500- and 600-Level Courses

ENT 522 CRITICAL THINKING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (6) This required course for Entomology graduate students focuses on developing the professional skills needed for a successful career in basic or applied research. Major topics addressed include (i) effective scientific communication, (ii) the mechanisms of research funding and peer review, (iii) critical evaluation of scientific evidence and arguments, (iv) basic principles of study design, and (v) research ethics and effective collaboration. Students engage in a variety of classroom activities - including lectures, discussions, and peer review of written assignments - and interact with instructors possessing expertise in each of the particular subject areas addressed, as well as with guest instructors working on cutting-edge topics in insect science and related fields. The course emphasizes practical application of the material presented to students' own research. Over the course of the semester, each student reviews relevant literature and develops and refines a research proposal based on their own scientific interests.

ENT 530 ADVANCED TOPICS IN ENTOMOLOGY (1) This seminar class is a reading/small-group discussion class about current issues in entomology.

ENT 532 INSECT BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION This course is designed to teach students about insect taxonomy, evolutionary history, collection and preservation techniques, morphology, fossils, and natural history. Lab work focuses on adult forms, especially of insects found in Pennsylvania. Students learn how to handle specimens, use diagnostic keys, and identify insects by sight. Collecting techniques will be honed during field trips. Upon completion of this course students will be able to: (1) teach others how to collect, preserve, and transport insect specimens; (2) name and sight-identify all insect orders and several common local families; (3) label a generalized insect diagram with external anatomy terms; (4) draw a phylogenetic tree of relationships between insect orders; (5) demonstrate understanding of how to read a phylogenetic tree, what kinds of data are used to estimate trees, how those data are analyzed, and what it means to be monophyletic; (6) describe key innovations and life history strategies of major insect lineages; (7) solve taxonomic problems and describe how species and other taxa are named and described, i.e., understand the fundamentals of taxonomic practice; (8) name and briefly describe the latest developments in insect biodiversity research; (9) explain how hexapods inform us about biodiversity and influence our conservation decisions.

ENT 535 STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES IN ENTOMOLOGY (3) This natural sciences study design, analysis and interpretation course is for graduate students in ecological and agricultural sciences. The goal of this course is to provide students with the tools needed to conduct quantitative studies. The course focuses on study design and methodology by covering topics such as the relationship between study design and data types and data collection, and interpretation of results.

ENT 539 CHEMICAL ECOLOGY (3) Interactions of insects with environmental chemicals, including natural and synthetic compounds; host findings and other behavior modifying cues.

ENT 590 ENTOMOLOGY WEEKLY SEMINAR (1) Continuing seminars which consist of a series of individual lectures by faculty, students, or outside speakers.

ENT 596 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES (1-9) Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

ENT 597 SPECIAL TOPICS (1-9) Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

ENT 600 THESIS RESEARCH

ENT 601 PH.D. DISSERTATION FULL-TIME