Some of our newsmakers...

Alex Nguyen on KQED 
UC Davis entomology student
May 31, 2015
Alex Nguyen is quoted by in a KQED science piece on "California Millipede Has Brilliant Adaptation to Heat."

Amina Harris in Civil Eats
Director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center
June 17, 2015
Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, is featured in an article in Civil Eats.

Eric Mussen on KQED
Extension apiculturst emeritus, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
June 2, 2015
Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen appeared on KQED Forum, "Obama Dedicates Land, Money to Honey Bee Restoration," on June 2, 2015. An audio archive is now posted online at http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201506020900.

Christine Casey on Capital Public Radio
June 11, 2015
Staff director of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
Christine Casey, staff director of our bee garden, was featured in a piece on bees on the Capital Public Radio program, "‘Insight with Beth Ruyak," on June 11. The program is archived here. 

Stephen Buchmann on National Public Radio
July 18, 2015
Alumnus, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Stephen Buchmann, who received his doctorate degree  in entomology at UC Davis (Robbin Thorp, major professor) was interviewed on NPR on July 18 about his new book. http://www.npr.org/2015/07/18/423478625/birds-bees-and-the-power-of-sex-appeal-the-ribald-lives-of-flowers

Neal Williams on Jefferson Public Radio
July 21, 2015
Associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Neal Williams is quoted in a piece on "California Group Works to Boost Bee Habitat."

DAVIS--Graduate students Ralph Washington Jr. and Christopher Pagan, both of the Steve Nadler lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, are among the recipients of the prestigious National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Program (NSF GRFP) Fellowship Awards. They were among 2,050 recipients selected from a national pool of 16,500 applications. 

The awards are designed to “ensure the nation's leadership in advancing science and engineering research and innovation,” according to Maria Zacharias of NSF. Since 1952, NSF has provided fellowships to individuals based on their demonstrated potential for significant achievements in science and engineering. (See list of 2015 recipients)

Washington and Pagan are both first-year graduate students seeking their doctoral degrees. The GRFP provides three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period ($34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution) for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in science or engineering.

Washington, who studies mosquitoes, and Pagan, who studies nematodes, won in the same GRFP category and subcategory, Life Sciences, Systematics and Biodiversity.

They credit Professor Nadler with encouraging them to apply for fellowship awards, “coaxing us to tell the story we wanted to communicate and then reviewing our proposals.” Through Nadler's encouragement leadership, they were accepted for enrollment in a six-week UC Davis ecology seminar last year. In a rarity, 11 of the 36 students in the UC Davis seminar received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Awards. It is even rarer for two graduate students in the same lab to receive the honor.

Washington, the newly elected president of the UC Davis Graduate Student Association and a recent recipient of the McNair Graduate Fellowship Award, studies mosquito evolution and ecology, focusing on “how mosquitoes choose to lay their eggs, and how those choices affect their evolution.” He received his bachelor of science degree in entomology from UC Davis in 2010.

Active in the Entomological Society of America (ESA), Washington captains the UC Davis Linnaean Team that recently won the Pacific Branch of ESA championship. The three-member team, also including Jéssica Gillung, and Brendon Boudinot, will now compete at the nationals in Minnesota in November. The Linnaean Games are college-bowl like games centering on entomological facts, trivia and entomologists. Washington served as a member of the UC Davis Linnaean Team that competed in the ESA nationals in 2010. He was also a member of the UC Davis Debate Team that won the ESA national championship in 2014. In addition to his studies and leadership activities, he serves as a volunteer at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

Pagan received his bachelor's degree in 2003 in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Davis. “I study nematodes, the most common creature that most people know virtually nothing about,” said Pagan, who plans a career in agricultural nematology. “It is the most abundant multicellular animal on the planet. Some 26,000 nematodes have been described. In comparison, there are 35,000 species of fish.”

Pagan's research involves the molecular systematics and biodiversity of nematodes, specifically, ecology of soil nematodes. Pagan worked as a lab technician in the Nadler lab for eight years, and also worked with nematologist Valerie Williamson for two years in the Department of Plant Pathology.

Pagan enjoys teaching youngsters in the education outreach program, Kids Into Discovering Science (KIDS) . He recently taught three fifth-grade classes at the KIDS program in Lower Lake, Calif.

Among the 2,000 GRFP awardees, 1,053 are women, 494 are from underrepresented minority groups, 43 are persons with disabilities, and 31 are veterans. Nearly 500 institutions are represented.

A high priority for NSF and GRFP is increasing the diversity of the science and engineering workforce, including geographic distribution and the participation of women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. With its emphasis on support of individuals, GRFP offers fellowship awards directly to graduate students selected through a national competition.

NSF is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is to “help ensure the vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States,” according to its website. “The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science and engineering.  The GRFP provides three years of support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering.”

