → website
  The Virginia Fruit Web Site contains timely information supporting the fruit industries in the mid-Atlantic area, emphasizing Virginia.
  
  
• Virginia IR-4 Program → website
  Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs is actively involved in providing information on minor use crops in the state to interested parties, such as the national IR-4 program. The IR-4 Minor Use Pest Control Clearance Program was established in 1963 by the state land-grant university agricultural experiment stations. IR-4 is a partnership between agricultural producers, land-grant universities, government, and chemical manufacturers. Today, IR-4 conducts research on chemical and biological pest controls. The purpose of IR-4 is to establish pest controls for minor use crops (commodities with low acreages nationally, i.e., fruits, vegetables, and other specialty uses). Minor crops represent about 40% of the total sales of U.S. agricultural producers. Because an investment in minor use pest control products presents little benefit to chemical manufacturers, IR-4 conducts the research necessary to register minor use labels. IR-4 has provided data to clear over 50% of the minor use registrations since 1970. Virginia IR-4 has historically been a very active program with five experiment stations around the state. IR-4 is important to Virginia's agricultural industry because ours is one of the more diverse industries in the United States.
  
  
• Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs → website
  As a clearinghouse for technical information on pesticides and other toxic chemicals, Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs serves the citizens of the Commonwealth through Virginia Cooperative Extension. We are located in Blacksburg, Virginia at Virginia Tech in the Department of Entomology. Our department is part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. We provide educational opportunities and information to people who use pesticides as part of their livelihood, to consumers with questions about the use and impact of pesticides in their everyday lives, to students at Virginia Tech and at other institutions, and to decision-makers such as local, state and federal government regulators and legislators.
  
  
• WhizID → website
  WhizID is web-based utility for creating interactive Diagnostic Systems on the WWW. It is probably best suited to identification problems, but can be used for almost any problem in which you want to lead a client to a particular piece of information through a question and answer session.
  
  

Department of Entomology Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231-6341 FAX: (540) 231-9131 Send Email Login