Julie Twardowski, AG '98, is a bug cop. The culprit she is tracking is a one-inch-long black beetle with white spots, a wood-boring pest that munches on urban trees.

A plant protection and quarantine officer, Twardowski works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at Fort Totten in Bayside, Queens, N.Y. Her team's focus is on the Asian longhorned beetle, which has killed nearly 7,000 trees in New York City and Long Island and chewed a similar swath through Chicago neighborhoods.

"These beetles spend most of their lives eating the insides of living trees," Twardowski says, adding that they have no natural predator in this country. Researchers believe the beetle came here from Asia in wooden shipping crates.

There is no such thing as a typical day on the job for Twardowski. Sometimes, she stays in the office and does paperwork, but most days are filled working with other "bug-cops" conducting tree surveys and inspections. She also verifies infested trees, conducts quality-control checks on the work of contracted inspectors and assists with the treatment of infected trees.

The Asian longhorned beetle program consists of surveying, inspecting and treating host trees as well as removing infested ones. Hosts include maple, willow, horse chestnut, elm and birch trees, as well as some other hardwood trees. Infested trees are identified by the presence of eggs, exit holes and large piles of sawdust created by exiting adult beetles. "In addition to our on site inspections, an acoustic detection device is being tested," Twardowski says.

When an infested tree is found, it is cut down, chipped and burned in the quarantine area to prevent further spread of the beetle. The trees are removed because they will die eventually from the damage caused by the beetle.

A pesticide treatment also is being tested for uninfested host trees within one-eighth mile of the infested ones, Twardowski says. "Basically, we drill small holes near the base of the tree and put capsules containing the pesticide Imidacloprid inside. The capsules look like small pipes and the trees 'suck up' the pesticide into stems, twigs and foliage. After four hours, the capsules are removed. When the larvae emerge, they encounter the pesticide beneath the bark and die." Adult beetles feeding on small twigs also are affected, she says.

According to the USDA web site, this pesticide is used for rice, cereals, vegetable, fruit and cotton and for flea treatment of pets. The environment is minimally affected because the pesticide residues are restricted to the tree and its root area. Wildlife are not expected to be affected.

What Twardowski likes best about her job is the variability of day-to-day duties. "I also like the combination of office and fieldwork, the people I work with and wearing jeans to work," she says.

Of course, there are challenges on the job. Twardowski says she sometimes has trouble communicating with non-English speaking residents. Also, the team has to gain access to private property. And, there is the threat of poison ivy, mosquitoes bearing West Nile disease, dogs and ticks who could be host to the Lyme disease bacteria. Not to mention driving around the Big Apple itself.

Twardowski says her time at UD has proved fruitful. "My major in entomology/wildlife conservation has provided the background I needed to be successful in my career so far. The wide variety of science classes I took at UD particularly helped me get my current job, which had a long list of required credit hours.

"All my professors had some impact on me," she says, "but I guess the professor who made the biggest impression was Dr. Dewey Caron, who was my adviser for most of my college years. He was always willing to help me--whether it was arranging my schedule to graduate early or organizing my independent study."

Delaware provided the ideal collegiate environment for Twardowski because it offered so many interesting courses in her field, she says.

Twardowski graduated a semester early, hoping to get a jump-start on the job market. But, she was a waitress for six months before being hired by an agricultural unit of AstraZeneca in Wilmington, Del., as a part-time federal regulatory assistant. Her job was to assist with submissions for pesticide registrations, as well as researching references for risk assessments while maintaining computer operations for her team and other miscellaneous tasks.

When AstraZeneca's ag unit merged with Novartis to create Syngenta Crop Protection in November 2000, Twardowski relocated to Greensboro, N.C., to work on the environmental stewardship and regulatory policy team as a stewardship information coordinator. Her duties included researching environmental topics, obtaining crop information and working with product issues. She also created numerous spreadsheets, databases and team Intranet and Internet sites.

"I'm actually not much of a city person, but I wanted to try working for the U.S. government," Twardowski says. "I had applied to dozens of other federal jobs with no luck, so I was quite surprised when I got the call offering me the New York City job.

"Though I was hesitant about moving to New York, I had several reasons for coming here. First, I figured this was my chance to work for the government and see how I liked it. In addition, I was living in North Carolina and wanted to relocate closer to home (Delaware). Finally, I was working at a desk job and wanted to get outdoors more.

"People think it is funny that I had to move from North Carolina to New York City to get outdoors," she says. "As it turns out, I moved to a very residential area of Queens--one that's not too city-like."

Twardowski urges undergraduates to get as much experience as possible because it will pay off. "Also, GPA is important," she says. "Some jobs, government included, pay more if your GPA is over a 3.0."

In addition to attending a 10-week training program in Frederick, Md., to learn more about plant pests, quarantines and other important job skills, Twardowski says she also hopes to pursue a master's degree.

"I am thinking of doing something with natural resource conservation--possibly water quality and quantity," she says.

--Melissa Meisel, AS '97