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-: I'm Julie Peterson.
I'm an assistant professor and extension specialist
in the department of entomology at University of Nebraska.
And I'm located at the West Central
Research and Extension Center in North Platte, Nebraska.
I lead the agro ecosystems entomology lab.
So we research the applied biology
and ecology of important crop pests,
including things like western bean cutworm
and western corn rootworm.
But we're also really interested in
the biology and conservation
of the beneficial insects out there as well.
I've always loved entomology, ever since I was a kid
who was going out with their net and their Kritter Keeper.
But it wasn't until about my sophomore year of college
when I took an entomology course as an undergraduate student
and I just fell in love and I realized that
I could do entomology as a career.
So I love just the diversity of ideas
and backgrounds that students can bring in.
We can get to a place we wouldn't have gotten by ourselves,
that by working together, we can really build ideas
and come up with solutions to really challenging problems.
So I think when a student gets to
work out here in North Platte,
they're really immersed in the experience.
So we are the only field crops entomology program out here.
We get to work together with lots of other collaborators
in areas like agronomy and horticulture
and irrigation management and livestock.
We're uniquely positioned because we do have
both the research and extension.
So I like to provide my students and my post docs
with opportunities to meet with farmers,
work on real commercial agricultural fields,
and get that real life experience.
Being out here, the student can really be
in a cohort of others
from all these different disciplines and backgrounds
and I think having that broad interdisciplinary view
of their project can be really helpful.
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