Buying a Microscope Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Money)

Shopping for a microscope online can feel overwhelming: endless specs, questionable brands, and prices that range from “impulse buy” to “second mortgage.” This low-key, tech-forward webinar will walk through the basics of microscope types and components, what actually matters for hobby and entomology use, and common pitfalls (no pun intended) when buying online. We’ll focus on practical considerations rather than brand hype, with plenty of time at the end for open discussion, opinions, and shared experiences from the group.

Hillary Peterson

is a Brunswick, Maine native who earned her B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Ecology from the University of Maine in 2015, and her Ph.D. in Entomology in 2020 from Penn State University. Hillary currently serves as the President of the Maine Entomological Society and works as the IPM Specialist at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. While a student at UMaine, she had the opportunity to work in two entomology labs and worked with honey bee biology, and with invasive insects in both blueberries (spotted winged drosophila) and in Maine forests (winter moth). She is very passionate about insect biodiversity, and had the opportunity before starting graduate school to intern with Robert Kula at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. (after meeting Dr. Kula at the M.E.S. BioBlitz in 2015), where she learned how to properly classify a new species of wasp (Ormocerus dirigoius). She was able to combine her interests of working in fruit and in forests with invasive species and biodiversity during her Ph.D., where she studied egg parasitoids and predators of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug in tree fruit.