Loyola University Maryland

Department of Biology

Cockroach Racing

Cockroach Races

For several of our students, perhaps the ultimate experience from their four years at Loyola is "Madagascar Madness: The Running of the Roaches."

That’s right, cockroach racing!!

For over ten years, students enrolled in General Entomology each fall term take on the challenge of raising large Madagascar cockroaches and training them for short-track racing and the ‘marathon.’ We like to think of the event as a thinking man’s NASCAR.

No matter how much the students try not to get enthused by the concept of cockroach racing, come race day, excitement is in the air, the crowds have gathered, and the students are screaming their lungs out for Chompy, Bradley or Jose, to name a few, “to get off their sternum,” “ram the nymph in front into the wall,” and to cross that finish line first. 

Derek Kendig
Faculty

Derek Kendig, Ph.D.

This biology professor appreciates that science students at Loyola receive a full liberal arts education

Biology
Students measure drops of blood for a lab assignment.
Course Snapshot

Exploring Biology 101: Introduction to Forensic Science

Learn about the field of forensics and acquire the lab techniques needed to conduct crime scene investigations.