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Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

Graduate Studies at UF/FMEL

Introduction

Sampling out in the fieldGraduate students at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory earn degrees at the M.S. and/or Ph.D. level in the University of Florida's Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Typically FMEL students spend the first year in courses taken on the Gainesville campus. After the first year, most students usually relocate to the FMEL in Vero Beach to take advantage of the unique laboratory and field opportunities offered by the FMEL. Students obtain close in depth training through contact and collaborations with the faculty of the FMEL, all of whom are leading authorities in medical entomology.

Graduate work at the FMEL is planned in close collaboration with an FMEL faculty member who serves as the Chair of the student's graduate committee. A graduate committee will be constituted consisting of other FMEL faculty, other faculty in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and/or faculty in other relevant departments.

Graduate students at the FMEL are eligible to receive graduate support in the form of stipends and/or tuition remission through University of Florida fellowships, Department of Entomology and Nematology assistantships, FMEL grants from NIH, USDA, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and through other granting and sponsoring agencies. These awards are made on a competitive basis to deserving students. Interested students are encouraged to directly contact prospective faculty at the FMEL to learn about FMEL opportunities, research, graduate applications and financial support.

Research AreasSampling with a boat in the Indian River Lagoon

Research interests and expertise cover a wide variety of areas including, genetics, biochemistry, ecology and behavior, systematics, bigeography, epidemiology, mathematical modelling, and others. Some examples of research projects now underway include:

  • Effects of deforestation in Amazonian Peru on cycles of arboviruses transmitted by mosquitoes.
  • Biological control of mosquitoes using native copepods.
  • Mosquito production from constructed wetlands.
  • Modelling encephalitis cycles in nature.
  • Invasion biology of Aedes albopictus.sampling by man made wetland area
  • Strain variation in vector-borne parasites.
  • Cloning and expression of mosquito hormones in bacteria, viruses and plants.
  • Vector heterogeneity and malaria in Brazil.
  • Encephalitis biology and epidemiology.
  • Evaluation of Anopheline traps in Tanzania.

Application

Detailed information about applying for admission to graduate work at the FMEL Department of Entomology and Nematology can be obtained from the Department Web site.

Other Information

Graduate Student Health Care

Contact

Graduate Studies Coordinator
Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory
200 9th St SE
Vero Beach, FL  32962
USA