R. Muniappan
Program Director
IPM CRSP
OIRED
Virginia Tech
526 Prices Fork Road
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Phone: 540-231-3516
FAX: 540-231-3519
E-mail: ipm-dir@vt.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Rangaswamy Muniappan, Program Director of IPM CRSP at the Virginia Polytechnic and State University. He received PhD Entomology from Oklahoma State University in 1969; MS Agricultural Entomology from University of Madras in 1965; and BS Agriculture from University of Madras in 1963. He was a Postdoctoral Associate, Oklahoma State University, 1969-1970 and worked at the Guam Department of Agriculture from 1970 to 1975 and then moved to University of Guam. At the University of Guam he carried both faculty and administrative duties of the Agricultural Experiment Station and in 1995 he became Professor Emeritus of Entomology.

He was a Fulbright Research Scholar, India, 1984-1985; FAO Consultant, Maldives, 1985-1986;
InterAmerican Development Bank Visiting Professor, University of Guyana, April-July 1989; Consultant, American Samoa Community College Land Grant Program, 1996 and FAO Consultant to Vanuatu, 2002-2004 and Palau, 2004-2005.

He received Excellence in Research Award, University of Guam, 1990; Outstanding Alumni, Entomology Dept., Oklahoma State University, 1992;
Resolution from Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas 13th Legislature, 2003; and Letter of Appreciation from Governor of Guam, 2003.

He was President, International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC) - South East Asian
Regional Section, 1993-1996; Chairman, Chromolaena Global Working Group, International Organization for Biological Control, 1992-2006; Editor, Chromolaena News Letter, 1988-2006;
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Papua New Guinea Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 1996-2006;
Member, Editorial Board, Micronesica, 1995- 2006 and Fellow, Royal Entomological Society of London, since 1992.

He is involved in economic entomology, biological-control, and integrated pest management research for well over four decades. His early work involved in use of spiders in biological control and tritrophic interactions of resistant barley, greenbug, and its parasitoid. His recent research involves the management of both invasive weeds and insect pests in tropical countries especially in Asia and the Pacific. His achievements include control of pest insects, the papaya mealybug (Paracoccus marginatus), pink hibiscus mealybug (Maconellicoccus hirsutus), fruit piercing moth (Othreis phallonia), red coconut scale (Furcaspis oceanica), orange spiny whitefly (Aleurocanthus spiniferus), New Guinea sugarcane weevil (Rhabdoscelus obscurus), banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus), the Asian cycad scale, Aulacaspis yasumatsui and cruciferous crop pests and the weeds, Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) lantana (Lantana camara), ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis), and the giant sensitive plant (Mimosa diplotricha). He has been a long standing member of the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC) and as the Chairman of the Global Working Group on Chromolaena, he conducted seven international workshops in Africa, Asia and Australia from 1988 to 2006. He has been instrumental in establishing the IOBC global working group on Parthenium in 2009. Currently he is managing the USAID funded Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP) which includes Central, South and Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean regions of the tropical world. He has secured several research grants for the Guam Agricultural Experiment Station as well as for his own research. He has been serving as a consultant for regional and international organizations. He was one of the editors of the book: Biological control of Tropical Weeds Using Arthropods (2009), Cambridge University Press.

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