TABLE CONTENTS

SESSION EIGHTEEN – EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR THE NEXT
GENERATIONS OF NEMATOLOGISTS
CONVENORS: ROBIN HUETTEL & HARISH GAUR
Beyond SpongeBob SquarePants®
Huettel, R.N.
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, AL 36849
The use of the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants® shows that there are sources that introduce
youth to the fact that there are nematodes. Unfortunately, aside from a few television
programs, there are few sources to introduce the subject to university level students.
Caenorhabditis elegans might be discussed in an introductory biology class but if so, it is
generally referred to as ‘worms’ and only presented as a molecular model. Plant parasitic
nematodes are rarely introduced until the student takes a general plant pathology course
usually in the upper level years of college. Even then, plant pathology colleagues often
devote only a couple of lectures to the students on nematodes. In North America, Nematology
related to agricultural systems is fairly well represented at the university level. Most U.S.
land-grant universities have one or more faculty members that are active in the discipline.
Federal Agencies also employed many nematologists in both the U.S. and Canada. Even
though there are more limited job opportunities for nematologists, these opportunities do
exist and students need to be encouraged to pursue a career in nematology. Therefore, it is
important to develop an introduction to these nematodes at an early stage in an academic
career and encourage students to continue in the discipline. Undergraduate research
opportunities that are meaningful can help develop an interest in continuing to working with
these organisms. Various approaches that have been successful as well as ideas on creative
new approaches to add nematodes to other curriculum will be discussed.
5 th International Congress of Nematology, 2008 68