Scott Horn, Entomologist

An entomologist studies insects and how they interact with the environment.

I personally feel like my curiosity helps me the most in scientific research. As a scientist you have to constantly ask who, what, when, where, and why to answer questions. A lot of the scientists I know are just big kids who never grew up but kept on wanting to learn.

Bees and butterflies are important insects because they pollinate all kinds of flowers. In fact, bees are considered essential because they help pollinate a lot of the plants we eat like fruits and vegetables. We set out to determine how invasive plants that invade native forests affect these valuable insects.

Microscopes are essential to entomology. Insects are the most common group of animals on Earth. Most are very small and can only be identified using a microscope. This means that many species of insects are still waiting to be discovered!

It has been estimated that as many as 30 million species of insects live on planet Earth. Because of this abundance, insects live in almost every type of environment. One exciting thing that I discovered was a beetle that lived on sandbars next to streams. Imagine always living at the beach!

I have always enjoyed animals and being outdoors. I first took a course in entomology as an undergraduate in college and we had to do an insect collection. When I first learned about how many types of insects there were and their really interesting lives, I was hooked. I knew I wanted a career in entomology.