Dr. Fred Stephen began his forest entomology career at the University of California, Berkeley. Under the direction of Don Dahlsten, Fred studied colonization and ecological succession of western pine beetle and its natural enemies in Ponderosa pine. He finished his Ph.D. in 1974 and accepted a position at the University of Arkansas, where he is now a professor of entomology.
His research and teaching interests are forest entomology and insect ecology. He has studied a diverse group of forest insects, including southern pine beetle, periodical cicada, gypsy moth, Nantucket pine tip moth, Pales weevil, pine sawyers, red oak borer and most recently Sirex wood wasps. His investigations of these insect-forest systems include research on population dynamics, biological control, sampling methods, predictive models, natural history, development rates, community interactions, pesticide impacts, and forest health.
He has been active in interdisciplinary research projects throughout his career and, building upon more than 20 years of field research on southern pine beetle population dynamics, collaborated in developing a computer-based model to enable forest pest managers to predict southern pine beetle infestation growth and tree mortality in pine forests. Dr. Stephen has received multiple awards, including the A.D. Hopkins Award for Distinguished Service to Southern Forest Entomology, the Robert G. and Hazel T. Spitze Land Grant University Faculty Award for Excellence, and the Burlington Northern Outstanding Faculty-Scholar Award for excellence in research.
He was invited to provide testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, and to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. He also served as North American co-chair of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations Working Party on “Integrated Control of Scolytid Bark Beetles.”
During his tenure at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Stephen conceived, developed, and taught courses in insect ecology, agricultural issues, biological control, research methods in ecological entomology, and forest resources protection.
He has been a major advisor to 32 graduate students, five postdocs, and has served on more than 100 additional graduate student advisory committees. He is most proud of his graduate students, who have become successful forest entomologists in a variety of scientific and professional venues.
(updated July, 2011)