New Pest Management Hub Will Address Florida’s Buggiest Problems

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) will create a new network focused on finding novel ways to manage bugs and pests in homes and businesses, known as the Innovation Hub for Urban Pest Management.

Designed to further position UF/IFAS as a leader in the pest management industry, the initiative will receive strategic funding of $985,000 over three years from the office of UF President Ben Sasse.

The Hub will have two objectives: to develop the workforce in the urban pest management industry and to provide new solutions to urgent pest and public health problems through research and new technology. The initiative is expected to be financially self-sustaining after the currently funded three years.

The Hub will also boost UF’s already stellar track record of creating new tools and technologies for developing industries, with a push for innovation and workforce development in the urban pest management industry having already begun. For example, UF is home to the invention of Sentricon®, a termite bait whose creator, Nan-Yao Su, was inducted into the Pest Management Professional Hall of Fame.

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