Florida’s ‘pest university’ offers basic training for war on insects

The University of Florida's little-known Apopka campus offers specialized instruction that has helped Walt Disney World, Orange County Public Schools and the U.S. Navy, among others, defend themselves from pests.

Termites gnaw on a wooden door frame. Ectoparasites lounge like frat boys on a bare mattress in a bedroom.

Everybody in Florida benefits from whats going on in this building, said Lance Osborne, the resident entomologist and interim director of the University of Floridas Mid-Florida Research and Education Center on Binion Road, which sponsors and hosts the monthly training sessions.

Pest management is an art and a science mixed together, said Faith Oi, a bug expert at UF and director of the pest university, which counts employees of Walt Disney World, the U.S. Navy and Orange County schools among its alumni. Its not just the bug guy spraying stuff.

The students, usually apprentice exterminators or experienced pros brushing up on new regulations and treatments, learn about bug biology; application techniques; and federal and state rules for pesticides during a 21/2-day boot camp. The classes tend to focus on termites and ants, the most ubiquitous bugs in Florida, although the academy touches on roaches and, more recently, bedbugs and mosquitoes.

The academy provides hands-on, science-based instruction and training that most benefits the hundreds of small and medium-sized pest-control companies in Florida, said Jeff Edwards of Dead Bug Edwards, a 28-employee pest-management company serving the Fort Lauderdale area.

He and several of his employees are graduates of PMU.

Training is one of the hardest things to do, said Edwards, noting that national companies often have full-time training departments. At the small pest-control companies, the new guy spends a few days riding with a guy whos been there a few years, and thats their training, pretty much.

PMU is unique, offering instruction from lawyers, state compliance officers and entomologists such as Oi.

We make them look at these insects under the scope. We bring in live stuff when we can, said Oi, who has published articles on bedbugs, carpet beetles, chiggers, fire ants and several varieties of termites. Its important for them to understand the insect theyre trying to control.

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Florida's 'pest university' offers basic training for war on insects