Writers: Rob Williams, 979-458-3449, rlwilliams32@tamu.edu , Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Charles Allen, 325-653-4576, ctallen@ag.tamu.edu
LUBBOCK – Texas A&M University’s department of entomology and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service have named Dr. Apurba Barman as the new AgriLife Extension entomologist serving the South Plains.
Barman is headquartered at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock. The center serves as the hub for the 20-county district Barman is responsible for.
“Dr. Barman is well trained for the AgriLife Extension entomology position, and he is excited about joining the very effective AgriLife Extension team on the South Plains,” said Dr. Charles Allen, state integrated pest management coordinator at San Angelo.
Allen, Barman’s supervisor, said the new district entomologist is no stranger to the area.
“During his time as a Ph.D. candidate at Texas A&M, Barman worked at the Lubbock center with Dr. Megha Parajulee on cotton fleahopper research,” Allen said. “His Ph.D. work focused on the cotton pest and its relationship to various host plants in different eco-regions of Texas and the U.S. cotton belt.
“While studying fleahoppers here, he also developed several genetic markers and generated sequence data which was used to conduct population genetics studies. This work expanded to include work from 11 cotton growing states.”
Allen said while Barman was earning a master’s degree at Texas Tech University, he focused his research on various cotton pests with emphasis on Lygus hesperus. His work featured mass rearing lygus bugs — establishing damage levels in the field, the insects’ biology from a landscape perspective and their impact on plant growth and the ability of the cotton plant to compensate for lygus damage.
Barman has also studied insecticide efficacy with lygus bugs, thrips and bollworms; evaluated Bt transgenic cultivars against bollworms, looked at the effects of irrigation regimes on crop production and monitored bollworms with pheromone traps.
“With his wealth of practical experience coupled with his teaching abilities, I look forward to years of successful entomology programming for cotton farmers, led by Dr. Barman across the entire Texas South Plains region,” Allen said.
Prior to accepting his new position on April 8, Barman was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Georgia investigating the role insects play in transmitting bacterial and viral diseases of vegetables and peanuts.
Barman has served in many professional organizations, including the Entomological Society of America, the Texas Academy of Science and the Ecological Society of America. He also received several awards and scholarships at Texas A&M, including the department of entomology Student Enhancement and Endowment Scholarship and the Patricia Nemec Scholarship from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Barman earned his bachelor’s of science in agricultural sciences and master of science from the Assam Agricultural University in India. He then earned a second master’s in entomology from Texas Tech University in 2006 and a doctorate in entomology from Texas A&M in 2011.
Barman fills the position formerly held by Dr. David Kerns.
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