Contact Information
Entomology & Plant Pathology
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS 39762-9775
TEL: (662) 325-2085
FAX: (662) 325-8837
Building Locations
About the Department
Programs of Study
The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology offers graduate programs leading to the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The department also jointly sponsors a Master of Agriculture degree in Agricultural Pest Management with the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. The department participates in an interdisciplinary genetics and animal physiology graduate program.
Within the general requirements of the Graduate School, there is freedom to develop individualized programs of study; this responsibility lies with each student's graduate advisory committee and the student. Students with backgrounds in the sciences are encouraged to apply. Acceptance into a particular program of study is contingent upon the approval of the faculty member directing the program.
Research Facilities
The department is housed in two buildings: Entomology is in the Clay Lyle Entomology Complex and Plant Pathology is in Dorman Hall. The Mississippi Entomological Museum, a research, teaching, and service facility, is centered in the Clay Lyle Complex and houses approximately 650,000 specimens, with extensive collections of Homoptera (Coccoidea and Cicadellidae), Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera. The museum also holds the Ross E. Hutchins Collection of approximately 7,000 35-mm slides and 20,000 black-and-white negatives of insects and plants.
The MSU Electron Microscope Center, housed in the Clay Lyle Complex, serves as an important resource for research and education in scanning and transmission electron microscopy. These facilities, together with the R. T. Gast Rearing Laboratory and the USDA-ARS Boll Weevil Research and Crop Science laboratories, form a large state-federal research and education complex.
Other on-campus facilities include greenhouses, a plant science research farm of 360 acres, a 1,650-acre animal research center, and a 1,050-acre dairy research center; nearby is an 8,000-acre university-owned forest. Off-campus facilities include ten branch experiment stations, each being strategically located according to soil type.