Introduction: Preparing for Entodiversity in Today’s Career Opportunities

The goal of the symposium is to enable students, Entomology Departments, and Entomology Programs to be aware of, and to prepare for the current trend in job opportunities in entomology. Typically, entomology graduate programs prepare their students for faculty or research positions at land-grant universities or USDA-ARS institutions. However, such agencies offer limited opportunities in the current economic situation. Instead, even within USDA, with the strengthening of the Homeland Security there has been a shift towards new positions offered in USDA-APHIS. In the last year, several entomologists including the ESA Past President moved to jobs in private industry. Hence, the symposium will address careers beyond those at land-grant universities or USDA-ARS such as opportunities in USDA-APHIS, CDC, private agencies (DOW AgroSciences; San Diego Natural History Museum), Army/Navy, Non-profit agencies, etc. Through presentations including one on dressing for the interview, and a panel discussion students and faculty will learn how to prepare for the new opportunities. The time is right as nationwide entomology departments are experiencing changes and reorganization with other departments thus providing them excellent opportunities for modifying existing graduate programs to provide the skills and the breadth needed to make their students competitive for the new jobs.