U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Northeast Area
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    Careers


        
                Northeast Area Cities

                    Washington, D.C.
                            Newark, Delaware
                            Boston, Massachusetts
                            Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC)
                            Beltsville, Maryland (BARC)
                            Frederick, Maryland
                            Orono, Maine
                            Geneva, New York
                            Ithaca, New York
                            University Park, Pennsylvania
                            Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania
                            Kearneysville, West Virginia
                            Leetown, West Virginia
                            Burlington, Vermont


                    Civil Rights & EEO Policy StatementsSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Northeast Area Docs Systematics Research







Education and Trainingheadline bar Background Documents A longstanding and crippling problem for the long-term provision of systematic services is the difficulty in replacing the lifelong expertise of specialists who retire or leave government service. Expertise in a group of agriculturally important organisms requires years of intensive training and work in collections. Indeed, 3-4 years of intensive study are required for students to acquire even a rudimentary understanding of the relationships and diversity of their chosen groups. In megadiverse groups such as the fungi, weevils, nematodes and others, a decade may be required before a student gains enough knowledge to significantly contribute to our understanding of evolutionary relationships. Because researchers typically retire without the opportunity to mentor and train a new person, the ability to provide expected levels of services to customers is lost along with more intangible connections to resources such as literature, collections, and colleagues, all of which take years to replace. Moreover, because of our mission-oriented approach to research ARS almost always seeks new systematists to fill positions in agriculturally important specific taxa. ARS does not have the luxury possessed by some museums or academic institutions of merely looking for a highly qualified systematist who can teach and pursue research on any fundable taxon. Instead, ARS must focus on groups important to quarantine, invasives, biosecurity, biocontrol and other issues that form the core of ARS responsibilities to U.S. agriculture. It is imperative that we expand and strengthen our efforts in this area so that as our programs expand to meet new challenges we have the necessary human resources to make those programs work. Fortunately, a model exists for how to make that happen. For the past 20 years, the Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology, a joint endeavor of the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Maryland, and ARS, has lead the way in training and placing researchers in arthropod systematics. The program has demonstrated that the combination of a leading university-based academic program and practicing world-class researchers results in graduates who are able to compete and fill positions at the highest levels. In two decades the MCSE program has had unparalleled success at placing graduating Ph.D. students in professional positions from Harvard to our own Systematic Entomology Laboratory. In partnership with other universities and departments at the University of Maryland, ARS/BARC and our other cooperating institutions can maintain leadership in training top notch students for federal and private sector employment. With the reinvigoration of ARS systematics an expanded MCSE-like program could lead the country in training professionals in botany, mycology, nematology, parasitology, entomology, and acarology. The training and mentoring of students should be a major thrust in a newly invigorated ARS/BARC systematics research program.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov