2024 Super Social Media Award: Dr. Ben McGraw

Dr. Ben McGraw doesn’t formally study insects invading homes or businesses. That doesn’t stop followers from sending him pictures of structural pests to his popular @TurfEnto X account.

“Probably the oddest stuff is the stuff they find in a house,” McGraw says. “It’s not my realm, but I’ll be able to cue in on it because of my training.”

By training, McGraw is a turfgrass entomologist. Helping others identify and solve pest-related challenges represents a major part of the job.

McGraw has been employed by Penn State since 2014. In addition to his duties as an associate professor, which includes a mix of teaching, research and extension work, he recently became the coordinator of Penn State’s highly regarded four-year and World Campus turfgrass science programs following Andy McNitt’s retirement.

“It’s kind of like if the superintendent also became the GM,” McGraw says. “There are added responsibilities, but the mission is still the same. You have to continue to cover your bases and protect the asset.”

Part of protecting the asset means promoting the research and teaching at Penn State. McGraw has found X to be an effective platform to communicate his job’s mission to a global audience of nearly 7,800 turf managers and researchers. His ability to use social media to bring awareness to turfgrass pest issues and showcase the work of students — while having some fun along the way — landed him a 2024 Super Social Media Award.

McGraw and other award winners will be honored Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Social Media Celebration at Aquatrols booth #2747 during the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Phoenix. The event begins at 2:30 p.m., with winners being honored around 3 p.m. The event is open to all and free drinks will be served.

What type of platform is social media for disseminating your research and other work?

People always ask me if I get annoyed by this, but I always like it when turfgrass managers find something on their golf courses or their athletic fields, and they say, ‘What is this? Can you identify it?’ It’s funny getting this award, because I have tapered off my social media use. The platform has changed, but I hope that part doesn’t go away. It’s really fun and it keeps those muscles in shape, your identification skills. I definitely use it to push out what we’re seeing with my research. Happy Valley is probably one of the easiest places to grow grass and the pest pressures aren’t that great, so we travel a great deal across Pennsylvania, which is a massive state. It’s not California- or Texas-size, but it’s still a pretty big state with a lot of different climates. I use social media to push out what we’re seeing, and what superintendents and athletic field managers need to get ready for. We might alert people to new pests in the area or something they might overlook. It’s kind of like an alert system. You have the ID aspect and you have the alert aspect. The other way I use it is to promote our students, both undergraduate and graduate, whether that’s their research or doing Turf Bowl stuff.

How do your students feel about using social media for work?

The students I have in college were born in the early 2000s — with the exception of a few non-traditional students — and they have grown up with this. I think they have probably learned from the students who came before them about being cautious about what you post. They are out there absorbing the information more than posting it. With my generation, social media was this new way of connecting with people. With the younger generation, they are learning so much on social media. They might be turned off a little bit by some of the platforms that we use like Twitter and X. TikTok and Instagram is where they go. It’s a one-way absorption of material instead of posting it, but they are definitely out there watching, which is always a good reminder for anybody posting.

What type of opportunities has your social media usage created for you and the Penn State program?

It’s been vast. Awareness of what you’re doing and dissemination of your research is huge. It’s led to incredible opportunities for me to give talks around the globe. I think a little self-promotion is a good thing. Social media is a good way to get your information out. Otherwise, a lot of the stuff that we do is with the intent that we’re state employees and we’re here for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to get that information out. I see it as a necessary component of my job. It’s been more beneficial than harmful. Nobody is going to just come and look for your research. Part of it is up to you to spread the word. It has benefited my family and me greatly for the opportunities that we’ve received in and around the world of turf.

Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry’s editor-in-chief.