Rate My Professor William Snyder

William Snyder is a professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, contributing to Agricultural and Veterinary Science through his expertise in community ecology and agroecology. He earned his Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Kentucky in 1999, M.S. in Zoology with a focus on Ecology from Clemson University in 1995, and B.A. in Biology from the University of Delaware in 1992. Snyder's career includes a USDA postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1999 to 2000. He joined Washington State University Department of Entomology as an assistant professor in 2000, advancing to associate professor in 2005 and full professor in 2010, before moving to his current full professor position at the University of Georgia in 2019.

The Snyder Lab investigates natural solutions to challenges in species conservation, sustainable agriculture, and human health, emphasizing how biodiversity restoration manages pests and supports ecosystem function. Research spans wild birds, predatory insects, insect-killing pathogens, mosquitoes, and insect-transmitted pathogens affecting humans, animals, and plants, incorporating field studies, eco-genomics, statistical modeling, and GIS. Snyder's highly cited publications include 'Organic agriculture promotes evenness and natural pest control' in Nature (2010), 'Niche partitioning increases resource exploitation by diverse communities' in Science (2008), 'Interactions between specialist and generalist natural enemies: parasitoids, predators, and pea aphid biocontrol' in Ecology (2003), and 'A synthesis of subdisciplines: predator-prey interactions, and biodiversity and ecosystem functioning' in Ecology Letters (2005). He co-authored the 2024 Science paper on agricultural diversification's social and environmental benefits, which contributed to the 2025 Frontiers Planet Prize, a $1 million global award. Earlier honors include an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (1997-1999) and USDA-NRI Entomology & Nematology postdoctoral award (2000-2003). His work influences sustainable farming practices worldwide by demonstrating biodiversity's role in biocontrol and food safety.