John Obrycki, North Central Branch Representative

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John Obrycki received a B.S. in biology from the University of Albany (1974) and an M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) in entomology from Cornell University. John is a professor and chair of the Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky (UK).
Prior to accepting the position of chair at UK in 2003, he had been on the faculty in the Department of Entomology at Iowa State University (ISU) for 18 years. He joined the faculty at ISU as an assistant professor in 1985 and was promoted to associate in 1990 and full in 1995. Before moving to ISU, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University (1982-85).
 
Obrycki's research interests include the biological control of insect pests and weeds, examining the genetics and ecology of Coccinellidae, and assessing the ecological effects of transgenic crops. He has taught graduate courses in Biological Control and undergraduate entomology courses for non-majors. He has served as the major advisor for nine Ph.D. and 15 M.S. students, mentored five postdocs, and has authored 130 refereed publications and several book chapters.
 
John has been an active member of the ESA for 33 years. He was elected President of the NCB in 2010 and currently is a member of the ESA Finance Committee. He served as Chair of Subsection Ca - Biological Control in 1992, and as a member of the NCB-ESA Audit Committee from 2004-06. He has also held other leadership positions, including secretary–treasurer (1988-92) and president (1994-96) of the Nearctic Regional Section of the International Organization for Biological Control, invasive species coordinator for USDA-CSREES in 2000, and chair of the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Iowa State University from 2000-03. He has also served on several grant review panels for the EPA and USDA, including as panel managers for the Invasive Species and Biological Control Panels.