How to mitigate the negative karmic effect of killing I'm a graduate student studying plant-insect interactions. My research, necessary for my degree, requires me to collect (kill) a few hundred insects. Are there any suttas, or general Buddhist recommendations, for how a lay person can best approach this? Are there ways to make up for the bad karma incurred by this action?
Wanting to become a degree holder is Bhava-tanha or craving to become. That craving is causing you to break the first precept. See how dependant origination is at play here.

You can either look for insects that are already dead or tell your professor that you cannot kill as a Buddhist.