The looming threat posed by the invasive spotted lanternfly will take center stage in the College of Agricultural Sciences Exhibits Building and Theatre during Penn State's Ag Progress Days, Aug. 14-16. Displays and presentations in the building also will highlight programs related to pond management and bait-fish production, hemp research, animal health, and agricultural policy.

Dennis Calvin, director of Penn State Extension and associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences since 2009, has assumed a new role overseeing the college's efforts to combat the invasive spotted lanternfly. His appointment, which comes with the title of associate dean and director of special programs, was effective July 1.

Grape growers, orchardists, nursery operators, homeowners and others in southeastern Pennsylvania are bracing for the spring emergence of the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect from Asia that appeared for the first time in the United States in Berks County nearly four years ago. Penn State Extension educators and College of Agricultural Sciences researchers are working with state and federal agriculture officials to stop the pest's spread.

As populations of the invasive spotted lanternfly explode — and the state-imposed quarantine area in southeastern Pennsylvania expands — researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are looking for solutions to help stop the insect's spread and save agricultural crops from serious damage.

Invasive species, such as gypsy moth and emerald ash borer, have had devastating effects on Pennsylvania's forests, and the keys to combatting these threats are active management, collaboration and research, according to U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson. Thompson made his remarks during a forum on invasive forest species that he sponsored Feb. 5 on Penn State's University Park campus.

People seeing the spotted lanternfly for the first time are struck by its sometimes-flashy appearance. But don't let its colorful, butterfly-like veneer fool you, caution entomologists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. This exotic, invasive insect poses a potential threat to several important agricultural commodities in Pennsylvania.