Flea and ant training classes

This year's ant ID class will be more physically distant than
last year's class; but will offer the same hands-on opportunities
to become an ant identification pro.

I am happy to announce two new training opportunities this summer.  The IPM Experience House is hosting a real, in-person (physically distanced) ant identification class on July 16.  Enrollment is limited to 15 and registration information can be found at https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/productListingDetails/3150

This is the first post COVID-19 class we've offered at the Dallas Center.  We will be following university guidelines that require us to take all reasonable precautions to keep everyone safe.  Every student will have their own microscope and supplies, class size is limited and everyone will be kept at least 6 feet apart.  We ask that you bring your own mask. Disinfectant will be provided.

Now that we've covered all the essential safety information, this is a great class.  It is our goal to offer it once a year to anyone wanting to improve their ant identification skills.  The class is a mix of lecture, ant identification using microscopes, and outdoor demonstration. Our principal instructor is Dr. Robert Puckett, urban Extension entomologist from College Station. We hope to see you there.

The second opportunity I'm especially pleased to tell you about is a new online class called Flea and Tick Biology and Control.  This class can be taken on your own time, any day of the week.  Cost is only $25 for CEU credit with both Structural and Ag CEUs.  No face masks required! To learn more and to register, click here.

This course will help you identify fleas and important tick species.  It goes into the biology of these important parasites, and provides practical advice on control strategies and personal protection. Best of all, the class is designed to move quickly and keep you engaged as you learn.

These two course represent the future of pesticide applicator training as we move into a post-COVID world. We will continue to embrace the use of more training technology while continuing to make use of face-to-face classes. Expect to see more online courses like this in the future. 

As a reminder, currently the Texas Department of Agriculture allows license holders to get credit for online CEUs every other year.  If you used online CEUs last year, the Structural Pest Control Service (TDA) is allowing your to get your CEUs online again this year due to the COVID situation; however don't assume that will be allowed again. If you get even just some of your CEUs online this year, you will likely not be able to get CEUs remotely next year.  I assume that these rules will continue to evolve as technology and the world adjusts to working remotely.

For our part, I know my extension colleagues and I are all committed to making online training less painful and more interactive.   Other currently available online classes of interest to PMPs include:

• 20 Hour Structural Pest Control Apprentice Training Course

• 6 Hour School IPM Course for TDA

• Ants 101

• Texas Lawn and Ornamental Pest Management

• School IPM Refresher

Termite season (and training needs) around the corner

Dr. Davis suggests tips for better termite barriers
with participant at the 2019 termite class.

It doesn't take a PhD to predict that termite season is likely to arrive early this year. Record warm temperatures and abundant rain are already stirring the pots of pest activity in Texas, so all pest control companies should be gearing up now for a busy and early year.

If your company is hiring new staff this spring, or needs to get existing technicians cross-trained for termite season, this class is for you.  IPM House will be offering a one-day, 2020 Termite Training for New Technicians class on February 28. Dr. Bob Davis, BASF Corporation, and Kevin Keim of Corteva, will be assisting our team with an interactive course in termite biology and control.

If you've not yet attended an IPM Experience House course, this is a great opportunity to get involved. All IPM House classes are an interactive mix of both classroom and field training. The training day includes lecture and Q&A with top experts, microscope exercises and hands-on activities at the IPM House itself.

We especially welcome PMPs from other parts of Texas and out of state to attend and become part of the IPM Experience House alumni.

At $55 for the day, including lunch, this course is a bargain. To learn more about this month's class, please check out our registration page at https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/productListingDetails/3076

Classes at IPM House in 2018

IPM House provides a setting to put classroom knowledge to work. 

Just a short note to let you know about upcoming training opportunities at the IPM Experience House. In case you haven't heard about us, the IPM House is a hands-on training venue at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in Dallas.  We are offering some excellent opportunities for learning in 2018.

Registration is open for the next three classes, and dates are happening soon, so check them out:

Rodent Academy will be offered March 6-8. A reprisal of a very successful class held last December, the Spring 2018 Texas Rodent Academy will feature guest trainer, Tim Madere with the City of New Orleans. An intensive three-day, advanced rodent control training course. Tim is one of the leading rodentologists in the country today, and has a lot to offer. The goal of the Texas Rodent Academy is to provide a highly focused and standardized approach to managing rodent populations through Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Who Should Attend? The course is intended for pest management professionals, municipalities, universities, public schools, and food safety personnel involved in the rodent control programs. Class size is limited, so register soon.  Click here to learn more and for a link to registration. Cost of the three-day class is $300.

