Professor Louie Yang's monarch and milkweed research at the University of California, Davis, is quite celebrated.

Yang, a community ecologist and professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, is involved in monarch conservation science and planning, in collaboration with the Western Monarch Conservation Science Group, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation, Monarch Joint Venture, Environment Defense Fund, and the National Monarch Summit in D.C. 

• Science Friday, National Public Radio, interviewed him in February 2022 about his monarch-milkweed research. (Listen to the archived interview.)
• He was one of 12 invited scientists nationwide who delivered a presentation during the two-day Monarch Butterfly Summit, held in June 2022 at the Capitol, Washington D.C. He has presented invited seminars at Purdue University and the University of Nevada.

Another feat: Yang launched the Monitoring Milkweed-Monarch Interactions for Learning and Conservation (MMMILC) project in 2013 for students in the environmental science program at Davis Senior High School or those associated with the Center for Land-Based Learning's Green Corps program. He taught more than 150 high school-aged participants. Their tasks: monitoring milkweed-monarch interactions in a project funded by the National Science Foundation. He organized and led a 135-member team, and supported them all as co-authors of the paper, “Different Factors Limit Early- and Late-Season Windows of Opportunity for Monarch Development,” published in July 2022 in the journal Ecology and Evolution. The 107 co-authors included high school students, undergraduate and graduate students, and community members. 

But did you know that Professor Yang excels at teaching and mentoring?

Described as  “a phenomenal  teacher, mentor and an incredibly strong advocate for students,” Yang is the newly announced recipient of the UC Davis Academic Senate's 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award, Undergraduate Student category.

And so well-deserved.

“I have watched him engage, inspire, and challenge his students, fostering creative and critical thinking like no one else I've ever seen,” Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of the department, wrote in her nomination letter. “We deeply appreciate and admire his innovative and inclusive teaching, his exemplary work ethic, his welcoming demeanor, his dedication to his students, and his nationally recognized ecology expertise. Louie has received many well-deserved teaching and mentoring awards for his teaching contributions on and off campus.”

Professor Yang is one of the three co-founders and co-directors (along with Professor Chiu and UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim) of the campuswide, one-of-a-kind Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB), launched in 2011 to help students learn cutting-edge research through close mentoring relationships with faculty.

“Our celebrated program, now totaling 120 alumni, crosses numerous biological fields, including population biology; behavior and ecology; biodiversity and evolutionary ecology; agroecology; genetics and molecular biology; biochemistry and physiology; entomology; and cell biology,” Chiu wrote. “We provide academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates with a multi-year research experience that cultivates skills that will prepare them for a career in biological research. Many RSPIB alumni are now enrolled or graduated from premiere programs including Cornell, UC San Francisco, and Stanford.”

Yang, who holds a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolution (1999) from Cornell University, and a doctorate in population biology (2006) from UC Davis, joined the UC Davis faculty in 2009. UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, then chair of the entomology department, remembers recruiting and hiring him, on the recommendation of community ecologist Richard "Rick" Karban. 

In 2012, as an assistant professor, Yang was selected a Hellman Fellow and then received a 2013-2018 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Award. In 2015, he won a Chancellor's Teaching Fellow Award and the Atwood Colloquium Rising Star Award in Ecology, University of Toronto. Currently he chairs the Entomology Graduate Program and also serves as interim vice chair while community ecologist and associate professor Rachel Vannette  is on sabbatical.

Since 2009, Yang has taught more than 600 undergraduates and more than 90 graduate students in his formal classes. His courses include Insect Ecology, Community Ecology, Experimental Ecology and Evolution in the Field, He has taught two National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) grant writing workshops, and the Population Biology Graduate Group core course for three years.

He has welcomed and mentored graduate students from around the country, including the UC Davis-Howard University Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the Ecology and Evolution Graduate Admissions Pathways program. “Besides overseeing the entire Entomology Graduate Program as chair, Louie also personally serves as graduate advisor for a third of our graduate students (assigned alphabetically),” noted Chiu, who received the Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award (Graduate Students/Professional) in 2022. “Louie is that calm, caring, and compassionate figure who listens, engages, and helps them resolve issues. He has helped many graduate students navigate challenges often encountered in graduate school."

