- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Don't miss the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Insects and Forensics," featuring UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert “Bob” Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The open house, free and family friendly, is set for 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 3 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. “He will give a brief introduction to the field at the start of the event in the wildlife classroom (next door) and then we will move into our regular one-on-one, question-and-answer format,” announced Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
Kimsey, who received his bachelor's degree and doctorate from UC Davis, focuses his research on public health entomology, arthropods of medical importance, and zoonotic disease, as well as the biology and ecology of tick-borne pathogens, and tick feeding behavior and biochemistry.
Kimsey staffs the annual “Dr. Death” booth at Briggs Hall during the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day. He pin-mounts and identifies flies from various cases and research efforts, and displays studies on the sequence of development of individual maggots, calling attention to the development and sequence of communities of insect maggots. "By these means, approximations about how long a person has been dead can be made," he told the crowd. He also discussed recently adjudicated cases.
Kimsey wears a number of hats. He's the master advisor of the Animal Biology major; an assistant adjunct professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; and the faculty chair of the department's Picnic Day. He's also the advisor to the UC Davis Entomology Club and that includes guiding students to such venues as Alcatraz Island to see the flies and other insects. He's also known as "The Fly Man of Alcatraz" for his fly research.
Known as an outstanding teacher, advisor and mentor, Kimsey won the 2020 top faculty academic advising award from the international NACADA, the “global community for academic advising.”
Kimsey is also a 2019 winner of a faculty advising award from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Eleanor and Harry Walker Advising Awards. He previously won the UC Davis Outstanding Faculty Advising Award, and the Distinction in Student Mentoring Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America.
The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey (wife of Bob Kimsey), is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo" (including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, posters, books, pens and collecting equipment.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Dr. Death" brought life to the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day.
Crowds thronged the "Dr. Death" booth of forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, as he discussed his work and fielded questions.
It all happened from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 15 in Room 122 of Briggs Hall, where scores of other entomological activities took place.
Kimsey pin-mounted and identified flies from various cases and research efforts, and displayed studies on the sequence of development of individual maggots, calling attention to the development and sequence of communities of insect maggots. "By these means, approximations about how long a person has been dead can be made," he told them. He also discussed recently adjudicated cases.
Kimsey, an associate adjunct professor and lecturer since 1990, has served as the master advisor for the animal biology (ABI) major since 2010 and an ABI lecturer since 2001. He also serves as the UC Davis Entomology Club advisor. He annually co-chairs the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's Picnic Day activities with a member of the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA). This year he co-chaired the event with doctoral student Grace Horne of the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke.
Highly honored for his teaching and advising, Kimsey received the 2020 Distinction in Student Mentoring Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), which encompasses 11 Western states, plus Canada, Mexico and U.S. territories. He also won the 2019 UC Davis Outstanding Faculty Advising Award; the 2019 Eleanor and Harry Walker Faculty Advising Award from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES); and co-shared the 2020 Outstanding Faculty Academic Advisor Award from NACADA, the Global Community for Academic Advising, with a Missouri State University faculty member.
Kimsey, fondly known as "Dr. Bob," knows UC Davis and forensic entomology well. He's an alumnus: bachelor of science degree (1977) and a doctorate (1984), both in entomology.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Kimsey will be honored at the UC Davis Fall Welcome, set for 9:30 to 11 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 17 in the Student Community Center multipurpose room. The annual campuswide awards program, launched in 2015, honors the outstanding faculty advisor, staff advisor, advising administrator, new advisor, peer advisor, campus collaborator and the advising equity champion.
Kimsey, known as "Dr. Bob," earlier received the 2019 Eleanor and Harry Walker Faculty Advising Award from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).
Kimsey, master advisor for the animal biology (ABI) major since 2010 and an ABI lecturer since 2001, “excels at teaching, advising and mentoring,” wrote nominator Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “He sincerely cares about each student, and incredibly, remembers their conversations and their interests.”
Kimsey is known for expertly guiding students toward career paths, helping them meet challenges and overcome obstacles.
Advising is “about being a good listener, being a source of diverse perspectives to tackle potential problems, being able to put oneself in the other person's place, being broadly experienced and caring about and enjoying other people,” said Kimsey, who also advises the UC Davis Entomology Club.
Kimsey holds two entomology degrees from UC Davis: a bachelor of science degree (1977) and a doctorate (1984). He has served in his current position as an associate adjunct professor and lecturer since 1990.
