The target: the dengue mosquito.

The occasion: A UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar.

Jacklyn Wong, who last summer received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, studying with major professor and mosquito expert Tom Scott, will headline the department's first fall seminar.

Wong, now a postdoctoral fellow with the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga.,  will discuss her research on "Oviposition Site Selection by Aedes aegypti and its Implications for Dengue Control” from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 28 in Briggs Hall.

Her dissertation research, completed in Iquitos, Peru, focused on the egg-laying behavior of Aedes aegypti, the principal mosquito vector of dengue viruses.

A former resident of San Luis Obispo, Wong received her bachelor’s degree in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley in 2001 and her master’s degree in epidemiology from UC Davis in 2006.

Next up in the fall seminar series: On Wednesday, Oct. 5 Judith Becerra, associate research professor, University of Arizona, Tucson, will speak on “Coevolution between Bursera and its Herbivores.”

Then on Wednesday, Oct. 12, the speaker is Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis. She will discuss "The International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program (ICBG) Rain Forest Expedition to Sulawesi Rainforest.” Kimsey's discovery of  a new "warrior wasp" species recently made international news.

Assistant professors Louie Yang and Johanna Chiu have compiled an excellent schedule of speakers. Most will be webcast.  See the complete list.