What is your dream?
My dream is to make education profitable as an entertainment. I want to explore new ways of marketing educational programs that benefit vast amounts of people with minimal financial investments. Pursuing my passion by creating and marketing a traveling exhibit, without any formal background was surprisingly easy because I didn’t enjoy the work I did before. It was a bit overwhelming at first but as things progressed, I saw what worked and what didn’t. Project InSECT began to evolve and continues to do so daily. Observing the growth of my character and the exhibit is very tangible and exciting. Looking back it has been so much fun to make so much progress so quickly. However, many times the difficulties and obstacles seemed insurmountable; I thought none of these concepts were ever going to work.

How did you become interested in bugs?
Ever since I was a child I found arthropods (animals with an exoskeleton such as insects and spiders) to be beautiful and fascinating. They can be found on every continent of the earth foraging on everything from plants to animals. The engineering and structure of these biological machines has yet to be truly studied as a resource. Bugs were the closest thing to an electronic toy I would ever get, and if I broke one, I could just go look for a new one. I also found out that I could make ant colonies go to war by lightly sprinkling cracker crumbs from one nest to another. Then when they were at war, I could be the general. I could cover some ants with sand, put up barricades, and even eliminate enemy combatants. This kept me occupied for a childhood, more than any toy ever could.

Why are bugs so important to you?
I always root for the underdog in sports, in competition, and insects are the ultimate underdog. I find this peculiar because if we subtracted all the arthropods from the planet, few plant species would survive and all animal species would cease to exist. Not to mention, that there are millions of species of insects on the planet compared to several thousands of species of animals. To see some incredible examples of insects and arachnids visit my favorite site, Thaibugs.com.

What is the purpose of mosquitoes?
Just like we have jobs, insects all have a role in the ecosystem. Mosquitoes are a huge part of the diet of wildlife that we find more appealing. Until the Korean War, more soldiers died in war from dysentery, typhoid, and malaria than were killed on the battle field. This is what happens when there is an overload of a species in an area that the habitat can’t sustain and nature's way of keeping life in balance takes over. It all seems terrible to us, but to keep animal populations under control, mosquitoes are an effective natural mechanism to ensure equilibrium in the ecosystem.

So…..what exactly is it that you do?
I regularly lecture to large groups, enlightening people of all ages and backgrounds the truth about arthropods and our dependence upon them. I use humor, metaphors and our short documentary to plant seeds in their minds that can significantly change opinions about insects forever. So when they hear someone say “Bugs are gross”, I have equipped them with the knowledge that this statement is false. This is a common misunderstanding of an insect’s true benefits and purpose.

What is conservation?
Most people don’t understand that conservation pertains to them personally. As more and more species quickly slip into extinction, the chances of our own survival is diminished in ways that we don’t fully comprehend. For example, it is like taking away the structural parts of your house. Once these necessary components are gone, the house can easily fall and be destroyed. Even though most of the house still remains, it is uninhabitable. In short, life will continue on our planet despite depletion of its species and resources. A new wave of evolution will occur with or without human beings.