When she was a child, Edith Patch won a contest for an essay on monarch butterflies. Passionate about bugs and ecology, Patch tried to get a job in entomology, but was repeatedly rejected because she was a woman. Through persistence and dedication, she was later hired by Charles Woods of the University of Maine, where she earned her master's degree, later completing her Ph.D. at Cornell University. In 1930, Patch was elected the first woman president of the Entomological Society of America, a time when few women were in the field. Throughout her long, devoted career, she never lost focus of her love for science and the natural world, which now lands her a spot in our Hall of Genius.