Sometimes IPM House provides the pests
along with instruction.

Introduction to termite control for new technicians on March 15 is designed to orient new termite technicians to the art and science of termite control. Termite control expert, Dr. Bob Davis, will be demonstrating practical field skills for setting up and executing a soil termiticide job. Kevin Keim, with Dow Agroscience, will provide an overview of termite baiting, including practical aspects of bait placement and installation. They are joined by Dr. Mike Merchant in the classroom to provide some of the basic biology of termites you need to know if you are to be on the top of your game. 

Owners, this is a great opportunity to get new or old employees ready for termite season. Half of the class will be classroom, and half will be in the field (at IPM House) demonstrating skills for performing a termite treatment. One termite CEU will be offered for those who complete the class. $55 Early registration. Click here to learn more and for a link to registration.

ACE Prep Class Coming to north Texas by popular demand, we are offering a souped-up, two-day version of the ACE Prep Class on April 12-13. This class is designed to help candidates prepare for the ACE exam. It provides a concise, well-rounded overview of the science of entomology and of the major pests that a PMP must know for the exam. The class provides 10+ hours of intensive classroom and lab training in pest control topics for any interested technician. You do not have to be pre-approved as an ACE candidate to take the Prep Class; however, it does serve as an excellent review and confidence booster for candidates who have been preparing for the exam. The exam will be offered at the end of the class to anyone who has applied for certification and paid the examination fee. Students wanting to sit for the exam are responsible for making arrangements with ESA prior to the class. Early registration cost of the two-day course is $100.

Click here to learn more and for a link to registration. Class size is limited to 30, so register early. Principal trainer: Dr. Mike Merchant.

General Household Pests Provides necessary Pest Category training for new apprentices and introduction to general pest control for new technicians. Topics to be covered include introduction to entomology and general orders of insects; general insect pests; mosquitoes; rodents and other animal pests. In addition, we will cover an introduction to IPM and pesticides, and equipment used in pest control. Hands-on activities include use of various sprayers and dusters, bait applications and situational problem solving. 8 hours. May date to be determined.

Lab experiences include microscopic examinations of pests.

Mosquito Control for PMPs provides an introduction to mosquitoes and mosquito biology. We’ll go through some of the basics of mosquito adult and larval identification, learn how to identify mosquito risk zones around the home and how to communicate with customers about risks from mosquito-borne disease. Different insecticide application methods and equipment will be demonstrated. Training will include both classroom, and hands-on and outdoor training at IPM Experience House. June date to be determined.

Application equipment selection, use and maintenance will demonstrate a variety of both new and old application equipment including sprayers, dusters and injection tools.  Experts from local manufacturers and distributors will discuss advantages and disadvantages of different tools, and show how equipment should be maintained and repaired.  July date to be determined.

Ant identification and biology. The first step in ant management is to know your enemy. In this class we'll review the major important ant species in Texas, and gain experience in ant identification using class microscopes.  August date to be determined.

Bed bug management. Get training in basic bed bug biology, learn about the latest research, and get sweaty installing encasements and searching for bed bugs.  Instruction from PMPs with lots of bed bug experience, this will be a very practical class for technicians.  September date to be determined.

ACE Prep Class will be offered a second time for those who missed our April class.  October date to be determined.

To keep informed of all upcoming classes and dates, join our mailing list.

Asian tiger mosquito a focus of last week's training

Keith Haas demonstrates use of a handheld ULV applicator
for treating adult mosquitoes hiding in dense vegetation.

For which important urban insect pest did 70% of pest control companies get more calls last year? For which pest are 88% of pest management professionals (PMPs) confident that control options are better than they were five years ago?  For what pest do nearly 2/3 of companies have callback rates of 4% or less?

According to a 2017 report by MGK^® Co., the repeated answer is "mosquitoes". It appears that pest control customers increasingly want to fight pesky mosquitoes in their backyards, and are willing to pay for it. 

Ultimately, this increased interest in mosquitoes is what brought 15 interested PMPs to the "Practical Mosquito Control" course last week at IPM Experience House. And, as students learned, the driving force for this demand may just be the tiny Asian tiger mosquito (ATM), Aedes albopictus, and its slightly less common cousin the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.

