Once His Fear, Insects Are Now Samuel Ramsey's Career

Pest Control Technology, February 22, 2013

A staff entomologist at American Pest in Maryland, insectophile and Cornell grad Samuel Ramsey admits that he was once afraid of insects. Profiled in Pest Control Technology in October 2012, Samuel says he "fell in love" with bugs as a kid, after his mother encouraged him to learn about insects in order to overcome his phobia. Once he started reading about them, "insects went from the focus of my macabre fears to the creatures that I'm most passionate about."

Working hard to overcome challenging circumstances (such as the "kind of dangerous" high school he attended), Samuel interned in Dr. Galen Dively's entomology lab at the University of Maryland, and then came to Cornell, where he found inspiration in Karen Gellman's Research Apprenticeship in Biological Sciences (RABS) program. He gives her and the program much credit for his success.

"After Summer College, I was able to use the research that I conducted at Cornell to win a rather sizable scholarship in a science competition that led to me presenting my research in London". I don't think I would have been able to distinguish myself in the ways that I have if not for the RABS program."

As an undergraduate at Cornell, Samuel worked with Dr. John Losey and became involved in the Lost Ladybug Project, a nationwide effort to track the distribution of ladybugs throughout the United States. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell in 2011, and he's now working on a doctorate at the University of Maryland.

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