Department Welcomes Tomberlin and Eubanks to On-Campus Faculty

A new academic year is dawning at the Texas A&M campus and the Department of Entomology proudly announces the newest faculty members, Dr. Jeff Tomberlin and Dr. Micky Eubanks.

Tomberlin received his Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Georgia and a masters in entomology from Clemson. He previously served the Department as an assistant professor and extension specialist located at the Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Stephenville.

While at Stephenville, Tomberlin taught courses in forensic entomology for Tarleton State University, conducted research in livestock and forensic entomology as a TAES faculty member, and provided extension education programs to statewide and national clientele as part of his Texas Cooperative Extension appointment.

Tomberlin lent his forensic entomology expertise to law enforcement while consulting on seven homicide cases and he regularly conducted educational programs for police personnel. His specific research interests are in determining methods for suppressing fly populations associated with animal waste on confined animal facilities and in understanding the biology of insects colonizing human remains as a means to estimate time of death of a corpse.

Tomberlin is looking forward to working with faculty and researchers, both with the university and the TCE.

"I am really excited," he said. "I believe many more doors will open up in regards to collaborating with on and off campus faculty."

Before joining the department, Dr. Eubanks received his Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Maryland and his master’s in Biology at the University of Mississippi. He was previously an associate professor of entomology at Auburn University. While at Auburn, he taught courses in insect community ecology, general entomology and community entomology. His research interests are community ecology, plant-herbivore interactions, mutualisms and invasive species.

Since 1999, Eubanks and his graduate students at Auburn have conducted field studies determining types and numbers of insects are predated by fire ants in field crops and whether predation is beneficial in such crops. His research excellence was recognized by the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station/ College of Agriculture when given the Director’s Research Award—Assistant Professor while at Auburn University.

"I am very excited about joining such an outstanding group of people and look forward to all the exciting things that will be happening in the future," Eubanks said.

Eubanks will be teaching sections of general entomology (ENTO201) in the spring of 2008 and a higher level course to be determined. Starting this fall, Eubanks will have two postdoctoral researchers, a grad student and a research assistant in his lab.