“I view Dr. Kimsey as the epitome of what a university professor and student advisor should be,” wrote doctoral student Alex Dedmon, who has worked with him for 10 years, first as an undergraduate student in 2009 and now as a doctoral candidate. “Over that time, he has filled many roles in my life and career--a mentor, teacher, advisor, major professor, and friend.”
UC Davis biology lab manager Ivana Li, who holds a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis (2012), wrote: “For myself, and likely for others, Bob has served as a wonderful mentor. He saw things in me that I didn't see in myself. He gave me the confidence to be a leader and I still carry those lessons with me as a lab manager.”
Kimsey continues to draw “best of the best” accolades from students on the Rate My Professors website:
- “Dr. Kimsey is by far one of the best professors at UC Davis. His class never fails to entertain! You do need to put in the work to do well but it is very worth it! Dr. Kimsey truly cares about his students and wants to see them succeed and find a path that best suits them. Strongly recommend!”
- "This was the best class I've taken at UC Davis. You can tell that Dr. Kimsey really cares, and puts a lot of effort into his class.”
Dedmon recalled that in his third year, he enrolled in Kimsey's forensic entomology course. “This turned out to be arguably the most pivotal point in my academic career. Dr. Kimsey is an excellent teacher, and aside from being thoroughly enjoyable, the content of the course itself was comprehensive and enlightening. Dr. Kimsey's instruction was unparalleled, both in the classroom as well as the field part of the course. In the end, I was so enamored with forensic entomology and its presentation, that I decided to make it the focus of my degree.”
“Over this time, I have seen countless undergraduates from his courses come to him for advice, help, or even just someone to talk to. While it is common for advisors to have to listen to the woes of students, it is much rarer to find ones that genuinely care. The proof of his character is in their success – I know many of his former students who have gone on to graduate, veterinary, or medical school. I still find it amazing how these young men and women have gone from scared, tearful students in office hours to successful vets and doctors. After being his student for so long, though, I can easily see why.”
Dedmon praised Kimsey not only his major professor, but as a friend. “When I was diagnosed with cancer, there were countless times he called or visited me at the hospital – this was not just to touch bases about academics, but because he genuinely cared and wanted to help as much as he could. In my most trying times, gestures such as these were absolutely invaluable to me. Even in good times, he is someone I know I can always turn to for advice, a straight answer, or just a good laugh.”
Li wrote that “his dedication to inspiring students for careers in the science, far surpasses the scope of his obligations as an advisor to the Entomology Club or as a faculty member of the department.”
She first met him as an undergraduate student in 2009. “It became apparent that he truly possessed a deep caring for each student that he met. Everyone who knows him affectionately calls him Bob, and I think it is a testament to his determination to tear down the alienating hierarchy of academia and fully integrate students into the UC Davis community.”
“Over the years, I worked with Bob as a member of the Entomology Club,” Li related. “When I became president of the club, I planned many of the club activities with him. He connected us with the National Park Service which helped the club take some truly unique trips. Of these, the one that stands out to me was when we took an overnight trip to Alcatraz. While surveying for rats, we found evidence of beetle damage to the buildings. This led to subsequent trips that involved documenting the full scale of the damage done by beetles, including in many areas normally off-limits to tourists.”
“The hard work he puts into making events happen is infectious,” Li said. “Bob is really the hidden hero of Picnic Day for the Entomology Department. Year after year, he never fails to lug several truckloads of equipment and décor out of storage. Without him, the entomology exhibits at Picnic Day wouldn't be possible. He truly loves educating the public and having students teach people what they have learned. It's a very direct feedback experience that helps students gain confidence that they understand the organisms and scientific processes that they have been learning.”
“In addition to promoting on campus networking, Bob connects students with his many contacts in forensics labs, the National Park Service, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and other organizations,” Li pointed out. “This has led to internships and even full-time employment for some many students over the years.”
UC Davis alumnus Danielle Wishon, who holds a bachelor's degree in entomology (2013), said that Kimsey “continues to be one of my most valuable connections from my time there. I am proud that, even years after my graduation, I can call him a friend.”
Kimsey “introduced us to as many personal and professional contacts as possible,” Wishon said. “This networking has proven invaluable to my and others post-graduate success. I participated in a number of skill-based volunteer work that contributed to my CV and qualified me for a number of job opportunities that I would have otherwise been unqualified for. Working on Alcatraz Island was one of those opportunities."
