QU Biology Professor Joins Editorial Board of Online Journal

Joseph R. Coelho, Ph.D., professor of biology at Quincy University, joined Insects editorial board as a topic editor.

As a topic editor, Coelho will have the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines around the world to put together a special issue. Topic editors define the scope of the topic, guide authors, promote the topic among the research community, invite colleagues to contribute and supervise the peer-review process.

“I’ve chosen to focus the special issue on the topic of cultural entomology,” Coelho said. “It’s not my primary area of research, but since my first publication in that genre, ‘Insects in Rock and Roll Music’, 20 years ago, I’ve been fascinated by it.”

The study will examine the influence of insects and other arthropods on human cultures. Everything from crabs to spiders to flies become involved in stories, music and foods, all major components of every culture.

Insects is an international, peer-reviewed open-access journal of entomology published monthly online by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). Coelho had a paper published in Insects in 2012 on foraging in the Pacific cicada killer.

Coelho obtained a bachelor’s of science degree in biology from the University of California at Riverside and a doctorate in environmental, population and organismic biology from the University of Colorado. He came to Quincy University in 2004. His research primarily focuses on the physiological ecology of insects, solitary wasps in particular. He also studies cultural entomology, such as insects in music.  He teaches all of the field courses, including Ecology, Environmental Science, Entomology, Plant Field Biology and Vertebrate Field Biology.

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