Hi, I'm Armando Rosario-Lebron, an entomologist who has spent more than a decade working across the full range of this field, from the microscope bench to national policy. My career has moved through federal agencies, a national museum, professional associations, film sets, and now a research university. The through line is simple. I want the science of invertebrates to be accurate, well kept, and genuinely open to the people who are curious about it.
For eight years I was part of the plant protection staff in Washington DC, working in the national quarantine program that protects US ports and farms from invasive pests. During that time I was also part of the staff stewarding the national insect collection at the Smithsonian, where I remain a research affiliate, helping to care for and catalogue specimens that number in the millions. As National Vice President of the National Association of Agriculture Employees, I represented and advocated for thousands of federal colleagues across the country.
Today I am a doctoral researcher in the Department of Biosciences at Swansea University, where my work spans soil invertebrate ecology and the environmental fate of veterinary medicines. I also serve as Director of Outreach at Círculo de Puerto Rico, and I founded the Ommatidium Project, a volunteer network that pairs people who have entomological questions with experts who can help, built on a plain belief that good answers should not be gated behind status.
Much of my work happens with people. I bring live insects into classrooms so schoolchildren can meet the small animals that keep our world running, I worked alongside farmers to build sustainable practices that protected both their crops and the beneficial insects those crops relied on, and I mentor students finding their way into entomology, because the field only grows when its next generation does.
Alongside the science I consult for film and television when a production wants its insects to be real, I write for general audiences, and I share natural history on Bluesky with full image descriptions. I work in English and Spanish, and I get by in French and Hindi.
When I am not in the field or at the bench you will find me building tools for research, talking with communities, and looking for new ways to make this science easier to reach.
Yours, Armando