Expertise
Program Director of IPM CRSP at the Virginia Polytechnic and State University. He is involved in economic entomology, biological-control, and integrated pest management research for well over four decades.
Education
Rangaswamy Muniappan, 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.
Academic Involvement
- 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
- FAO Consultant to Vanuatu, 2002-2004 and Palau, 2004-2005
Awards and Honors
- 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
- Letter of Appreciation from Governor of Guam, 2003
Professional Involvement
- 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
Experience Summary
Professor Rangaswamy Muniappan’s 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.