Matt Thomas
112 Merkle Lab
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
mbt13@psu.edu
Ecological research that matters........like the themes on the research page (of course I would say that!)
- University College Cardiff, UK. Zoology. B.Sc (Hons). 1987.
- University of Southampton, UK. Entomology. Ph.D. 1991.
- 2008-date Professor, Department of Entomology and Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Penn State University.
- 2006-2008 Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Entomology, Canberra, Australia.
- 2005-2006 Reader, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Imperial College London, UK.
- 2003-2005 Senior Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Imperial College London, UK.
- 2001-2002 Section Leader, CABI Bioscience UK Centre (a Division of CAB INTERNATIONAL).
- 1996-2003 Research Fellow, NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, UK.
- 1991-1996 Postdoc, NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, UK.
See "Publication Page" for list of publications.
Presentations include:
- 2010: Invited speaker, BioAsia 2010, Hyderabad, India, Feb 2010; Invited speaker, Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases meeting, Cornell University, May 2010; Invited speaker, "Research Advances in Malaria: Vector Biology", Johns Hopkins University, June 2010; Invited symposium speaker, Society of Invertebrate Pathology Annual Meeting, Trabzon, Turkey, July 2010; Invited symposium speaker, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, USA, August 2010.
- 2009: Invited symposium speaker at AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, Feb 2009; Invited speaker and participant, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation meeting on Malaria Transmission Blocking Strategies, Bangkok, Thailand, March 2009; Invited participant at RAPIDD workshop on “Modeling the Contribution of Mosquitoes to Pathogen Transmission”, Fogarty International Center, April 2009; Seminar, Earth System Science Center, Penn State, October 2009; Seminar, Department of Geography, Penn State, November 2009; Speaker at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting, Washington, November 2009.
- 2008: Invited speaker at DIMACS workshop on Climate and Disease, Rutgers University, April 2008; Invited speaker at international workshop on “Biotechnology and Locust Control”, Rabat, Morocco, June 2008; Invited to give key note talk, 2 additional presentations and co-chair of 2 symposia at the International Congress of Entomology, Durban, South Africa, July 2008; Invited participant and co-chair of working group at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Vector Control Consultation, Seattle, July 2008; Invited speaker at 8th Mosquito Control Association of Australia and 10th Arbovirus Research in Australia Symposium, Coffs Harbour, Australia, September 2008.
- 2007: Invited speaker at opening Australian National Plant Biosecurity CRC conference, Canberra, Australia; Invited participant at Australian Weeds CRC workshop, Brisbane, Australia.
- 2006: Invited speaker and contributing author on 4 chapters at Biomerge/DIVERSITAS Adaptive Synthesis Workshop IV "The Consequences of Changing Biodiversity - Solutions and Scenarios." Monte Verita, Ascona, Switzerland, Dec 2006.
- 2005: Invited speaker in session on Biodiversity Changes and Health at DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference “Integrating biodiversity science for human well-being” November, 2005, Oaxaca, Mexico; Invited speaker and tutor at associated summer school for symposium entitled ‘Guild interactions in biological control', joint meeting of the Biocontrol Network of Canada and the International Organisation for Biological Control- Neartic Regional Section (IOBC-NRS), Quebec, Canada; Invited speaker and contributing author on joint Scope/Diversitas international workshop on Biodiversity, Health and the Environment, Paris, March 2005.
- 2003: Invited expert speaker at an international CGIAR workshop on Managing Agricultural Biodiversity for Sustainable Development, Nairobi, October, 2003.
- 2001: Invited symposium speaker at Royal Entomological Society annual meeting, “Insects and Diseases”, University of Aberdeen, September, 2001.
- 2000: Invited speaker at XXI International Congress of Entomology, Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, August, 2000.
- 1999: Co-organiser and chair of conference for the Association of Applied Biologists entitled Challenges in Applied Population Biology, Royal Holloway, July, 1999.
- 1998: Invited speaker at National Academy of Science Colloquium, Irvine, California; 2 presentations at the VII INTECOL Congress, Florence, Italy.
- 1997: Symposium organiser and chair at the Society for Invertebrate Pathology Annual Meeting, Banff, Canada; Invited speaker at the British Crop Protection Symposium on “Microbial Insecticides: Novelty or Necessity?”, University of Warwick.
- 1996: Invited speaker for a symposium at the XX International Congress of Entomology, Florence, Italy.
- 1995: CTA Seminar on Insect Pest Control for Smallholders: Integrating Biological Control and Host Plant Resistance, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (key speaker and chair of three working sessions); Society for Invertebrate Pathology Annual Meeting, Cornell University (invited speaker).
Various professional activities:
- Honorary Professor, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, April 2010-2013.
- Subject Editor for Environmental Entomology, member of Editorial Board of Agricultural and Forest Entomology and International Editorial Advisory Board of Biocontrol Science and Technology.
- Co-chair of international consortium researching novel use of fungi for control of mosquitoes and malaria in Africa (ongoing).
- Member of steering committee for the Center for Chemical Ecology at Penn State (ongoing).
- Co-chair of Biological Control Working Group for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Vector Control Consultation (2008).
- Joint recipient of CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement (2007).
- Selected as a Griswold Lecturer by Cornell University (May 2005).
- Expert advisor to DANIDA-funded international collaborative research project on IPM of Sahelian Grasshoppers (2003, 2004).
- Expert at FAO Consultation Workshop on revision of the Code of Conduct for Release of Exotic Natural Enemies, Imperial College, Wye (December 2002).
- Invited expert at FAO Consultation Workshop on Safety of Microbial Control, Rome (December 2001).
- Invited expert at the 36th Session of the Desert Locust Control Committee, FAO Rome, September 2001.
- Member of expert working group to develop guidelines for OECD on registration of macrobial biocontrol agents.
- Invited participant in a review workshop and contributing author to position paper for the World Bank entitled: Biodiversity and Biotechnology: Contributions to and Consequences for Agriculture and the Environment. Dec 2000.
- Invited to joint NERC/MAFF workshop to determine research priorities for insect population biology and biological control in UK agriculture, Feb 2000.
- Adviser to MAFF SAPPIO Link programme to review research proposals on agrobiodiversity, March 1999.
- Invited expert to DFID-funded workshop to identify Research Priorities for Migrant Pests of Agriculture in Southern Africa, Pretoria, March 1999. - Represented NERC at a MAFF Research Strategy Forum in 1996.
- Invited to a Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR) Task Force Meeting, held at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya in 1996, to develop a research programme on the sustainable utilisation of biodiversity for enhanced integrated pest management.
- Co-organiser of conference for the Association of Applied Biologists entitled Challenges in Applied Population Biology, Royal Holloway, 8-9 July, 1999.