Professor Rosenheim, recipient of the 2011 Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, Undergraduate Level,  has observed Yang's innovative teaching. “His class sessions were impeccably organized, his presentations deeply insightful, and the discussions highly engaging," he wrote. "Louie alternated lectures with class sessions in which large blocks of time were devoted to structured debates. For the debates, Louie drew names at random and assembled two 3-person teams of students, one arguing the 'pro' side of the issue, the other arguing the 'con' side. After an initial period when positions were presented and rebuttals given, the whole class was invited to join in the discussion. What was truly remarkable was the high level of participation that Louie is able to elicit, both during the debates and during his lectures. Louie inspires the confidence of his students, and they reciprocate with their willingness to take risks during class by contributing, even when discussing topics that are new to them. This is not an easy thing to accomplish; Louie's ability to gain such strong student participation is perhaps the strongest evidence of Louie's talent in connecting with students. I was so impressed with the success of Louie's methods that I decided to incorporate structured debates into one of my own classes as well."

Yang lab doctoral alumna Meredith Cenzer, now an instructor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, remembers: “I will never forget the presentation he gave to my incoming cohort, just nine months after he himself started as a professor. He told us about imposter syndrome (the feeling of not deserving our success) and assured us right off the bat that we all deserved to be at UC Davis; that none of us had snuck in, and that we were chosen because they all believed in our ability to be successful in graduate school. I will never forget how much that meant to me as a young woman fresh out of my bachelor's with little experience in independent research. In the seven years I was in his lab, even when experiments failed or I made mistakes or felt like I was falling behind, Louie never stopped believing in my abilities. Building that trust was foundational in our professional relationship, and indispensable to my development in graduate school and afterwards.”

In unsolicited comments in Rate My Professors, his students wrote:

• “One of the best instructors at UC Davis. Class on insects was very interesting…He is super cool, and lectures are never boring.”
• “Louie honestly might be my favorite professor on campus. He is cool and smart and engaged with his students…”
• “Really one of the most intelligent people I've met in college. It's apparent just talking to him, which I'd highly recommend.”
• “I loved this seminar, Ecology Outdoors! I learned so much from Louie, and he's really good at encouraging creativity and experimentation. He's a very hard worker and plans the class well.”
• “Really cool guy, made the class interesting. gave a lot of real-life example, so students can relate the subject to real world.”

A tip of the insect net to Professor Louie Yang! 

Congratulations to molecular geneticist-physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology!

She's the recipient of the highly competitive "Distinction in Student Mentoring' Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomology Society of America (PBESA).

So well-deserved!

Other PBESA winners announced today are: 

• C. W. Woodworth Award: Elizabeth Beers, Washington State University (WSU)
• Distinction in Student Mentoring Award: Joanna Chiu, UC Davis
• Distinguished Achievement in Extension Award: Wendy Sue Wheeler, WSU
• Excellence in Integrated Pest Management: David Haviland, UC Cooperative Extension, Kern County
• Distinguished Achievement in Teaching: Juli Carrillo, University of British Columbia
• Entomology Team Work Award: Tobin  Northfield and colleagues, WSU
• Medical, Urban and Veterinary Entomology Award: Monika Gulia-Nuss, University of Nevada
• Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology Award: Naoki Yamanaka, UC Riverside
• Plant-Insect Ecosystems Award: Allison Hansen, UC Riverside
• Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity: Silas Bossert, WSU
• Excellence in Early Career Award: Robert Orpet, WSU
• Dr. Stephen Garczynski Undergraduate Research Scholarship: Grant Wass, Palomar College
• John Henry Comstock Award: Dave Elmquist, University of Idaho

They be honored at the PBESA meeting, set April 14-17 in the city of Waikoloa Beach, Hawaii. PBESA encompasses 11 Western states, plus parts of Canada and Mexico, and U.S. territories.

Nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and former chair of the department, nominated Professor Chiu for the mentoring award. He praised her as “an incredible mentor, inspirational, dedicated and passionate about helping her students succeed, as exemplified by her receiving the 2022 UC Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring Award for her contributions to graduate student and professional mentoring, and the 2023 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.

“Dr. Chiu is noted for providing her trainees, many of whom are from underrepresented groups, with very effective career and academic advising,” he wrote. “For example, many first-generation and underrepresented undergraduate trainees from her lab are now successfully enrolled in prestigious biological PhD programs, including programs at Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC San Francisco. Under her tutelage, her students are first authors of publications in prestigious journals. Even after her undergraduate and graduate students leave the university and settle into their careers, she continues to provide guidance and advice to them.”

