Dr. Davis fell in love with the study of insects so much that he decided to not quit his education until he had recieved his Ph.D. He says "As fortune had it, my professors here at MSU liked this old country boy and continued to offer me assistantships/fellowships to continue my education."

At the age of 25 he received his Ph.D. and took a position as a research entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture/Agriculture Research Service in Starkville, the home of MSU. He was assigned to the Corn Insect Pest Group.

He worked as the entomologist on a team with plant breeders and plant pathologists to identify and develop corn/maize germplasm with insect and microbial resistance for 35 years (retiring at the end of 1999).

To be successful in identifying and developing insect resistant plants, they needed a consistent source of the insect(s) to artificially infest each plant in the pre-selected growth stage with the insect's eggs or neonates so that all plants in an experiment had the same opportunity to be heavily damaged. So, in the latter half of the 1960's, Dr. Davis began to develop a facility design and system for rearing the southwestern corn borer, a pyralid moth. Back in those days, he designed this facility and then with the help of his technician and some students, they built it.

Dr. Davis says, "This started my insect rearing ventures. In those first years I/we learned about rearing by obtaining a degree from the "University of Hard Knocks". We fell in many pot holes of rearing from diet contamination by microbes to suffering the consequenses of environmental equipment failures. However, I was determined along with some talented and devoted technicians and students to make continued improvements to our rearing system so that we could successfully rear the number of quality insects needed

for research in a timely fashion at the lowest possible cost."

In the 1970s they added the fall worm (a noctuid moth) to the rearing and then in the 1980s, they added the cotton bollworm and the tobacco budworm (both noctuid moths). At this point they needed to develop equipment for reducing the amount of hand labor in the rearing system.

They successfully did this plus we worked out solutions to problems within the system that needed fixing. Dr. Davis says "Today, I am proud to say that we have one of the best rearing systems for a mid-sized program (thousands of adults per week per species reared) in the world. It is a model system that many laboratories have adopted for rearing their lepidopterans."

After retirement in 1999, Dr. Davis asked MSU to convert his adjunct professor status within the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology to an emeritus status. They did and he began to plant the seed for developing some formal education for the world wide insect rearing community.

Well, the seed sprouted in 2000 when Dr. Davis and his colleagues sponsored two workshops titled "Principles and Procedures of Rearing Quality Insects".

It has been growing ever since with the 8th workshop in 2005. Dr. Davis and the others are making plans for future workshops and other educational opportunities, plus the publication of a book based on the workshop to be ready for market in the fall of 2006.

About teaching insect rearing, Dr. Davis says, "As workshop coordinator and instructor I am as happy as a June bug on a warm summer night. I look forward to meeting you in Feburary and having the opportunity to discuss insect rearing with you."

Important Note About Dr. Davis:

In a few weeks, Dr. Davis will be given the Fellow Award, the highest award presented by the Entomological Society of America. It will have been given to only 191 scientists since 1934.

We are really honored to have Dr. Davis, a truly distinguished scientist, come and share his vast expertise and special knowledge with us at our convention!

Dean Kirkwood