Integrated pest management (IPM) specialist Frank Zalom is a distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and now he's a distinguished public service scholar as well.

He was just notified that he's a recipient of the UC Davis Academic Senate's 2017 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service.

"Professor Zalom is deserving of the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award for his outstanding leadership in state, national and international organizations focused on integrated pest management," the Academic Senate awards committee wrote. "While serving as the president of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America, Professor Zalom pioneered initiatives aimed at identifying sustainable solutions for some of the world's important insect-based problems. For example, he organized and co-chaired the 'Summit on the Aedes aegypti Crisis in the Americas' that brought together more than 70 researchers, public health officials, entomologists, and government agencies throughout the hemisphere to identify immediate steps to sustainable solutions to control the yellow mosquito that can carry dengue fever and Zika fever viruses."

And IPM? The Academic Senate pointed out:

"Professor Zalom is known globally for his leadership in the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities IPM Committee from 1999-2015, for being a founding member of the IPM Voice, which is a non-profit organization that advocates for progressive IPM that provides environmental, social and economic benefits, and for serving on the Board of Counselors of the Entomological Foundation that promotes educational programs for grades K-12. Professor Zalom's efforts in public service have contributed to the betterment of California and the U.S."

An awards reception will be scheduled in the spring quarter for Zalom and two other recipients of this award: Nolan Zane, professor of Asian-American Studies; and Christine Kreuder Johnson, professor, Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Zalom joins previous UC Davis entomology recipients Lynn Kimsey (2016), James Carey (2015) and Robert Washino (2012).

Zalom, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, joined the UC Davis faculty in 1980 as the Extension IPM coordinator for the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) and then served as the UC IPM director for 16 years before returning to the Department of Entomology in 2002.

For his work in IPM, he is also the recipient of the 2017 Perry Adkisson Distinguished Speaker Award from Texas A&M. He will deliver an invited presentation, “Invasive Species, Integrated Pest Management, and One Perspective from the West Coast"  on Thursday, March 30 in College Station, Texas. The annual lecture honors Perry Lee Adkisson, chancellor emeritus and distinguished professor emeritus of the Texas A&M University System. His research accomplishments are internationally known in the areas of sustainable insect control and crop protection.

 “Perry Lee Adkisson is among the icons of integrated pest management, and one of the people that I have most looked up to since starting my career in entomology," Zalom said last week. "I can't adequately express how honored I am to receive this award, and have an opportunity to visit with him once again in College Station.”

Zalom, too, is an IPM icon. (See more on Zalom's work on the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website.)

An icon, for sure.

It's almost spring. Do you know where your butterflies are? Do you know how to attract them to your yard?

Greg Kareofelas, a Bohart Museum of Entomology associate with expertise on  local butterflies, will be at the Bohart Museum's open house on Sunday, March 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. to meet informally with visitors, talk about butterflies and answer their questions.

The open house, themed "Eggs to Wings: Backyard Butterfly Gardening,"  takes place in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.

“I've always had an interest in butterflies since I was a little kid,” said Kareofleas, a Davis resident who has studied butterflies “seriously” since the late 1970s. "Back then, there was no Internet and books on butterflies in California were minimal and it seemed that most of the books published were on East Coast butterflies or butterflies out of our region. It was the late 1970s, after all, and we couldn't just go on the Internet for butterfly identification.”

It was then that Kareofelas met butterfly guru Arthur Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology. Shapiro, involved in butterfly research for more than four decades, now posts his work on his website.) Shapiro authored Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions (University of California Press, 2007). 

Kareofelas, a naturalist and avid photographer, now spends much of his time researching and photographing butterflies, as well as dragonflies and other insects, and speaking to nature-oriented organizations. He is also a regular at the Bohart Museum open houses where he enthusiastically talks about insects he's encountered.

UC Davis offers great resources, Kareofelas says. “For instance, you can get an insect identified at the Bohart Museum, and a plant identified at the Herbarium. And then there are the great resources like the Sacramento Native Plant Society, the UC Davis Botanical Society and the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden."

