During my Ph.D. program in Entomology at the University of Florida (1989), I studied the impact of nutrition and allelochemicals on the growth, development and nutritional physiology of several noctuid herbivore species. As a post-doc, I studied the compensatory and toxicological abilities of noctuid species when challenged by allelochemicals and diluted diets. Later, I studied the respiration of numerous termite species in altered atmospheres similar to their closed gallery systems.