Mark Moffett

entomologyist, Smithsonian

As a Research Associate in Entomology at the Smithsonian Institution, Mark Moffett – “the Indiana Jones of entomology” – travels the world to investigate the ecology of forest canopies and the behavior of social insects, especially ants. After studying with renowned conservationist (and Boston Book Festival 2010 presenter) E. O. Wilson, Moffett served as Associate Curator of Entomology (in charge of the world's largest ant collection) and Research Associate in Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University and was also Associate of the Anthropology Department at the Peabody Museum at Harvard Today his research and National Geographic photography are interspersed with writing and public lecturing about rain forests. He has appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Colbert Report,” and NPR. His newest book, Adventures Among Ants, delivers ”a stunning mix of adventure photography and hard scientific inquiry that ranks with the best work of Jacques Cousteau” (Boston Globe). For his work, Moffett has received the 2006 Lowell Thomas Medal from the Explorers Club and was the sixth recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrew Society Distinguished Explorer Award.