Wishon recalled “conducting official pest surveys of a number of rodent and arthropod pests, as well as evaluating and documenting pest-related structural damage. We were able to work alongside and learn from a National Park Service professional in charge of the Island. Dr. Kimsey understands the value in developing the practical side of student education and works tirelessly to help us develop that skill set.”
“Another invaluable opportunity for me was interning in his laboratory," Wishon added. "After showing a particular interest in Forensic Entomology, he welcomed me into his lab as a student intern. In this position, I learned colony development and various laboratory skills; I assisted and observed curriculum design and student teaching; and I assisted him in the field on casework. I was able to network with many professionals in my field of interest and was able to get a job soon out of college directly based on the experience I obtained through this internship.”
“Dr. Kimsey has always had an open-door policy with his students,” Wishon said. “Students come to UC Davis from all over the world, with all different backgrounds and upbringings, and come together in a setting that is often stressful and vulnerable. He helps us personally when he can, and knows when and how to get other forms of help to students when needed. In addition to my own experiences seeking his counsel and help through difficult times in my life, both personal and with learning disability struggles, I have personally witnessed Dr. Kimsey aide a number of other students through turbulent times in their lives. academic stress to more serious.”
Graduate student Mark James McLellan of the UC Davis Forensic Science Masters' Program lauded Kimsey for offering him first-hand experience in forensic science. “In addition, he has been instrumental in my research, I had little experience and he has pushed me towards developing a thesis for the program. I am not the only one, there are boatloads of students he has helped and continues to do so! He is a guide and mentor, not only academically but professionally.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
She's one of the 10 fly researchers who will greet the public and answer questions about insects in the Diptera order and talk about their research and career possibilities. The event, free and open to the public and family friendly, will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
The theme is "Time's Fun When You're Studying Flies." That's a take-off of "Time flies when you're having fun."
Wishon, who holds a bachelor of science degree in entomology from UC Davis, worked at the California Department of Food and Agriculture from 2012 and 2016, and as a forensic investigator with the Sacramento Police Department from 2016 to 2017. She has also worked at the Bohart Museum and in the Phil Ward ant lab in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
She is now seeking her master's degree.
"I am in the process of applying to Dr. Trevor Stamper's laboratory in the Entomology Department at Purdue University," she related. "Dr. Stamper is the Forensics Science Program director and works, primarily, on the identification and biology of forensically significant dipteran. Currently, his lab is focused on testing the idea that potential evaporation, and the environmental parameter it comprises, regulate vertebrate decomposition rates across broad geographical space. If accepted, I will be studying humidity as a variable for oviposition behavior in the decomposition process. Additionally, I will use SEM (scanning electronic microscope) and molecular data to support insect identification and develop a practical pictorial key for forensically significant Diptera egg identification."
At her booth, "I will speak to this research as well as general forensic entomology and other research I have participated in, including Dr. Robert Kimsey's fire-death related entomology evidence for determining minimum PMI (post-mortem interval)." She also will display equipment.
Danielle is a past president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, and the recipient of the Department's 2011 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. At the plaque ceremony, Kimsey, a forensic entomologist and the club advisor, praised her as "the hardest working student I have ever seen. And, her overwhelming concern for humans of all kinds earns her the title of latter day Florence Nightingale."
Danielle has always loved insects and "anything creepy crawly. for that matter."
We remember featuring her in a 2011 blog. Tracing her love of insects to her early childhood, Danielle acknowledged that while other girls played with dolls, she spent many of her non-school hours collecting and playing with insects, snails and slugs, pill bugs, spiders and other invertebrates.
At age 4, she created a habitat for 30 garden snails in a shoebox. “I took the box up to my room and put it under my bed. Sometime later I came crying down the stairs because all of my snails had left me. Apparently I had not yet learned the concept of a lid. My mother then proceeded to help me collect my snail pets off my bed post, the walls, the nightstand…”
Although Danielle has always loved insects, she was unaware she could make a career out of it. She mentioned that in the third grade, “we had to write an autobiography and description of our desired future.” She wrote that she wanted to become an ice skater and have six children.
“It's amazing how times change,” Danielle commented. “Soon after I completed it, a family friend who knew my affinity for insects, read the autobiography and informed me that I could become an entomologist. It had never occurred to me that I could play with insects as a profession.”
