Goggy Davidowitz

Goggy Davidowitz is a Professor and University Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Entomology with a joint appointment in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He has two main research projects. The first focuses on how insects adjust their growth and development to environmental change. More specifically, his lab studies how insects allocate the resources they acquire and how the allocation of nutrients among different traits affects their reproductive output. His research studies insects in both the field and laboratory. They are able to label specific nutrients such as carbohydrates, amino acids or fatty acids, with stable carbon isotopes to track how the insects use nutrients, second by second. A second line of research is developing insects as a source of protein for food and feed. Insects are more nutritious and more environmentally sustainable than vertebrate livestock. He has developed new technologies, and applied for patents, on how to use food and agricultural waste to feed insects to produce protein. His group is developing processes for insect farming so that farmers or entrepreneurs worldwide can develop their own insect farms to feed their local communities. Dr. Davidowitz founded a startup company, HexaFeast, to commercialize these processes and technologies.