Kareofelas is pleased to see the growing interest in butterflies and their larval host plants (where butterflies lay their eggs). “All you need is a yard to attract them,” he said. “Plant the larval host plants. Plant nectar plants, such as the butterfly bush, for the adults." 

Want monarchs living in our backyard? “Plant milkweed, their larval host plant," Karofelas says.

Kareofelas mentioned a few host plants that will draw specific species: 

• Plant pipevine, aka Dutchmen's pipe, for the Pipevine Swallowtails
• Plant passionflower vine for the Gulf Fritillaries
• Plant fennel for the Anise Swallowtails
• Plant baby tears (in the nettle family) for Red Admirals
• Plant snagdragons for Buckeyes
• Plant Rose of Sharon for the Gray Hairstreaks
• Plant mallow for the Checkered Skippers

Kareofelas has reared all the common species, as well some of the rare ones, including the California dogface butterfly, the state insect. With permission, he collected eggs from the rarely seen California dogface butterfly at its most populous breeding site, on Placer Land and Trust acreage near Auburn. The butterfly (Zerene eurydice) lays its eggs on false indigo (Amorpha californica).

Kareofelas, who serves as a guide several times a year for tours hosted by Placer Land and Trust, said that one result of rearing the California dogface butterfly is the publication of the 35-page children's book,  "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," written by Bohart associate Fran Keller (now an assistant professor at Folsom Lake College) with illustrations by then UC Davis student Laine Bauer, and photos by Kareofelas and Keller.

The book, available in the Bohart Museum's gift shop, tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly,  and how schoolchildren became involved in convincing the State Legislature to select the colorful butterfly as the state insect.  (See Bug Squad.)

The Bohart Museum's open house on Sunday will showcase butterflies in the area. A family craft activity will be making "wiggling caterpillars," with straw and paper, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart.

Directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, the Bohart Museum  is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It also maintains a live “petting zoo,” featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas. A gift shop, open year around, offers T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy. 

The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays. Admission is free. Special open houses take place throughout the academic year. The one on March 19 is the second to the last of the 2016-2017 academic year. The last one is Saturday, April 22, the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day.

More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. The website is http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/

Talk about the ABC's!

The 3000 third graders who attended the annual Youth Ag Day on Tuesday, March 14 on the Solano County Fairgrounds, Vallejo, learned their ABC's--of bugs--at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology's booth.

• A is for “awesome”
• B is for “bugs”
• C is for “cool”

Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator at the Bohart Museum and volunteers Alex Nguyen, Noah Crockette and Parras McGrath, kept busy from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. as youngsters admired the specimens, ranging from butterflies to beetles; held Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks; and took more photos than you can shake a stick at.

Squeals of delight punctuated Exposition Hall.  This was Bug World Unfolded!

With hands thrust up—“I wanna hold one!”—and heads, shoulders, hands and cameras crushed together, they took turns holding the insects. The consensus: “Hey, I found these really cool bugs that I've never seen before and I got to hold them and photograph them.”

Yang answered hundreds of questions as did the three Bohart volunteers: Nguyen, who holds a bachelor of science degree in entomology from UC Davis, and high school students Noah Crockette and Parras McGrath.

Crockette, who won the 2015 senior award from the Coleopterists Society, participated in the 10-day Bohart Bioblitz last summer in Belize. 

At the Bohart booth, the third graders giggled as the walking sticks “tickled” them on their arms.  In another corner, the Madagascar hissing cockroaches offered their obligatory hisses.

The annual Youth Ag Day is a collaborative effort of the Solano County Fair and agricultural related businesses, organizations, farmers, ranchers and other individuals to encourage Solano County third graders to experience agriculture first-hand, according to the fair officials. The third graders learn about cows, chickens, llamas, goats, honey bees, pollinators, and fruits and vegetables. The free event is designed to give the youngsters the opportunity to learn about food and fiber production from new perspectives, with a particular emphasis on the agricultural wealth of Solano County.

