Hi there! I’m Donovan, a returning student in the Insect Pest Management Program at the Beaverlodge Research Farm. Last summer, I worked remotely with the IPM team, mainly performing online insect-related tasks and research. This year, however, I’m working on-site from May to August, and I can’t wait to get that true pest monitoring experience!
I am a third-year student at Carleton University pursuing a BSc in Ecology while minoring in Statistics. Growing up, animals of all shapes and sizes intrigued me (Fig.1). Whenever I went to zoos, I never wanted to leave until I had the chance to see every animal, much to my parent’s occasional discontent. Later in my educational career, I realized I loved translating my ecological research into numbers (or vice versa), which prompted me to incorporate statistics into my studies.
I have a deep passion for entomology since working for the Canadian National Collection of Insects housed at AAFC-Ottawa. While working there, I marveled over the sheer diversity of insects and all the weird and wacky forms they possess. When I worked remotely for the Beaverlodge Research Farm, I was fascinated by how much of an impact insects have on agriculture, whether beneficial or detrimental, and I’m looking forward to expanding my knowledge on these compelling arthropods with the IPM team this summer!
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| Figure 1. Donovan celebrating the 12th birthday of his miniature labradoodle, Keegan. |