Community ecologist Louie Yang, professor of entomology, interim vice chair of the department, and recipient of PBESA's 2023 Distinction in Student Mentoring Award, commented: "Joanna is an extraordinarily talented and committed mentor. She is remarkably good at helping students realize their potential. I've seen this over and over again with undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs."

Chiu, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2010, co-founded and co-directs the campuswide UC Davis Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB), which she and two other UC Davis entomology faculty members  (UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim and Yang) launched in 2011 to provide undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology. The RSPIB scholars typically publish their undergraduate research, and many pursue careers in science.

Fact is, Chiu is legendary for both her mentoring and teaching. 

Chiu lab alumna Katie Freitas of Stanford wrote: “Beyond teaching me practical research skills, Dr. Chiu helped to spark the most important thing a person needs to be a successful scientist: pure joy in the pursuit of knowledge.”

“Throughout all my time in the Chiu lab, Joanna has never failed to amaze me with her kindness, patience, and her consistency and perseverance in helping all students, both in her lab and in other labs, succeed,” wrote Chiu lab alumna Christine Tabuloc, who received her doctorate in 2023 and is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Chiu lab. “What makes her so outstanding is her commitment to helping us improve as scientists and researchers and preparing us for our future career endeavors.”

Nadler concluded that Chiu “offers the tools, guidance, support, empathy, enthusiasm, and feedback that her undergraduate and graduate students need to thrive and succeed. But above all—and this is crucial--she truly cares about her students.

A native of Hong Kong and a first-generation college student, Joanna received her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in biology and music from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, and her doctorate in molecular genetics in 2004 from New York University, New York. She trained as a postdoctoral fellow from 2004 to 2010 in molecular chronobiology at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.  Her postdoctoral training was funded by an NIH F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship and K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. (See feature story)

Be sure to read our news story, detailing many of her accomplishments in mentoring.  

Congratulations to UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, the recipient of the Academic Senate's highly competitive 2024 Distinguished Faculty Research Award. 

That makes three. Good things come in threes. 

Leal is the first UC Davis faculty member to win all three of the Academic Senate's most coveted awards: in research, teaching, and public service.  In 2020, the Academic Senate awarded him the Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and in 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award.

Leal, a member of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology since 2013 and former professor and chair of the Department of Entomology, commented: "Faculty at land-grant universities, like the University of California, have three hats labeled Teaching, Service, and Research. A significant challenge is to budget time to wear them equally and avoid the temptation to emphasize one part of the job over others. It is gratifying to be recognized by my peers as excelling in all areas. The Academic Senate Faculty Distinguished Research Award is particularly humbling because more than 3000 eligible faculty excel in all research areas on this campus. Why me? Because of my students, postdoctoral scholars, visiting scholars, collaborators, and colleagues. They deserve most of the credit for this honor. I accept it on their behalf. It is a team effort, like in a honey bee colony.”

“Dr. Leal is an internationally recognized entomologist and a world leader in his field for his groundbreaking and transformative research in insect olfaction and chemical ecology,” said nominator UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. Hammock has known Leal for more than two decades.

"Walter is truly a renaissance man," wrote Hammock.  "He chaired our entomology department from 2006 to 2008, and under his tenure, our department was ranked No. 1 in the country. I've long admired (1) his rigorous fundamental research programs supported by National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, and other agencies, (2) how he tackles and solves multiple challenging problems in insect olfaction and chemical ecology, (3) his grasp of how to organize and moderate highly successful worldwide research webinars (4) his generosity in helping other succeed and (4) his finely honed sense of humor."

“Walter has been exceptionally conscientious, active, and generous in professional service at UC Davis,” Hammock pointed out. “In August of 2021, he achieved a ‘first' for international science communication when he organized and led the extraordinary virtual conference ‘Insect Olfaction and Taste in 24 Hours Around the Globe.' I especially applaud him for elucidating the mode of action of the insect repellent DEET, developed in 1946 and known as ‘the gold standard of
repellents.' Its mode of action remained an enigma for six decades until Walter's discovery. Inresearching the neurons in mosquito antennae sensitive to DEET, he isolated the first DEET-sensitive odorant receptor, paving the way for the development of better repellents.”

Leal is a newly elected trustee of the Royal Entomological Society, the 13-member council that governs the 190-year-old international organization. He is the first UC Davis scientist to be elected a trustee. And he's chair of the Council of the International Congresses of Entomology, the body that ensures the continuity of the international congresses of entomology. He co-chaired the 2016 International Congress of Entomology, which drew 6,682 registrants from 102 countries to Orlando, Fla.

