Margaret S. Collins

Margaret James Strickland Collins (September 4, 1922 – April 27, 1996) was an African-American child prodigy, entomologist (zoologist) specializing in the study of termites, and passionate civil rights advocate. Collins was nicknamed the "Termite Lady" because of her extensive research on termites.

Life summary Margaret S. Collins was born in 1922 in Institute, West Virginia. She started college at the age of 14 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from West Virginia State University in 1943. Her Doctor of Philosophy degree was awarded by the University of Chicago in 1950, becoming only the third Black woman zoologist in the country. Her mentor was Alfred E. Emerson. with an article based on this work in Ecology, the journal of the Ecological Society of America.

Collins taught at Florida A&M University, Howard University, and the University of the District of Columbia. She saw herself primarily as a field scientist, Her main area of study was termites of the Caribbean. Her life's research regarding termites included: the evolution of desiccation resistance in termites; various termite species' tolerance of high temperatures; defensive behavior in South American termites, including chemical defenses; termite ecology; species abundance in virgin and disturbed tropical rain forests; and behavioral ecology, taxonomy, and entomology. She died of heart failure, and, as she had hoped to, while on a field trip. Alfred E. Emerson, a termite expert, mentored Collins at the University of Chicago. In Florida these termites are primarily distributed from eastern Broward County to Key Largo. Water relations in termites. Chapter in Krishna K, Weesner F (ed). Biology of Termites (1969). Collins, M. S. "Jensen's AAAS Fellowship." Science, vol. 196, no. 4292, 1977, pp. 832–832.