Insect specimens

Insect Biodiversity Center

The Insect Biodiversity Center addresses complex issues in insect management and conservation through transdisciplinary partnerships across Penn State and beyond.

Who We Are

The Insect Biodiversity Center creates a unique, transdisciplinary ecosystem that integrates disparate centers of excellence at Penn State in insect biology, management, ecology, technology development, Earth and environment monitoring systems, data science and modeling, decision support systems, human dimensions, communication science, and education.

By fostering transdisciplinary research across a rich and diverse collective of individuals, the Center strives to leverage expertise outside of the domain of the biological sciences to tackle complex biological, environmental, social, economic, and political drivers underlying changes in insect species abundance and distribution.

As such, we strive to explore, understand, and promote insect conservation efforts that maintain and restore balance to natural ecosystems, while also mitigating the adverse effects of economically and environmentally harmful insect species.

The IBC is supported by the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, the Department of Entomology, the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and the Institutes of Energy and the Environment.

News

Grant will promote STEM graduate studies for students from diverse backgrounds

A consortium of institutions led by faculty in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received a $75,000 planning grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation aimed at expanding the recruitment of and opportunities for Black, Indigenous and Latino students to enroll in science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduate programs.

Jared Ali named director of the Penn State Center for Chemical Ecology

Jared Ali, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair of Chemical Ecology and associate professor of entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named director of the Penn State Center for Chemical Ecology (CCE).

Jared Ali named Huck Chair of Chemical Ecology

Jared Ali, associate professor of entomology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair of Chemical Ecology by the University’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Penn State unit partner projects highlight awareness, importance of pollinators

Penn State's Center for Pollinator Research and the Insect Biodiversity Center, both at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and the Department of Graphic Design at the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture have formed a partnership, funded by the Apes Valentes Program, to develop, design and produce materials to help increase awareness of pollinator biodiversity, the importance of pollinators to food security and ecosystem health, and strategies that can be used to support pollinators in urban, agricultural and natural landscapes.