Eric grew up on the East Coast in a Maryland suburb just outside of Washington D.C. He received his BS degree in Horticulture from the University of Maryland, College Park and after learning about the challenges of insect pest management in horticultural crops decided to attend graduate school in Entomology. He moved to Minnesota and lived with relatives while earning his MS degree in Entomology from the University of Minnesota. After graduation, he stayed on in his advisor’s lab for more than 20 years to work as a researcher and manage many of the aspects of entomological research on fruit and vegetable crops in Minnesota. In 2022, he joined the Rogers lab to help with research projects examining insect pests of day-neutral strawberries and the invasive Swede midge on brassicas. In his free time, Eric enjoys hiking and walking his two beagles with his wife and daughter and in the fall spends lots of time around the swimming pool as the head timer for his daughter’s high school swim team.
Current Research
In general, my research has involved various aspects of integrated pest management (IPM) of insect pests of fruit and vegetable crops in Minnesota. Research projects have ranged from developing sampling plans for insects and establishing treatment thresholds, to determining levels of host plant resistance and just about every other aspect of IPM in between. Recently, invasive species have become a bigger issue across the U.S. as well as Minnesota. Because of this, we have started a colony of the invasive insect pest, Swede midge, in the lab and Christina Perez (MS grad student) will be working on her thesis examining whether host plant resistance to this pest exists in varieties of broccoli. We will also determine the extent of infestation and grower knowledge in local community gardens in the Twin Cities Metro area through trapping and outreach. In addition to this research, we are also attempting to determine the insect and disease pests that are associated with the organic production of day-neutral strawberries on various mulches and how we may best manage production of this crop to create sustainable production practices in the Midwest.
