- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Evans has worked as a research entomologist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory for 14 years. His projects have focused on a range of bee pests including bacteria, fungi, viruses and, mites, and beetles. He is especially interested in the immune defenses of bees toward these threats.
Evans was an early proponent of the Honey Bee Genome Project and helped recruit and organize scientists interested in applied genomics for bees. He has improved and applied genetic screens for possible causes of colony collapse disorder and is now heading a consortium to sequence the genome of the Varroa mite in order to develop novel control methods for this key pest.
Evans holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Princeton and a doctorate in biology from the University of Utah.
The fall seminars, coordinated by faculty members Joanna Chiu and Brian Johnson, will be held every Wednesday noon through Dec. 11 in 122 Briggs Hall, except for Nov. 27, Thanksgiving Week, when no seminar will be held.
The complete list of fall seminars (with topics to be announced later):
Wednesday, Oct. 2 (cancelled due to government shutdown)
Jay Evans
Research entomologist, USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD
Title of talk: "Bee Disease Resistance and Colony Health"
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Rob DeSalle
Curator of entomology, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
Affiliated with AMNH Division of Invertebrate Zoology and leads a group of researchers at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics,
Title of talk: “The Tree of Life is Dead, Long Live the Tree of Life”
Wednesday, Oct. 16
Sandra Gillespie
Postdoctoral researcher
Neal Williams lab
Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
Title of talk: "Parasites and Pesticides: Indirect Effects on Pollination Service"
Wednesday, Oct. 23
Ivan Schwab
Director of Cornea and External Disease Service
Professor of Ophthalmology
Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science
UC Davis Health System, Sacramento
Title of talk: "Vision from Trilobites to Trichogammatids: How the Arthropods See"
Wednesday, Oct. 30
Robert Reiner
Post-doctoral research fellow
Thomas Scott lab and Fogarty International Center
UC Davis
Title of talk: to be announced
Wednesday, Nov. 6
Patrick Abbot
Associate professor
Department of Biological Sciences Vanderbilt University, Nashville Tenn.
Title of talk: “Cooperation and Conflict at the Plant/Insect Interface”
Wednesday, Nov. 13
Gregory Lanzaro
Professor
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Title of talk: to be announced
Wednesday, Nov. 20
Kenneth Haynes
Professor
Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
Title of talk: to be announced
Wednesday, Nov. 27
No speaker (Thanksgiving Week)
Wednesday, Dec. 4
George Heimpel
Professor and director of Graduate Studies
Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul
Title of talk: "Specificity and the Process of Biological Control Using Aphid Parasitoids"
Wednesday, Dec. 11
Gerben Messelink
Entomologist at Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, Rotterdam Area, Netherlands
Title of talk: "Generalist Predators and Biological Pest Control in Greenhouse Crops"
The seminars are scheduled to be video-recorded and posted on a later date on UCTV in a project coordinated by professor James R. Carey.
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