Prof brings passion for insects into classroom

Bedbugs crawling into recent national headline news has shocked many, but the life of the blood-sucking insects has been a passion for Robert Hancock for more than two decades.

The medical entomologist, who arrived in Denver two years ago, has found a treasure of research subjects in his new home; an August report by Terminex on cities with the largest infestations of bedbugs, based on numbers of calls for service, ranked Denver sixth in the nation.

“Everybody has had insect experience, no matter where they are. (Insects) are relevant to all of us,” says Hancock, an assistant professor of biology, who has studied, taught and filmed insects all over the world.

Hancock says his passion for all kinds of insects and their relatives has turned into an “octopus-like project with arms going out in different directions” when it comes to his students. They have presented research at regional and national conferences for the American Mosquito Control Association; controlled mosquitoes up and down the Front Range as seasonal employees of Colorado Mosquito Control, Inc. and OtterTail Environmental, Inc.; and worked and interned at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as locally-based entertainment centers, such as the Butterfly Pavilion and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Hancock’s class Entomology is offered only in the fall and is capped at 20 students. His enthusiasm for the subject clearly rubs off on his students, but he concedes, “For some, it’s the mouse-on-the-chair effect. I’ve even had students say ‘I’m not going to grab a cockroach.' ” But, he adds, they frequently come around when actually handling the insects. “Sometimes people respond with ‘Wow, this is cool.’ ”

He thinks it’s cool too, so much so that he’s even taken his passion to the big screen. His close-up film footage has been featured on network and cable television programs worldwide and his documentary series “Mosquito Man” has been recognized internationally. His film, "Bedbugs of London," in 2009 received an honorable mention for macro-cinematography at the International Wildlife Film Festival.

An authority on blood-sucking insects in particular, Hancock is the author of many scholarly articles on their behavior and physiology. Prior to coming to Metro State, he was professor of biology for 15 years at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky.

While the bedbug headlines continue to creep into the minds of the general population, it’s business as usual for Hancock, who is regularly interviewed by the news media about where bedbugs come from and what consumers can do to protect themselves. His upcoming films include "MosquitoMan: A Tale of Two Skeeters," about two infamous mosquitoes of Colorado including “the diabolical vector of West Nile virus,” and "MosquitoMan: Jewels of the Rainforest," about rare and unusual metallic-colored jungle mosquitoes from South and Central America.

"A Tale of Two Skeeters" will highlight the rough Colorado winter, during which Culex mosquitoes, known culprits for transmitting West Nile virus, survive as adults in mine shafts, sewers and other creepy caverns. Hancock will take his camera into a mineshaft in the middle of the foothills under snowpack to learn more about the insect and how it survives.

These days, you can’t go more than a couple of days without hearing about bedbugs, but Hancock says his sensational subjects have always been of interest to people, especially “that curious dinner crowd. But usually around dessert.”