Bohart Museum
The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, UC Davis campus. Directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, it houses nearly 8 million insect specimens from all over the world. It also includes a live petting zoo, showcasing Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and taranatulas, and  a gift shop, featuring T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy. 

The Bohart Museum is open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. It is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays. Admission is free.

One of the major attractions are the Bohart Museum open houses, held on many weekends of the academic year. All are free and open to the public.

The next open house is from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 19. The theme: “Eggs to Wings: Backyard Butterfly Gardening.”

More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. The website is http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/

When the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America, meets for its 101 annual conference April 2-5 in Portland, Ore., three UC Davis-affiliated scientists will receive special awards.

One recipient is a faculty member, one is a postdoctoral fellow, and another, a graduate student.

1. Molecular biologist Shirley Luckhart, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis School of Medicine's Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (and soon will transition to the University of Idaho), has been named the recipient of the Medical, Urban and Veterinary Entomology Award.
   
   
2. Ant specialist Marek Borowiec, who received his doctorate in entomology in June 2016, studying with major professor Phil Ward, won the Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Award. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University, Tempe.
   
   
3. Third-year graduate student Ralph Washington Jr., who studies with major professors Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and assistant professor Brian Johnson, won the Student Leadership Award.

The three will be among the 13 award recipients honored by PBESA,which encompasses 11 Western U.S. states, plus several U.S. territories and parts of Canada and Mexico.

Shirley Luckhart

Shirley Luckhart, who received her doctorate in entomology in 1995 from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, joined the UC Davis faculty in 2004 from Virginia Tech. Since 1997, the National Institutes of Health has continuously funded her research on host-parasite interactions in malaria.

Highly regarded expertise on molecular cell biology and biochemistry of malaria parasite transmission, she is a Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2014. She and her colleagues drew international acclaim when Time Magazine, in 2010, named their work on a “malaria-proof” or genetically engineered mosquito as one of the “Top 50 Inventions of the Year,” ranking it No. 1 in the health category.

Her expertise on vector-borne diseases encompasses mosquito and black fly vectors of filarial nematodes and Lyme disease ecology as well as mosquito biology, disease pathogenesis, and transmission blocking agents for malaria

While most of her work has been lab-based, Luckhart has worked with collaborators in Kenya for the past 20 years and on highly productive field- and lab-based collaborative projects in Mali, Cameroon, and Colombia. Her career includes principal investigator on large awards to both national and international teams and co-director of multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) training grants. She currently serves on the NIH Vector Biology study section and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for the Biodefense and Emerging Infections Research Resources Repository (BEI Resources).

For the past five years, Luckhart has chaired the national BEI Vectors Focus Group, which works with NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leadership to significantly expand vector and vector-borne pathogen resources globally.

At UC Davis, she served as interim co-director of the Center for Vector-borne Diseases from 2014-15 and chaired the graduate level Designated Emphasis in the Biology of Vector-borne Diseases from 2012 to earlier this year. She also directs a large collaborative insectary facility at UC Davis, providing support to vector-borne disease research programs in the School of Medicine, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Luckhart has published 93 peer-reviewed articles, with more than 2500 citations, and five book chapters. Throughout her career, she has taught and mentored nine doctoral students, who have gone on to successful careers at the state, national or international level. In recognition of her work, she received mentoring awards from the UC Davis Consortium for Women and Research (2012) and the UC Davis Graduate Student Association (2016).

Luckhart will transition to the University of Idaho, effective May 15, as will her husband Edwin Lewis, associate dean for Agricultural Sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and former vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. They will expand their research programs and co-direct the new Center for Health in the Human Ecosystem, which will focus on how the impacts of land use, including agriculture, urbanization and deforestation, interact to impact transmission and control of disease agents of people, animals and plants.

Luckhart's primary appointment is in the Department of Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences (PSES) in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and her secondary appointment is in the Department of Biological Sciences. Lewis' appointment is in PSES.

