Cassandra Urquhart is a PhD student at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she studies mosquito ecology. She earned her master’s degree in entomology and went on to conduct research with a mosquito control district.
One of her long-term career goals is to foster clearer, more respectful communication among the diverse groups affected by scientific issues, particularly when it comes to mosquito and other arthropod-borne diseases, as well as the many roles insects and other arthropods play in our daily lives. In her ideal world, medical providers, entomologists, physicians, pest control professionals, academic researchers, parents, and community members would be able to communicate and collaborate effectively.
For her outreach project, Cassandra wrote a series of nature poems about insects with titles styled after academic papers. Some of her poems include “A Case Study on the Use of a Ballad to Alert Visitors to the Chemical Defenses of Two-Striped Walking Sticks in Mississippi” and “An Acrostic Description of a Tropical Semi-Slug.” You can read her slug poem below!