A fast and opportunistic biter, tiger mosquitoes are relatively new pests, having arrived from Japan only about 30 years ago. When people complain that, "the mosquitoes are terrible this time of year", chances are they're talking about the day-flying ATM. But ironically, despite it's irritating bite, ATM is not currently a public health threat in most areas.

"The one good thing about ATM", said Scott Sawlis, county entomologist for Dallas County Health and Human Services, "is that it reminds people that they need to wear repellent, and thereby protect themselves from the more dangerous disease-carrying species."  In the Dallas area that would be Culex quinquefasciatus, the stealthier, nighttime-flying, southern house mosquito.  Even though folks don't tend to notice the house mosquito as much, it's the one to carry West Nile virus, our most serious mosquito-borne disease. 

Sawlis and fellow instructors (myself and Dr. Sonja Swiger with Texas A&M AgriLife, and Keith Haas, with Central Life Sciences), spent the day explaining to class attendees about the need for mosquito control, and some of the differences between the target species.  At the end of the day we got to practice what we learned in class by conducting an outdoor inspection and spending some workout time on microscopes looking at these tiniest of pests at a bug eye level. 

During our inspection we discovered mosquitoes breeding (naturally) just a few feet from where class took place.  Afterwards, students got to see fresh-caught mosquito eggs and watch mosquito larvae wriggle through murky breeding media.  Haas demonstrated the ability of a ULV generator to go through and around landscape vegetation, and Sawlis demonstrated proper use of a dipper when trying to determine whether mosquitoes might be breeding in a water source.

Although ATM may be one of the best things to happen to the pest control business in the past few years, it does have a darker side. The ATM is very difficult to control from city spray trucks and even from the air.  And it remains ready to transmit the viruses for Zika and dengue fever, should these diseases arrive in our area like Zika did last summer in Miami, FL and Brownsville, TX.  

One of the most effective tools, our class learned, for fighting tiger mosquitoes is the PMP. While county and city mosquito control staff must patrol streets with sprayers that treat city-blocks at a time (a technique that works well for the house mosquito), only the PMP walks backyards, identifies and treats ground-level breeding sites, and precisely targets sprays to ATM resting sites. This puts the pest control technician in an important role to reduce the most frequent mosquito bites, and to fight Zika and other Aedes-borne illnesses, should they arise here.

If you missed last week's class, and would like to learn more about control of ATM and its biting cousins, several regional training classes will be offered over the next few months.  Stay tuned here for more information.  

Inaugural IPM Experience House Class

Tim Madere, Janet Hurley and I (center, front) taught the very first course
to be offered at the IPM Experience House.  The house (background) is
in the process of being remodeled as a pest control training facility.

Yesterday marked a milestone for the development of IPM Experience House. Fourteen pest management professionals attended the very first hands-on class to be held at the facility. The class focused on rodent and pest exclusion.

Principal trainer for this week's class was Tim Madere with the City of New Orleans Mosquito, Rodent and Termite Control Board.

Have you ever met someone who lives and breathes pest control? Who when traveling to a strange town spends their free evenings scouting rodent activity?  Who doesn't complain to the hotel manager about cockroaches in the room because, well, it's another chance to observe cockroaches?  Well, Tim's that kind of guy.

Tim is heavily involved in the New Orleans Rat Project.  The Rat Project is a National Science Foundation-funded, multi-disciplinary project looking at ongoing impacts of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans human and rodent community.  Based on the stories and lessons Tim taught this week, there is no shortage of furry subjects to study in The Big Easy and other places in Louisiana. If you don't believe me, check out this video.

Tim Madere discusses rodent-proofing options in the
field. Can you spot the roof rat rub mark in this picture?
(Hint: Follow the wires from the meter to the soffit)

The course was designed to provide 8 hours of verifiable training for pest control apprentices and technicians, but many of the participants this time were pest control veterans.  According to Jackie Thornton and his technician Ryan Reichert, the reason they traveled all the way from Alvin, Texas was to share what they called a "unique opportunity to experience both classroom and hands-on field training" in one class.

In addition to some classroom time, the class went on two field trips.  First stop was the home of Janet Hurley, instructor for the class and lead school IPM educator for Texas.  Janet recently acquired a home with multiple pest control challenges, including roof rats.  Class members diagnosed the problem(s) and provided Janet with both lots of advice and free pest proofing with Xcluder stuffing material.  Later the class visited the IPM Experience House to learn about best ways to solarize household items for bed bugs as well as selecting the best insecticides for outdoor ant control.  If it hadn't been 100 degrees in the sun we might have stayed out even longer.

As I taught and learned from the group I was struck by how hands-on training easily becomes a two way process.  Not only do students learn from instructors, but teachers learn a lot too.  I never fail to pick up valuable information when I get to spend quality time with each of you. The business of pest control is complex, and each of our experiences are unique--so we all have something to teach.  As I listened to students share information and tips with each other I'm reminded that that's what IPM Experience House is all about, and what we want it to be in the future.

Thanks to all of you who attended the pest proofing class, and for being willing guinea pigs for our hands-on efforts.  There will be lots more about future training opportunities in this blog and on the Experience House website.  Let's keep in touch.

All hands-on deck training

Entomology faculty at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas will be conducting hands-on rodent and pest exclusion training July 30.  If you or your technicians need an introduction to residential exclusion work, this workshop is for you.

The day-long training will begin at 8 am in Building C at the Center at 17360 Coit Road, Dallas, TX 75252.  It will include both classroom and field visits to two sites to discuss pest exclusion. 

“This is the first time the center will be hosting such a program that includes demonstrations of residential exclusion practices,” said Janet Hurley, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service urban IPM specialist. “Hands-on instruction will include showing how to seal a house to keep pests from moving in.”

Presentations and instruction will be provided by AgriLife Extension experts from the Dallas center and from guest trainer Timmy Madere, of the City of New Orleans Mosquito, Rodent and Termite Control Board. See a copy of the program by clicking here.  According to Hurley, "Timmy has trained with the best, and has a unique understanding of rodents.  He has worked on exclusion related activities for ten years with the City of New Orleans." 

Six continuing education credits will be offered for commercial applicators. For apprentices and technicians, a course certificate for six hours of attendance will be provided.

After a quick review of IPM principles behind exclusion work, the morning agenda will include a field trip to residence for instruction on best ways to seal a home, including how to pest proof siding, gutters, soffits and flashing.  

Afternoon presentations will address how to evict and keep out rats, bats, birds and squirrels, and a brief overview of home inspections for termites and ants.  The afternoon will include a walking tour of the IPM Experience House training facility.  

The cost of the program is $75, lunch not included. Space is limited, so attendees are encouraged to register as soon as possible.  To register and for payment information, go to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Conference Services at https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/index.cfm/productDetails/productid/1799/ or call 979-845-2604.

IPM Experience House: A training venue for pest control professionals

The structure for the planned IPM Experience
House already exists.  The house is an old
dormitory that will be remodeled as an extension
facility for pest control training.

How many hours have you spent in classrooms trying to improve your professional knowledge? Can you guess how many PowerPoint presentations you have sat through for the sake of CEU credits?  Now ask yourself, how many hours have you spent practicing new skills under the supervision of a knowledgeable teacher--someone who provided immediate feedback on your performance? Most of us would probably say we’ve spent a lot more time sitting than doing.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with a good classroom presentation.  But most of us also need hands-on instruction to help us grow and retain new ideas.  That’s the idea behind the IPM Experience House, a planned training facility at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas.

IPM Experience House will be modeled after similar training facilities at the University of Florida and at the Orkin House in Atlanta, GA.  The idea is to provide a site where PMPs can practice new skills while getting feedback from teachers and fellow students. 

Wall cut-aways in the Orkin House remind
technicians what's behind the walls of a home.  

Features of the House will include wall cutaways to see normally hidden construction features, actual and mock insect damage, and sites to practice pesticide application.  The facility will include both an existing house retrofitted specially for pest control training, and an outdoor pavilion.  The pavilion will provide a year-round site to observe and interact with different construction features, such as crawl spaces, chimneys, and various foundations and walls.  The house will include a residential and commercial kitchen, hospital room, hotel room and possibly a mock daycare room. 

Besides the visible structure of the house, a critical part of Experience House is a behind-the-scenes curriculum.  Each feature of the house will be built with a learning objective and lesson plan in mind. The House will be set up to allow for different lessons to be tailored to each group.  Apprentices and technician trainees will have a set of training exercises for beginners, while advanced technicians and certified applicators will have more advanced courses to choose from.

An outdoor pavilion, similar to this structure at the
University of Florida's Pest Management University, is
planned as part of Phase II of the project.

