Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | spring 2006
Nathan Brockman

 


SPRING 2006
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Bug Brockman, boy entomologist

Nathan Brockman doesn’t understand why people are so afraid of spiders and insects and other creepy-crawlies. Heck, he collects them, keeps them as pets, works with them every day, and even, on occasion, eats them.

But he has a theory.

“There is misunderstanding and fear of the unknown. People are taught to be afraid,” he says. “Kids learn to be scared from their parents. There are myths about insects that aren’t true. And the media doesn’t help much, with movies, stories, even nursery rhymes.”

Brockman never bought into all that. As a kid growing up on the outskirts of Fort Madison, Iowa, he spent hours in the woods, collecting as many insects as he could find. He created elaborate houses for them. He had a massive ant colony made out of sand, surgical tubing, and milk jugs.

So it’s no surprise that Brockman has made a career out of working with bugs. “One day when I was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework, my mom laidthe encyclopedia in front of me, turned to the entomology page and said, ‘Look, you can go to school and play with insects all day!’ And from then on, that’s what I knew I wanted to do.”

As a student, Brockman worked in Iowa State’s Insect Zoo, was involved in the Entomology Club, and was featured on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” snacking on live grubs and meal-worm caramel apples . When he graduated in 2000, the Entomology Department created a position for him at the zoo. Then Reiman Gardens added its butterfly wing, and Brockman was hired as its butterfly curator.

“It’s a dream job,” says Brockman. “I tell people I play with butterflies for a living.”

-- C. Gieseke

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