Alejandro Del-Pozo named assistant professor of entomology

Alejandro Del-Pozo has been named an assistant professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Entomology.

He is one of a number of new faculty members hired in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences this academic year. New positions were identified to bring talent to the college's focus areas, including food, health, the environment, and the economy. The new faculty members are distributed across teaching, research, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Del-Pozo is an applied insect ecologist, leading the efforts to implement pest management solutions for the turfgrass and ornamental stakeholders across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Alejandro is interested in research to widen the toolbox for integrated pest-management programs. He is also interested in using remote pest monitoring and biological control as important components of pest management for turf, ornamentals, and beyond.

Before becoming part of Virginia Tech, Del-Pozo was an IPM - Entomology Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension, based in the Salinas Valley, where he proposed pest management tactics for aphids, thrips, and diamondback moth in vegetables. These tactics included the use of automated monitoring traps, releasing beneficials with drones, and the use of insectary plants and alternative insecticides to pyrethroids and neonicotinoids.

Del-Pozo earned his bachelor of science from La Molina National Agrarian University in agronomy, his master of science from Washington State University in entomology, and his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in entomology.