Some have asked, why Dallas?  Why not build in College Station?  Since at least 1980 Texas A&M has had an urban entomology presence in Dallas. The Dallas Center currently houses two urban entomology staff, including myself and Janet Hurley, with the school IPM program.  In addition, Dallas is a regular training site for the Ag and Environmental Safety Department when training new technicians.  The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex is also a major Texas pest control market.  Of the almost 15,000 certified pesticide applicators, techs and apprentices in Texas, about 28% work within a 1.5 hour drive of the Center.  This means that businesses can minimize training time and travel expenses by having a training site that is convenient and local.

IPM Experience House is further evidence of the Texas A&M University System’s commitment to the pest control industry. Experience House will complement the new Center for Urban and Structural Entomology and the Philip J. Hamman Termite Control Training School at the Texas A&M main and Riverside campuses, respectively, in Bryan/College Station. Together with the hiring of a new endowed chair of urban entomology, these activities reflect a time of tremendous growth for the relationship between the Texas pest control industry and the University.

The IPM Experience House has been, and will be, a team effort.  Since last year a group of 16 local business owners and industry reps have met as an advisory committee to craft a vision and a plan for the project. Out of this committee came a fundraising campaign and draft blueprint for the site.  By taking advantage of an existing building on the AgriLife campus, a currently unused student dormitory, the committee realized that building costs for the project could be kept to a minimum.  We estimate the cost of remodeling the existing dorm and constructing a 50 x 100 foot outdoor pavilion will be $250,000.  So far, through the generous donations of individuals, our local associations, and local pest control businesses and support industry, we have raised approximately $170,000 in external donations toward this cost.  The committee and I hope to start construction within the next six months.

We still need your help to make Experience House happen.  While Texas AgriLife is providing the land and the existing building, and a significant chunk of start-up dollars, it’s up to the pest control industry to help make this new training facility a reality.  If you or your company are interested in giving to IPM Experience House, click here to download a pledge card.  To learn more about the project, and see a blueprint of the building, visit http://citybugs.tamu.edu/experiencehouse

Why Associate?

OK, so I'm not a pest control business owner, technician or pest control salesman. And maybe I don't have a full vote on this issue. But for what it's worth, I wish every honest businessman and technician involved in the pest control industry was involved in a pest control association.

I've always viewed membership in a pest control association as a sign that a company cares about good pest control as much as it cared about making money.  If someone asks me who I recommend to call for a certain pest problem, I steer them to association members.  Belonging to an association, in my mind, is a sign of professionalism.

Maintaining a successful pest control association isn't easy. It means having good volunteers and leaders. Being involved often means extra nights away from home, sitting on a committee or finding time in a busy day to make some extra phone calls or write emails. It may involve rubbing elbows with the competition--even people you may not like that much.  But I believe the payback over the long run can literally be priceless.

Technicians from the Greater Dallas Pest Control Association
setting off  last fall on an annual "Slug A Bug" event to provide
free pest control service to deserving low income families.

I've been especially reminded of the value of local pest control groups recently.  This summer I was privileged to speak at meetings of the Fort Worth, Dallas, east Texas, and Houston area pest control associations. I heard stories of brothers providing support for brothers, parties and bowling events, lobbying efforts, and low income assistance projects.  I saw education taking place through monthly speakers, and I saw good people trying to make their industry something that anyone would be proud to belong to.  And, not least, I saw a bunch of folks who genuinely liked one another and obviously valued their professional friendships.

The Greater Dallas Pest Control Association has struggled with membership some in recent years, but continues to hold their annual Slug-A-Bug event to benefit needy families.  Working with our local People Helping People group, the GDPCA has set a goal to help 60-80 families each year with what is often a sorely needed pest control treatment.  It's an effort to reach out to folks who don't have much, and make the community a better, more caring place.  If you are interested in being involved, they would love if you would "like" their Facebook page and sign up to get involved. The next Slug-A-Bug event is coming soon, September 17, and they are still looking for volunteers.

Members of the Tarrant and Dallas Pest Control Associations
showed their desire to improve technician training with two
generous checks to the Texas A&M Foundation in July.

The Greater Tarrant County (Fort Worth) Pest Control Association blew my socks off last month by making a donation to the IPM Experience House Project, a new venture to develop a hands-on pest control training facility in the Dallas area (more about this in a future post).  In fact, three of the local associations have donated to Experience House, but it's the Tarrant County group that really knows how to party.  They got together with the Dallas group presented Texas A&M Research Foundation with two giant Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes checks.  I've always thought it would be cool to get a giant check like that, and now I have two (I'm still figuring out how to cash them)!  Together the two associations combined for a total of $8,000 donation. This kind of excitement and enthusiasm only happens when a diverse group of folks works together.