Among Leal's many honors:  Fellow of the Entomological Society of America (2009), American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), and the National Academy of Inventors (2019).

A native of Brazil, Leal joined the UC Davis entomology faculty in 2000, after serving as the head of the Laboratory of Chemical Prospecting, National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science (NISES), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Japan. In 2013, he accepted a position as professor of biochemistry, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. (See news story)

Frankly, we don't know how Leal does it all. He not only excels at research, teaching and public service, but he is widely known as "The UC Davis Ambassador," organizing campus-wide celebrations for faculty transitioning to emeriti.

As an aside, two UC Davis entomology faculty members scored two, but not three, of the Academic Senate's coveted awards. Bruce Hammock received the Distinguished Faculty Research Award in 2001, and the Distinguished Teaching Award (graduate student/professional category) in 2008. UC distinguished professor of entomology, James R. Carey, took home the Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award (undergraduate student category) in 2014 and the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award in 2015.

Six other entomology faculty members have received Academic Senate awards:

• UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim, Distinguished Teaching Award (undergraduate student category) in 2011
• UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey (now emerita), Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award in 2016
• UC Davis distinguished professor Frank Zalom, Distinguished Scholarly Public Service in 2017 
• UC Davis professor and now department chair Joanna Chiu, Distinguished Teaching Award (graduate/professional category) in 2022
• UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman, Distinguished Teaching Award (undergraduate category) in 2022

And the latest to join the winner's circle: Professor Louie Yang won the Distinguished Teaching Award (undergraduate category), announced today. More on this amazing teacher and mentor is pending.

Back in October of 2020, we wrote about the newly published research of an international team of scientists involving the genome analysis of the western flower thrips, an invasive global agricultural pest that feeds on plants and spreads viruses.

Fifty-seven scientists from five continents, including UC Davis distinguished professor-entomologist Diane Ullman, co-authored the article, “Genome-Enabled Insights into the Biology of Thrips as Crop Pests,” published in the journal BMC Biology.

The project leader and first author? Ullman's longtime colleague and collaborator, Professor Dorith Rotenberg of the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University (NCSU). (See news story)

Fast forward to next week, when Professor Rotenberg will present a seminar sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on “Advances and Innovations in the Characterization of Molecular Interactions Between Frankliniella occidentalis and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus.”

Her seminar, with Ullman introducing her,  begins at 4:10 p.m., Monday, Feb. 26 in 122 Briggs Hall. It also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

 “Arthropod-transmitted plant pathogens cause crippling monetary losses to U.S. and global economies," Rotenberg writes in her seminar abstract. "Tomato spotted wilt virus (Order Bunyavirales, family Tospoviridae, genus Orthotospovirus) is one of those pathogens, and it is transmitted in a circulative-propagative manner by Frankliniella occidentalis, the principal thrips vector. The overarching goal of my research program is to contribute fundamental knowledge towards developing alternative, effective and innovative tools for diminishing vector-transmitted crop diseases. My lab has been on the forefront of generating and sharing vector ‘omics resources to enable the identification and characterization of molecular determinants of vector competence as a means to specifically disrupt the virus transmission cycle. Using a combination of proteomic, transcriptomic and functional tools developed by my team and collaborators for F. occidentalis and TSWV, we aim to drill down on gut proteins associated with thrips host response to virus activities (indirect interactions) and/or gut proteins that physically interact with the viral attachment protein (GN) (direct)."

My talk," Rotenberg continued, "will cover research advances made towards identifying and functionally characterizing two promising gut-expressed proteins, and new tools to interrogate F. occidentalis genes associated with virus transmission.” She co-directs the NCSU Plant Virus Vector Interactions Lab.

Rotenberg holds three degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and her master's and doctorate in plant pathology. 

The western flower thrips, native to Western North America,  causes billions of dollars a year in damage worldwide.  About the size of a pinhead, the insect feeds on a wide array of food, fiber, and ornamental crops and transmits plant viruses that cause significant economic damage. 

“The western flower thrips and the viruses it transmits, including tomato spotted wilt virus, is important to California agriculture, causing serious problems for tomato growers, pepper growers and growers of leafy greens,” Ullman says.  The tomato spotted wilt virus infects more than 1000 plant species, ranging from tomatoes, tobacco and peanuts to pansies and chrysanthemums.  (See Ullman's work on her website)

For Zoom technical issues, contact seminar coordinator Brian Johnson, associate professor, at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of department seminars for the winter quarter is here.