Oscar Liburd is a member of the eXtension All About Blueberries Community of Practice. He is a professor and program director of the Small Fruits and Vegetable IPM Laboratory at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. His areas of expertise include management of thrips, midges, mites, whiteflies, aphids, scale insects, flea beetles, mealybugs, lepidopteran pests and fruit flies. His international research and extension activities are focused on pesticide safety, resistance management and implementation of bio-rational strategies in Africa and the Caribbean region.
Oscar has a doctoral degree in entomology from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island. He has a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in entomology from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. He has served as a professor at the University of Florida since 2001. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor and a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Entomology at the University of Michigan in East Lansing, Michigan.
Oscar has received numerous honors and awards including: Horticultural Entomologist from the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 2013, Excellence in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) from the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 2008, Entomologist of the Year at the annual meeting of the Florida Entomological Society in 2008, the Jim App Team Extension Award from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Extension Service in 2008, the Achievement Award for Research at the annual meeting of the Florida Entomological Society in 2007, and the Leadership Enhancement and Administrative Development (LEAD) from the University of Florida Insititute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Extension Service in 2006. He currently serves as associate editor of the Florida Entomologist and the International Journal of Fruit Science.
Oscar has written several chapters for books, and is an author of numerous professional refereed journal articles. In addition, he is an author of several Extension publications, as well as refereed abstracts.
Contact Information:
Webpage: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/liburd/fruitnvegipm/liburd_blurb.htm
E-mail: oeliburd@ufl.edu