I had never attended the Greater Houston Pest Control Association before, but boy are they are organized and well run!  Their board had more active members show up for the pre-meeting meeting than some associations.  Well over 50 people attended the June meeting, and it was a lot of fun. These folks were also the first association to make a donation to the Experience House project, even though most of their business is done a good four hour drive from the future training facility. The only good explanation is that they take an old fashioned pride in their industry.

The East Texas Pest Control Association met at Spring Creek Barbecue (a favorite of mine) in Tyler the night I visited.  President Carl Lane and the leaders of this group are very dedicated to growing their association, and to do so they alternate meeting locations between Tyler and Lufkin, so that their brethren living an hour and a half south feel like a real part of the group. What a nice group of folks; I wish I lived a little closer.

I could talk all day about our local associations, but the picture would be incomplete without mentioning the parent state and national pest management association offices. In Texas our local associations choose to work under the umbrella of our state (TPCA) and national association (NPMA). This gives them political clout in Austin and Washington that they otherwise wouldn't have. And it supports all the good educational and professional services these associations provide. But it all starts at the local level.

I know that some members of NPMA choose not to get involved in their local chapters, but I think they're missing out on the best part of being in an association.  If you haven't yet gotten involved in your local group, I encourage you to try it.  It might not always be easy, but I'm betting it will be mostly good--for you and your community.  You might even figure out you really like some of your competitors after all.

For a list of the 17 local chapters of the Texas Pest Control Association, click here.

BIG Changes at A&M

Architectural concept for the new Center for Urban and
Industrial Entomology at the College Station campus of
Texas A&M University

Many of you are aware of some of the big changes taking place in the urban entomology program over the next year at Texas A&M University. But I'll bet  few of you realize how sweeping these changes will be. One of the biggest is construction of a new $4 million building to house the Center for Urban and Structural Entomology  near the intersection of Agronomy and F&B Roads on the Texas A&M campus in College Station. Another huge change is Dr. Roger Gold's recent announcement that he will be retiring as Endowed Chair for Urban Entomology at the end of January, 2015. As if that wasn't news enough, today the Department of Entomology announced his replacement.

According to an email today from Entomology Department Head, Dr. David Ragsdale, "Dr. Ed Vargo from NC State has accepted our offer to become the next Endowed Chair in Urban and Structural Entomology at Texas A&M starting officially on 1 December 2014." This start date will give Dr. Vargo an opportunity to overlap his time with Dr. Gold, and assist with a smooth transition.

Dr. Ed Vargo was announced today as
the next endowed Chair in Urban
Entomology at Texas A&M

Dr. Vargo is currently Professor and Interim Department Head of the Entomology Department at North Carolina State University, and in my opinion is a great match for our department and the Texas pest control industry. He has a long history of working with the industry and is genuinely interested in having close ties with PMPs.  He is nationally and internationally known for his expertise in social insect biology (termites and ants, especially), molecular ecology and practical insect control.  To read more about Dr. Vargo and his current projects at NCSU, I encourage you to check out his website.

In an email I received today, Dr. Ed said, "I am excited about the position and look forward to working with [the industry in Texas] and continuing to provide the scientific and educational leadership for their industry that Dr. Gold has so ably furnished for the past 25 years."

As I see it, the entomology program at Texas A&M has never had a stronger commitment to urban entomology. In addition to refilling the Endowed Chair position, the department will also be creating a new Extension entomologist position to work closely with the new Chair. This entomologist will be based in College Station and will serve as a major bridge between the urban entomology lab and the industry. This person will manage the annual Texas A&M University Urban Pest Management Conference and Workshop, oversee the termite training school in Bryan, and conduct applied, industry-sponsored research.

Last, but not least, fund-raising for a new hands-on pest control training facility in Dallas is well underway. This month I began working with the Texas A&M foundation to raise funds to build a hands-on training facility for PMPs at the AgriLife campus in Dallas.  This will be an exciting new venture for me personally, and one that I hope will bring new energy and higher quality to our efforts to train new (and old) technicians in the art and science of pest control.  To learn a little more about this project, check out the new IPM Experience House website.  There is a lot going on here, and I will be sharing much more with you over the next few months.

This year is truly an exciting time for pest control and urban entomology in Texas. And none of this would be happening without your help, the help of your state and local associations, and the many pest control support industries around our state and country.  But this column isn't long enough to brag about y'all today.  More about you later too.