Stephen Taerum knew that a career in wildlife biology was going to take him places. But perhaps as an undergraduate, the 2002 Ian Ross Memorial recipient wasn’t thinking about so many places.
Among the growing cadre of talented entomologists in the ACTWS, Stephen went from the University of Alberta to Kansas for an MSc and then Pretoria, South Africa for a PhD with stops at Dartmouth College and Waterloo along the way. His research scope has included leaf-cutter ants in the neotropics, ladybugs and bark beetles. He’s even looked into symbiosis of protists on host termites and cockroaches.
The former president of the ACTWS U of A student chapter and globetrotter can now be found at the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station doing a post doc focused on molecular ecology of microscopic wildlife. Without that early support from the Chapter, Stephen’s path would have been far different in his estimation. Let’s see where he goes next!
