State expert to demystify bedbugs during Oct. 17 Sigma Xi lecture at Quinnipiac University

Gale E. Ridge, a state entomologist who chairs the Connecticut Coalition Against Bed Bugs, will demystify and reduce the stigma associated with bedbugs when she presents the lecture, “The Bedbug Complex,” from 2-3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, in the Carl Hansen Student Center, Room 225, at Quinnipiac University. This event, part of Quinnipiac’s Sigma Xi lecture series, is free and open to the public.

“By gaining an understanding of the insect, its biology, behavior, its history with us and our response to it, the appropriate management of the insect quickly follows,” Ridge said. “Thus a monster becomes a nuisance.”

The Connecticut Coalition Against Bed Bugs, under the leadership of The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, was founded in 2008 to address bedbug and future insect pest issues in Connecticut. The coalition has sponsored numerous bed bug forums and professional training programs and written numerous publications. The coalition maintains the website, www.ct.gov/caes/ccabb, and a Listserv and provides expert knowledge to legislators, health departments and private and public agencies throughout the state.

Ridge, who works in the state Department of Entomology of The Connecticut Agricultural Center, is an expert on bedbugs. The emphasis of her current research is the effective use of entomopathogenic fungi against the common bedbug, Cimex lectularius L, as well as behavior and reproduction studies.

Ridge earned her doctorate from the Department of Ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Connecticut in 2008. She also holds a master’s degree in biology from Southern Connecticut State University.

For more information about the lecture, please call 203-582-8652.

Sigma Xi is an international, multidisciplinary research society whose programs and activities promote the health of the scientific enterprise and honor scientific achievement. There are nearly 60,000 Sigma Xi members in more than 100 countries around the world. Sigma Xi chapters, more than 500 in all, can be found at colleges and universities, industrial research centers and government laboratories. The society endeavors to encourage support of original work across the spectrum of science and technology and to promote an appreciation within society at large for the role research has played in human progress.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,400 full-time undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges issue. The 2014 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 377 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.