Born on Coronado Island, Danielle moved to Las Vegas at age 11. “My insect collecting was limited while I lived in Las Vegas, but I kept several black widows, jumping spiders, and beetles. I also dipped into herpetology a bit and became the editor of the Southern Nevada Herpetological Society.”
Danielle attended colleges in Las Vegas and San Diego before settling in Rocklin and Davis.
While studying for her entomology degree at UC Davis, Danielle reared bed bugs for several years, sharing them with other scientists and at open houses at the Bohart Museum. She no longer keeps a colony of bed bugs but keeps or retains fond memories of UC Davis and the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
And now, her sights are set on a master's degree in entomology.
"Time's Fun When You're Studying Flies."
Danielle will be joining these fellow fly researchers at the open house:
- Fourth-year doctoral student Charlotte Herbert Alberts of the Lynn Kimsey lab, Bohart Museum, who studies assassin flies
- Graduate student Socrates Letana of the Lynn Kimsey lab, Bohart Museum, who studies botflies
- Doctoral student Caroline Wright Larsen of the James R. Carey lab, who studies non-native non-native tephritid flies, including Mediterranean fruit flies
- Graduate students Cindy Truong and Yao Cai and undergraduate students Cindy Truong and Christopher Ochoa, all of the Joanna Chiu lab, who research fruit flies
- Undergraduate student Kathlyne-Inez Soukhaseum of the Frank Zalom lab, who researches the fruit fly, the spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii
- Nermeen Raffat, a visiting scholar in the Sharon Lawler lab, who studies "the effect of copper sulphate and other toxicants on the development and anti-predatory behavior of the mosquitoes larvae."
"Besides checking out the flies, this is also a good time for visitors to inquire about graduate school, ask about starting research projects, and to meet people working in forensics, evolution, agriculture, animal behavior, genetics, geography, and home pests, among other topics," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Bohart's butterfly and moth section, will be on hand to open the Diptera section and answer questions. A family craft activity is also planned.
The Bohart Museum houses nearly eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" (think Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and a year-around gift shop. The museum is open to the general public Mondays through Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., plus occasional, weekend open houses​. Admission is free. Further information is available on the Bohart Museum website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ or contact (530) 753-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
April 26, 2011 See more photos
He's not there to tour the “The Rock” or contemplate the lives of the notorious criminals once housed in the former federal penitentiary--inmates like Al “Scarface” Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Robert “The Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud or Arthur “Doc” Barker.
He's there to do research on the nuisance flies that plaque staff and tourists.
Meet Robert Kimsey, “The Fly Man of Alcatraz,” a name given him by a former guard at the penitentiary during the 2007 Alcatraz Reunion..
The professor-researcher has traveled to the island about 50 times since July 2007. When he stays overnight, he sleeps in the same cell once occupied by “The Birdman of Alcatraz”-- Cell 42 in D block.
Cell 42, basically an all-steel box with steel bars on the windows, offers a dazzling view of San Francisco.
“One day when I was working on research until 4:30 a.m., I laid down in the cell, extremely tired,” Kimsey said. “I looked through the steel bars and saw the lights of San Francisco. I thought about how I'd feel if I had to spend a large chunk of my life in this cell. I'd certainly be very angry with myself.”
Kimsey became involved in the fly project in July 2007 when he received a call about the annoying flies from entomologist Bruce Badzik, integrated pest management coordinator with the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Complaints rose to a feverish pitch in late August, September and October. The flies seemed to land on people as if they were rotten meat. Kimsey witnessed the incessant “shoo-fly” behavior on the docks and encountered it on a personal basis.
Kimsey identified the troubling fly as a “kelp fly” (Fucillia thinobia) or “cormorant fly” in the family Anthomyiidae. “But it's not a kelp fly as such,” said Kimsey, who plans to publish his research in an entomological journal. “It has nothing to do with kelp. It lives in purge-soaked soil under dead cormorants found in rookeries all around the island. It does not exist in any other place.”
Since federal law prohibits people from entering the rookeries--inhabited by cormorants, gulls, night herons, egrets and pigeon guillemots--Kimsey could not examine the rookeries until the nesting birds vacated the area.
Fucillia thinobia creates problems for four to six weeks as the cormorants start to leave the island, the entomologists said. In the late summer or early fall, usually in September and October, the flies vacate the rookeries on the west side of the island, and move to various parts, including the dock on the east side.
