Entomology and Plant Pathology Seminar to Feature Creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index

Submitted

The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology will host Justin Schmidt for a virtual seminar in PTSC 009 as part of the Spring 2023 Seminar Series. The seminar is scheduled to take place from 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14. A social period will precede the seminar at 3:15 p.m., with light snacks and drinks just outside the lecture hall. For those interested, there will also be live insects present just before the seminar!

The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology is hosting a virtual seminar in PTSC 009 as part of the Spring 2023 Seminar Series. The seminar is scheduled to take place from 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14. A social period will precede the seminar at 3:15 p.m., with light snacks and drinks just outside the lecture hall. For those interested, there will also be live insects present just before the seminar!

Zoom link

    Meeting ID: 816 3061 3526

    Passcode: M9T*vwSY

Title: "Stinging Insects are Beautiful"

Speaker: Justin O. Schmidt, toxinologist and research biologist, Southwestern Biological Institute. Also featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the NY Times, quoted in the movie Ant Man and author of The Sting of the Wild.

To be joined by faculty panel for roundtable Q&A session after the seminar.

Schmidt described himself in a short bio:

"A childhood amongst the weeds, wildflowers and insects profoundly affected my interest in, and love of, insects. My favorite courses in high school and college were biology, chemistry and physics, which steered me onto a path of chemical ecology and stings/venoms of wasps, ants and bees. I explored the four corners of North America, starting in Pennsylvania, then British Columbia, Georgia and New Brunswick, before finally jumping to Arizona, the Holy Grail of fascinating insects in the U.S. I stumbled into the beauty of stinging insects while digging a harvester ant colony in Georgia. That experience not only awakened my pain receptors, it also awakened my sense of the amazing beauty and potential of all stinging insects. What luck to have stumbled into this richly rewarding lifetime work and not really being aware what lay ahead for me at the time of that amazing sting. I have been incredibly lucky to do what I love and even receive an Ig Nobel Prize in Physiology and Entomology, a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, have a semi-naked photo of me in the NY Times, be quoted in the movie Ant Man and be invited to write The Sting of the Wild, where I could take audiences aged 5 to 105 on insect safari adventures into the magical lives of stinging insects, the reasons why they sting and how we all coexist. How could one ask for anything more from entomology?"

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About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among few colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.