Matthew Ginzel is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Entomology and Forestry & Natural Resources and a member of the Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center at Purdue University. Matt received his B.S. in Organismal Biology from Beloit College in 1994. He received an M.S. (1999) and Ph.D. (2003) from the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He then spent two and a half years as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno before coming to Purdue in 2006.
Matt is broadly interested in the chemically-mediated host colonization and mating behaviors of wood-boring beetles. North American hardwood forests are increasingly threatened by a litany of indigenous and invasive wood-boring insect pests. In fact, wood-boring beetles are among the most economically important pests of woody plants in natural and managed systems. Unfortunately, the destructive nature of many wood-boring insects is exacerbated by difficulty in controlling their populations. Because they spend the majority of their lives concealed beneath the bark of trees, these insects are physically protected from sprayed pesticides. The long term goal of his research program is to develop effective pest management tactics targeting the chemically-mediated mating system of the beetles. This information will be useful in establishing effective management programs, such as by optimizing survey strategies, developing arboricultural techniques to bolster resistance, and improving methods for detecting invasive species to improve the health, quality, and productivity of North American hardwood forests.
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