Rate My Professor Charles Apperson

Charles Apperson is the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University. He earned a B.A. from Humboldt State College, an M.S. from the University of California, Riverside, and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of California, Riverside in 1974. Following his doctorate, he served as a research entomologist for the Lake County Mosquito Abatement District in Lakeport, California. In 1976, he joined the faculty at North Carolina State University as an assistant professor in Entomology, advancing to hold the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professorship awarded by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2005. His contributions to public health entomology earned him election as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 2009. Apperson's career encompasses research and extension responsibilities focused on vector biology within agricultural and veterinary science contexts.

Apperson's research specializations include vector biology, encompassing the ecology, behavior, and control of arthropods of public health importance such as mosquitoes and ticks. His work addresses the biology and ecology of container-inhabiting mosquitoes like Aedes albopictus, Aedes aegypti, and Ochlerotatus triseriatus; arthropod-host interactions including blood feeding habits and pathogen transmission; environmental and behavioral factors influencing mosquito oviposition, particularly the chemical ecology of attractants and stimulants mediated by bacterial communities in mosquito habitats; and the ecoepidemiology of mosquito- and tick-borne diseases such as La Crosse encephalitis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. He has authored over 110 refereed research publications, numerous conference proceedings, book chapters, and 50 extension publications. Notable recent works include 'Orientia, Rickettsia, and the microbiome in rodent attached chiggers in North Carolina, USA' (PLoS ONE, 2024), 'Detection of Orientia spp. Bacteria in Field-Collected Free-Living Eutrombicula Chigger Mites, United States' (Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2023), and 'Mosquito Blood Feeding Prevention Using an Extra-Low DC Voltage Charged Cloth' (Insects, 2023). Apperson has established an international reputation for advancing understanding of mosquito host-feeding habits and oviposition cues by Aedes species.