Marek Borowiec

Marek Borowiec, who holds a master's degree in zoology from the University of Wroclaw, Poland, joined the Phil Ward lab in 2010, receiving training as a molecular phylogeneticist and computational biologist. Borowiec is now a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of evolutionary biologist/ant specialist Christian Rabeling, Arizona State University, where he studies the genomics of speciation and evolution of social parasitism in Formica ants.

One of the highlights of Borowiec's career: last year he won the coveted George C. Eickwort Student Research Award, sponsored by the North American Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI-NAS). 

“Marek is an astute and dedicated scientist, with an insightful mind, diverse interests, and trenchant drive,” wrote Phil Ward in the awards nominations packet. “Marek's Ph.D. research was motivated by a strong interest in the patterns and processes underlying the genesis of biological diversity. He explored this through a range of studies on ant systematics, phylogeny and biogeography. The principal focus was on the evolution of army ants—those charismatic and notorious creatures that have a profound ecological impact in many communities—and he showed decisively that the ‘army ant syndrome' evolved independently in the New World and Old World tropics, settling a long-standing controversy on this matter.

Borowiec has published more than 25 papers, many focusing on the phylogeny of army ants, relationships among “basal” lineages of ants, and a collaborative phylogenomic project on ants and their relatives.

Ralph Washington Jr.

Ralph Washington Jr., who received his bachelor of science degree in entomology at UC Davis in 2010, is known as an outstanding scholar and leader. He holds a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. He has also previously received a Gates Millennium Scholarship, a Ronald E. McNair Graduate Fellowship, and a Monsanto Graduate Student Scholarship.

Washington is active in leadership roles on the UC Davis campus, UC systemwide, and in PBESA and the Entomological Society of America (ESA). He captained the UC Davis Linnaean Games team to several first place wins at the PBESA level and then led his team in winning the national championship in both 2015 and 2016. He was an integral part of the UC Davis Student Debate Team that won the ESA's 2014 national championship. In addition, he swept first place in the Natural History Trivia Competition at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Naturalists.

Washington's leadership activities include 2015-2016 co-chair of the UC Council of Student Body Presidents, and 2015-2016 Chair of the UC Davis Graduate Students' Association. He was named Graduate Student of the Year in 2015 and 2016 at the UC Davis Black Affirmation Awards. He is currently president of the University of California Student Association. He is active in social justice issues, including gender-based violence and misconduct, and institutional oppression.

Washington was one of nine people invited to speak at TEDxUCDavis Conference (Igniting X). "All human beings are born curious, but the wrong conditions can jeopardize that curiosity," he said, speaking on “Science, Poverty and the Human Imagination.”

“Many children in poverty grow up feeling a lack of control over their circumstances, and this severely inhibits their ability to imagine a reality other than their own,” said Washington, who grew up in an impoverished family. “Targeted science education starting from a young age can inspire and help struggling children."

Other 2017 PBESA award recipients to be honored at the PBESA meeting in Oregon:

• Pacific Branch C.W. Woodworth Award:  Gerhard and Regine Gries, Simon Fraser University, Canada
• Award for Excellence in Teaching: Helen Spafford, University of Hawaii, Manoa
• Award for Excellence in Extension: Carol Black, Washington State University (WSU), Pullman
• Award for Excellence in Integrated Pest Management: Elizabeth Beers, WSU
• Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology Award: Ramesh Sagili, Oregon State University, Corvallis
• Plant-Insect Ecosystems Award: David Crowder, WSU
• Distinction in Student Mentoring: James Strange, USDA, Logan, Utah
• Excellence in Early Career: Sarah Woodard, UC Riverside
• John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Award: Amelia Lindsey, UC Riverside              
• Entomology Team Award: Lisa Neven, Wee Yee and Sunil Kumar, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins--for their project “Pest Risk Analyses for Temperate Fruit Flies in Exported Fruits Team”

 Congratulations, all!