Michael Bartlett Smith, who grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be graduating this December 2022 with bachelor’s degrees in entomology and biochemistry. In this Q&A, he describes how he found his passion for insect agriculture, the value of inter-personal connections, and his grad school plans to further study insect agriculture – to support global food security and environmental sustainability.

How did you decide on your majors?
Though I have always had an innate curiosity for the natural world, I was fortunate enough to have had this curiosity nurtured by a myriad of educators, supporters, and role models throughout my upbringing. Thinking back on my education as a whole, my passions have always mirrored that of the teachers most passionate about what they had to teach. This goes as far back to my elementary science teacher – shoutout Tom Altman – a man whose lessons were saturated with excited energy about the topic at hand.

While picking my classes during freshman orientation, a first-year interest group (FIG) entitled “Insects and the Sixth Mass Extinction” caught my eye. It was in this 15-person classroom that I first found passion at UW in the form of a quick-witted beetle enthusiast – shoutout Dan Young. It didn’t take long for me to become enamored with what are, by far, the most biodiverse group of multicellular organisms on the planet and to declare myself an entomologist. 

Two years into my entomology degree, I realized I was getting through my courses much faster than I was comfortable with and decided I needed a second major. Having taken an interest in the career of Dr. Thomas Eisner, the father of chemical ecology, I decided biochemistry was the natural complement, so I added that as a second degree.

What were the most valuable/meaningful college experiences you had?
During my sophomore year, peak covid, I landed a research position in the entomology department. While everyone else was wasting away in quarantine, I was sitting alone in a cockroach-infested basement laboratory wrangling, weighing, and sexing field crickets for hours on end. I was working for Martin Ventura, a masters student at the time, who was investigating the efficacy of novel feeds for farming crickets. I met Martin months after I started the job in his backyard standing six feet apart and wearing masks. Over time we became friends, and we are still in touch today. Though this was just one of many labs I would eventually work for, it was by far the most influential. Not only was it my first exposure to insect agriculture, what has since become a passion of mine, but it helped give me purpose during a global pandemic, when feelings of solitude and aimlessness were running rabid. 

When you think about your time here as student, what are you proud of?
Thinking back on my years at UW, I have a lot to be proud of. As president of the Undergraduate Entomological Society, I helped to triple our club’s attendance. As a student researcher, I have designed and executed three of my own experimental protocols in three separate laboratories, with publications in the works. In the spring 2022, I spearheaded the planning of Swarm-to-Table, a community-facing event aimed to destigmatize and generate enthusiasm for insects as a sustainable food source. We worked with a local chef to put on a seven-course tasting menu consisting of 15 different species of insects – and sold out 150 tickets in just under two hours. 

With all of that said, I am actually most proud of the connections I managed to make along the way. By being involved with all these things, I was able to foster relationships with countless friends and mentors, including peers, grad students, faculty, staff, chefs, and even bug farmers. These are people who I can lean on in times of need, people I can always count on for advice, and future collaborators as I further my education and career. My undergraduate experience was not defined by the things I did as much as the people I met along the way. 

What are your future academic and/or career plans?
My immediate plans are to begin my master’s degree at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in the Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Farming, where I will be studying the genome of the black soldier fly. As for my long-term plans, I hope to play a major role in the incorporation of insects into our food and agricultural systems, reducing global food insecurity and creating a more sustainable future. More importantly, I don’t ever want to lose sight of the importance of close friends and finding time to play in the mud. 

Do you have any advice you’d like to share with CALS students?
Don’t let anyone convince you that they have it all figured out, we are all a work in progress, some of us are just better at pretending than others.