Four UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology graduate students received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships in 2011:

• Matan Shelomi, who studied with major professor, Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology. Shelomi is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany.
• Kelly Hamby of the Frank Zalom lab, who is now an assistant professor of sustainable agroecosystems and an Extension specialist in the Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park
• Irina Shapiro of the Ed Lewis lab, who is now a research and development specialist at the Bayer CropScience Biologics, Sacramento.
• Katharina Ullmann of the Neal Williams lab, who is now a pollination ecologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

 Related Links: 
2011 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships (UC Davis)
2015 Graduate Research Fellowships, All
General Information about the Awards

 

Danielle Tullman-Ercek

DAVIS--Four speakers who fuse art with science--two scientists from the University of California and two artists from the Bay Area--will discuss their work at the UC Davis Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) event, set for Thursday, June 4 from  6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 242 of Asmundson Hall.

The site is a change from the usual meeting place. (See Asmundson Hall on campus map)

The event, free and open to the public, will begin with socializing and networking from 6:30 to 7.

The lineup of speakers:

7 to 7:25: John Albeck, UC Davis assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology, will speak on "The Deep Thoughts and Inner Lives of Cells." He will discuss living cell cinemotography.

7:25 to 8:10: Elia Vargas, an Oakland-based artist, will cover "Signal Flow: Bodies, Boundaries and the Phenomenology  of Information." Vargas investigates new technologies of human identity, and is interested in culture, code, cities and cells as new landscapes and new organisms--or the narrative byproduct.

8:10 to 8:35: Danielle Tullman-Ercek, UC Berkeley professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering will discuss "Synthetic Biology: The Challenge and Potential of Engineering Living Systems."

8:35 to 9 p.m.: Rhonda Holberton, Oakland-based artist, will cover "From the Other Side of the Screen." She will discuss the complex relationships that arise when technologies developed for combat are integrated into civilian applications.

Rhonda Holberton

Anna Davidson, who directs the UC Davis LASER programs, is the moderator and organizer. She is currently a master of fine arts student in Art Studio at UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, studying plant ecophysiology. Davidson studies the biological world using both artistic and scientific approaches. 

The LASERS are an international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience.

The UC Davis LASER is affiliated with the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program, which was co-founded and co-directed by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick. Ullman is a professor of entomology with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Mosaic-ceramic artist Billick of Davis, a self-described "rock artist," holds a master's degree in genetics from UC Davis. 

For more information: 

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/450142691817307/

Leonardo:
http://www.leonardo.info/isast/laser.html
http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/

 

DAVIS--Honey bee scientist and noted author Mark Winston will speak on “Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive” at a special seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on Friday, June 5 at 10 a.m. in 122 Briggs.

The title is also the title of his newest book, published by Harvard University Press.

“There are powerful lessons to be learned from bees about how we humans can better understand our place in nature, engage the people and events surrounding us with greater focus and clarity, interact more effectively in our relationships and communities, and open ourselves to a deeper understanding of who we are as individuals, communities and a species,” Winston said. “I'll talk about my experiences over 30 years of walking into apiaries, and the lessons learned from a life spent among the bees.”

Winston is a professor and senior fellow, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre, Vancouver, Canada, and is also a professor in the university's Department of Biological Sciences. 

Winston has written a total of six books, including “The Biology of the Honey Bee,” which can be found on the bookshelves of almost every honey bee researcher and beekeeper, said Extension apiculturist Elina Niño, who will introduce him.

 Winston is described as that rare individual, a scientist, who can speak eloquently to the public.  "Recognized as one of the world's leading expert on bees and pollination, Mark has had an illustrious career researching, teaching, writing and commenting on bees and agriculture, environmental issues and science policy," his website says. 

Winston received a bachelor of science degree in biology from Boston University in 1971 and his master's degree at Boston University in marine biology in 1975. He earned his doctorate in entomology from the University of Kansas in 1978.

His awards include:

Fulbright Award, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars 1986-1987
Gold Medal in the Natural Sciences, Science Council of B.C. 1992
Hambleton Award for Outstanding Research, Eastern Apicultural Society 1992
Manning Award for Innovation, Manning Foundation (Alberta, Canada) 1997
Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Controversy, SFU 1998
Killam Research Fellowship, Canada Council, 2000-2002
Academic of the Year, Confederation of University Faculty Associations (B.C.) 2001
Environment Award for Communication, City of Burnaby, B.C. 2001
Eve Savory Award for Science Communication, Science Council of B.C. 2001
Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (elected 2003)
Fred Rathje Memorial Award, Canadian Honey Council 2004
Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion, NSERC 2004
Outstanding Service Award, Canadian Association Professional Apiculturists 2006
President's 40th Anniversary Award, Simon Fraser University 2006
Honorable Mention, MacJannet Prize, SFU Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue, 2012
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, for excellence in higher education, 2012
Champion for a Healthy Community Award, Simon Fraser University 2013

For more information, see his website.