Dan Bean started his entomology career at age seven, as many kids do, by filling jars with unknown caterpillars, keeping them alive in his bedroom by feeding them the proper plant cuttings and watching moths or butterflies emerge. Just a few years later, he entered graduate school to study insect life cycles and metamorphosis. He ultimately earned a PhD in entomology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studying the physiology of a devastating crop pest, a caterpillar known as the European corn borer. Dan has been director of the Biological Pest Control Program for the Colorado Department of Agriculture since 2005, a job that includes managing the Palisade Insectary, headquarters of the Biological Pest Control program.