Currently, Dr. Whitfield teaches 2 regular courses:  IB 468 – Classification and Evolutionary History of Insects (Fall of odd years), and IB 467 – Principles of Systematics  (Fall of even years, co-taught with Dr. Milton Tan of the Illinois Natural History Survey).  The first course covers the orders and common families of insects, and involves field collecting and preparation of a synoptic collection. The second course consists of lectures about the basics of biological systematics, combined with a lab and project using current phylogenetics and phylogenomics software. Some semesters, he is also in charge of IB 496 – Advanced Systematics, or IB 526 – Current Topics in Systematics.  For details on these courses, please consult the Integrative Biology course pages.