July 6, 2011
DAVIS--Professors James R. Carey and Diane E. Ullman of the UC Davis Department of Entomology are newly elected Fellows of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), a prestigious honor awarded annually to no more than 10 outstanding entomologists from the 6000-member global society.
This year the ESA Governing Board selected 10 Fellows—five from the UC system—for their outstanding contributions in one or more of the following categories: research, teaching, extension, or administration. They will be inducted at the ESA's 59th Annual Meeting, to be held Nov. 13-16, 2011 in Reno, Nev.
James R. Carey
Carey, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty in 1980, is considered the world’s foremost authority on arthropod demography. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and three books on this or closely related topics, including the monograph Longevity (Princeton, 2003) and the “go-to” book on insect demography, Demography for Biologists with Special Emphasis on Insects (Oxford, 1993).His landmark paper on “slowing of mortality at older ages,” published in Science in 1992 and cited more than 350 times, keys in on his seminal discovery that mortality slows at advanced ages. The UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Science cited this as one of “100 Ways in Which Our College Has Shaped the World.”
Carey is also considered one of the world’s authorities on the demography and invasion biology of tephritid fruit flies, particularly the Mediterranean fruit fly. He published one of the first papers on the formal demography of any insect species (medfly) and discovered what has been termed by demographers as “Carey’s Equality”—a unique property of the life table that connects it to a stationary population. His research on the invasion status of the medfly in California has generated much-needed discussion within the entomological community about definitions of eradication, the concept of subdetectable levels of invasive pests, and the need for a paradigm shift in invasion biology of economically and medically important arthropod pests.
Carey is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Gerontological Society of America, and the California Academy of Sciences. He chaired the systemwide UC Committee on Research Policy, served on the system-wide UC Academic Council, and is a former vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. In addition, he serves as the associate editor of three journals: Genus, Aging Cell, and Demographic Research.
Carey is the pioneering and driving force behind the UCTV Research Seminars, launched earlier this year.
He received his bachelor’s degree in animal ecology from Iowa State University; his master’s degree in entomology from Iowa State University; and his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley.
Diane E. Ullman
Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is the associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. A member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty since 1995, she co-founded and co-directs the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, a pioneering program in the use of an art-science fusion paradigm in undergraduate education and community outreach.Ullman's research revolves around insects that transmit plant pathogens, in particular plant viruses. She is best known for advancing international knowledge of interactions between thrips and tospoviruses and aphids and citrus tristeza virus. She also made important discoveries regarding host plant resistance to aphids and thrips and regarding the biology and vector competence of mealybugs, leafhoppers and whiteflies. Her contributions played a fundamental role in developing novel strategies for management of insects and plant viruses, ranging from use of induced resistance to RNA interference.
Ullman has authored nearly 100 refereed publications that have been cited 1,724 times in the scientific literature, and has also written for several trade journals and contributed chapters to books. She is known for innovative teaching strategies and has played a fundamental role in developing a Career Discovery Group Program for freshmen at UC Davis. Ullman advises graduate students in both entomology and plant pathology.
Ullman received her bachelor's degree in horticulture from the University of Arizona in 1976 and her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1985. She began her academic career in the Department of Entomology at the University of Hawaii-Manoa in Honolulu, Hawaii, relocating eight years later to UC Davis.
She received the University of Hawaii Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching (1990), the Hawaiian Entomology Society Entomologist of the Year Award (1992), the University of Hawaii Regent’s Medal for Excellence in Research (1993), the USDA Higher Education Western Regional Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching (1993), and the UC Davis Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community (2008). Her accomplishments also include distinguished lecturer for the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers.
UC Davis Department of Entomology: 15 Fellows Since 1947
With the election of Carey and Ullman, the UC Davis Department of Entomology now has 15 Fellows. The first was Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), for whom the Bohart Museum of Entomology is named. He received the honor in 1947. Fourteen others followed: Donald McLean, elected in 1990; Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. (1907-2003), 1991; John Edman, 1994; Robert Washino, 1996; Bruce Eldridge, 2001; William Reisen, 2003; Harry Kaya, 2007; Michael Parrella and Frank Zalom, 2008; Walter Leal, 2009; Bruce Hammock and Thomas Scott, 2010; and James R. Carey and Diane Ullman, 2011.
Of the 2011 Fellows, five are affiliated with the UC system. The other three are:
Anthony A. James, a distinguished professor of microbiology and molecular genetics in the School of Medicine and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences at UC Irvine.Brad Mullens, professor of entomology, College of Agricultural Sciences, UC Riverside
Fred Stephen, who began his forest entomology career at UC Berkeley and is now a professor of entomology at the University of Arkansas
The list of the 10 Fellows is on the ESA website.
ESA, founded in 1889, is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Headquartered in Lanham, MD, the organization is affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, and hobbyists.
(Editor's Note: Richard Levine, communications program manager of ESA, contributed to this news story.)
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894