Success Stories By MajorProgram FY2025Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2025
Brown Recluse on UK’s Campus
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Brown recluse spiders are one of the most feared arthropods, largely due to the fear over bites and resulting necrotic lesions. They are also one of the most challenging pests to eradicate from structures due to their reclusive nature. In response to several spiders being found on UK’s campus, I worked with the Facilities division to evaluate the situation and provided an action plan of how to respond. Furthermore, I met with those working in infested buildings to educat
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Cicada Killers on UK’s Campus
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Insects dominate the world around us, and during the summer of 2024 this became all too apartment to those working around Patterson Tower. During this time, a large number of Cicada Killers (a type of wasp) began emerging and swarming close to the entry to White Hall. While these insects are incredibly large, they are not aggressive and very reluctant to sting. However, they do possess the ability to sting, and their close proximity to an office/classroom area required they be
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University of Kentucky 4th Annual Pest Control Technical Directors’ Meeting
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Pest control and academia have grown apart over the past 20 years, where the research being conducted by urban entomology labs does not directly address the needs of the indoor pest control stakeholders. Therefore, I developed, organized, and ran a meeting involving technical directors of pest control companies from around the country, along with my trainees (5 students and 1 research scientist), to discuss the needs of the pest control industry. During this meeting (now in its four
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Cockroach Control in New York City
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
German cockroaches are one of the most challenging indoor pests to manage indoors. They are known to have serious health effects on humans and can be responsible for asthmatic episodes, disease transmission, and various indirect effects largely related to improper pesticide use. Even worse, these effects tend to disproportionally impact people based on socioeconomic factors, particularly those who lack the means to properly suppress and eliminate pest populations, posing a substantial threat to
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53rd Annual UK Pest control Short Course
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
In November we hosted the 53rd annual University of Kentucky Pets Control Short Course. This 3-day program incorporated 23 1-hour talks from speakers located around the country who travelled to Lexington, >360 attendees from Kentucky and surrounding states, and a team of entomologists (faculty, staff, students) from the University of Kentucky. This meeting, hour-for-hour, is one of the top pest control meetings in the country, which many others states imitate due to the quality of the
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