Biography

Gloria S. McCutcheon, of Charleston, South Carolina, is an associate professor in the Department of Entomology at Clemson University located at Coastal Research and Education Center. Her research focuses on crop production using environmentally-sound practices that are potentially profitable. She has made significant contributions to the scientific literature in the area of integrated pest management and biological control of insect pests in soybean, cotton, vegetables, and medicinal plants. Currently, Gloria is principal investigator of several vegetable research projects. Along with her graduate students, she is identifying ways to conserve and enhance natural enemies of vegetable insect pests. Various cultural practices (conservation tillage, inter-seeding) are being studied to determine the effects on integrated pest management. Research in the area of crop diversification is being conducted on production of other vegetables and medicinal plants in the South. Gloria has been very successful with teacher enhancement programs as well as school programs in integrated pest management to encourage children to become ambassadors for sustainable agriculture and integrated pest management. Her extension projects also focus on teaching small farmers about the implementation of integrated pest management. Using the train-the-trainer concept, she collaborates with county extension agents and agricultural economists at South Carolina State University to determine the economic impact of IPM programs in vegetables. Topics include pest identification, resistance to pesticides, conservation and enhancement of natural enemies, and economic evaluation. Because of Gloria's outstanding research and dedicated service to agriculture, she has earned many honors, including "USA Today Community Solutions for Education", "Outstanding Woman Faculty Member in Agriculture Nominee", "Presidential Award in Mentoring Students in Science , Engineering and Mathematics Nominee", and "Entomological Society of America Travel Award to the International Congress in Brazil".