Soft-spoken entomologist Martha Mueni Sila has a clear career goal—“to be a force to be reckoned with in terms of bio-pest control”—and she is well on her way. “I want to put my efforts into environmentally friendly pest control in order to protect the health of our families,” she says. Sila has travelled broadly in pursuit of that goal. The first time she ever boarded a plane, she was heading to Guangzhou, China for three years on a PhD scholarship from China Scholarship Council at South China Agricultural University. Her studies focused on the Asian corn borer (Ostrinia furnacalis), a polyphagous insect pest found on more than 70 plant species, which affects crops and vegetables especially in Asia. “My work looked at the role of chemical cues that affect its oviposition selection behavior, especially olfactory and contact response to corn leaves and the influence of extracts of some non-host plants.”