Extension Entomology from Farming to Pest Forecasting as an Educator in Integrated Pest Management

Dr. Anthony Hanson is an alumnus of the Entomology Department (M.S. 2013, PhD 2017) and is currently an IPM Regional Extension Educator & Associate Extension Professor with UMN Extension as well as a farmer in west-central Minnesota. He will discuss how information on IPM is delivered through UMN Extension and what types of careers students might be able to seek out in Extension. An important focus of Extension is continuing the process of getting information out to the public after the research is done and feeding information on farmer needs back to researchers. In addition to discussing general IPM education, much of Dr. Hanson's work focuses on pest forecasting such as degree-day modeling and pest overwintering to provide tools farmers can use to make better informed decisions about pest risk.