Few additional thoughts (all of Jason's are good ones...):
I have a book that I can't find online (most USFS stuff is out there) called "Oak Pests: A Guide to Major Insects, Diseases, Air Pollution and Chemical Injury". It is General Report SA-GR11 from March of 1980 (guess that explains why it is not online!). I'm guessing I picked it up at the Forest Service document library in Delaware, OH (a good trip if you ever have opportunity). I would suspect it is in a forestry library of some sort at Clemson. It is available on
Amazon. In searching for that, I found a document (actually presentation)
from the University of Tennessee on insects and mites of oaks.
Second thought...Oak decline. You'll learn a lot (and maybe impress your professor asking you to cover a single pest). This is what we call a disease complex. There are
predisposing factors (an oak tree planted off-site, for example, leading to the chlorosis Jason mentioned),
inciting factors (perhaps a drought), and
contributing factors (two-lined chestnut borer and armillaria move in). Alone, none of those would kill the tree...but combined and the tree enters a decline spiral that can be difficult or impossible to pull it out of. More commonly discussed in traditional forestry than arboriculture or the landscape setting.
Here is a good USFS primer on oak decline.
Good luck!