Associate Professor of Practice Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia
Engineers are important contributors to entomology, as they help to develop the technology and systems used by entomologists and the pest management industry. However, most engineering students aren’t aware of these opportunities, particularly at the outset of their university experience. In our first-year general engineering program, students spend two semesters learning fundamental engineering skills and exploring various career options before selecting a specific engineering discipline. To support this, we have sought to create research experience opportunities for these students, with a particular focus on interdisciplinarity. One of the inaugural programs, Engineering for Entomology, allowed first-year students to explore the engineering design process and gain research experience by studying the physical capabilities of several structural nuisance pests. This presentation describes the development of the program and the lessons learned during its first semester. In it, we discuss a way of framing entomology for an audience of engineering students, including those who had intended to avoid biological sciences. We then discuss the scoping and structuring of this research experience to support the success of students at the first-year level. Appropriate scope and structure are particularly important with first-year students, given their limited experience, time constraints, and the many things competing for the attention of a student that is new to higher education. Finally, we discuss the experiences and progress of the initial cohort, as well as planned future developments and adjustments to the program.
