Insects Scientists and Children Meeting in Las Cruces, NM

1,200 elementary school students are expected to attend an INSECT EXPO at New Mexico State University from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM on Monday, February 25 at the start of the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Branch of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), which will be held February 25-28 in the Ramada Palms Hotel in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

This free educational event will reinforce students' science skills with hands-on activities and a live insect zoo, and it will allow students to enjoy opportunities to interact with professional insect scientists as they participate in a wide variety of presentations and activities designed to educate people about the most numerous, widespread, and diverse group of organisms on earth: Insects!

The ESA Southwestern Branch meeting will be attended by hundreds of entomologists, who will present their research on mosquitoes, West Nile virus, ticks, bed bugs, agricultural insect pests, pollinators, and much more. In addition, students from southwestern universities will face off during the Linnaean Games, a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts.

Journalists who would like to attend the meeting and/or the INSECT EXPO should contact Andrine Shufran at (405) 743-9311 or andrine@okstate.edu, or Carol Sutherland at (575) 635-3413 or CSutherl@nmda.nmsu.edu.

For more information, including the program and how to register, visit the ESA website at http://www.entsoc.org/southwestern/2013-SWBAnnualMeeting.

The Entomological Society of America is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 6,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, and hobbyists. For more information, visit http://www.entsoc.org.

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