“With Bob's dedication and professionalism, he has been able to create this enthusiastic desire by island staff to know more about the biology of this fly,” Badzik said. “This is an impressive thing to do on an island with a rich cultural history.”
“This fly has no public health significance,” Kimsey said. “They rest on human beings as they rest on any other surface—on the ground, buildings and on humans. Like flying insects found on islands, they remain near the ground and tend to flit from place to place rather than fly high in an air column.
His research involved quizzing park rangers, former prisoners and guards at the 2007 Alcatraz Reunion, held Aug. 12. “Do you recall flies ever being a problem on Alcatraz during your association with the island?” he asked.
“Of 15 persons interviewed, all but one stated that they had no recollection of flies ever having been a problem anywhere on the island in the period prior to 1963,” he said. (The island was a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963). The sole person describing any kind of a fly as a problem recalled small non-metallic, gray-colored flies in the kitchen.
Back then the island had no extensive rookeries as it has today, Kimsey said.
Kimsey and Badzik, partners in the fly problem, know The Rock well. They have scrutinized every building, the entire shoreline, the cliffs and tunnels, the rookeries, trash cans, public restrooms, sewage facilities and “certainly every potential source of flies commonly associated with humans.”
The entomologists survey places off limits to the public, such as the Citadel, “part of the old Civil War fort beneath the main cell block where they used to put prisoners.”
The result: none of the sites contributes to the production of flies except the rookeries.
“We discovered that the shoreline of Alcatraz offers no habitat for the genus Fucillia,” Kimsey said. “F. thinobia does not breed in the piles of decomposing kelp and other flotsam, commonly known as beach wrack.”
So far, Kimsey and Badzik have identified 17 species of flies on the island. Before their research, no one knew how many or what species of flies existed on Alcatraz. However, only one—the cormorant fly—bothers staff and visitors.
Kimsey continues to place baited fly traps on the island and checks them repeatedly. He reared a colony of kelp flies in his UC Davis lab until a fungus killed them.
The UC Davis students also receive lessons on the history of the island from Bruce Badzik. For example, Alcatraz was the site of the first lighthouse and first U.S. built fort on the West Coast before it became a federal prison. Today the National Park Service offers year-around tours, except on major holidays.
“Alcatraz is truly a wonderful place to go,” Kimsey said. “It combines history with living history. The 1920s, 30s and 40s--and the criminals and gangsters of that era—those were interesting times in American history. There was this idea in the criminal justice system that one can correct criminal behavior by isolating them from other people--forcing them to be introspective by sitting in their cell and thinking about the wrongs they committed. The name, penitentiary, has its origins with Puritans or Quakers. They felt that when you commit a wrong and do penance, you can be reformed.”
Kimsey, who has attended several Alcatraz Reunions, reuniting former inmates, guards and others who lived on the island when it was a federal penitentiary, is now friends with many of them. Of the former inmates he's met: “To a person, each one had no desire to be involved in recidivism after staying on the island.”
For some, it involved a revelation. “They ‘saw the light' as they sat on the island contemplating the errors of their ways,” Kimsey said. “They fell back into the religion that they had embraced as a child. For others, it was an epiphany—a sudden realization--of why they should be good and the consequences of being bad. They didn't want to be bad any more.”
Meanwhile, the flies aren't the problem they were in 2007, 2008 and 2009 (the year Kimsey was awarded a National Park Service grant).
“In 2010, the cormorants didn't come back and neither did the flies,” Kimsey said. “Gulls came back but not flies. It doesn't appear they will be a major problem in 2011.”
It could be because of the reduced food supply for the cormorants, the forensic entomologist said. “The sardines and herring off shore may have diminished, perhaps because of a shift in currents.”
<“This has been one of the most interesting entomological projects that I have worked on in my career,” Badzik said. “Through our research, we are discovering an enormous amount of information on this fly and how it is influenced by the cormorants on the island. None of the other dozen or more species of birds on the island have any relationship—at least as we know right now—to this fly.”
(Editor's Note: Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey will speak on “The Flies of Alcatraz” at a meeting of the Northern California Entomology Society on Thursday, May 5 in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. His talk begins at 1: 15 p.m.)
Links:
Reservations to tour the island
About Alcatraz, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Penitentiary
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894