I suspect that people use my expertise surreptitiously, but I try not to think about it all that much. For me, it's the excitement of finding things out that moves me. Granted, there are many things that simply don't interest me.



I don't mind people using my expertise if they have a reasonable question.  I do object to students who try to scam the educational system.


Some examples - I have a Ph.D. in entomology but I don't teach any entomology courses per se.  Every spring, I get students in who suddenly have developed a passion for insects and insect systematics.  What's this 'bug'?, Can I borrow a sweep net, etc. 


I've learned to check the academic calendar - it's almost always the week when weather breaks, and one of my colleagues has assigned a class the project of collecting and identifying insects.  There are always a few who think I'm going to provide them with free equipment (which never gets returned) and free ID service.


Similarly, my major advisor always debated the value of having students collect their own insects.  In theory, it's so they learn something about the ecology of different orders, families, species.  In practice, there's always the group that loads up in a car (often with lots of beer) and race down roads with sweep nets hanging out of the windows 'catching' their specimens.  Both dangerous (DUI's) and useless in terms of teaching them anything.


And finally, there are the students who need help because they got behind due to 'grandma's death'.  Losing a loved one is certainly traumatic, and we make allowances.  But for some students, grammy must resurrect, because she dies multiple times over their college career.




Although not about insects, in our Biology department, all of the faculty remember when a small mammal specialist assigned his class a capture, mark, observe project.  He got the bright idea that the campus squirrels would be a good example - mark individual squirrels, then observe where they were seen, on or off campus, over several weeks.  The students decided spray paint from rattle cans was just the thing for easy marking.


But squirrels are dodgy, so several things happened.  first, the students seldom caught any squirrel.  So, they decided to try the sneak and spray approach.  That resulted in a few weirdly painted squirrels (using a splash of paint on a tail),  and lots of paint on trees, sign-posts, etc.  The paint immediately drew the attention of the campus community and lots of complaints about vandalism.  


Then, people started showing up at animal refuges, or walking into the department office, with a sick or dead - painted squirrel.  Who's killing these marked squirrels!! and why!!    They wanted to know.


It usually took a few moments to realize - the healthy squirrels avoided the traps and they were QUICK!   The best were never marked.  


Thus, the only squirrels that were trapped or slow enough to be given a good, easy to see, spray paint mark, were sick and dying ones.  Of course, they soon perished from whatever was ailing them before they were marked.  But people assigned cause and effect - paint kills squirrels!

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