- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Isman is listed as No. 2 among the world's top two percent of entomologists in a database announced by Stanford University with data from Elsevier's “science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators.”
Isman is internationally recognized for his discoveries and development of botanical insecticides and antifeedants, and for research in insect-plant chemical interactions and insect chemical ecology.
Isman, who received his doctorate from UC Davis in 1981, is the dean emeritus of the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Land and Food Systems and emeritus professor of entomology and toxicology at UBC. He's a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America (ESA).
A native of Vancouver, B.C., Isman received his bachelor's degree (1975) and his master's degree (1977) from the University of British Columbia before heading to UC Davis for his doctorate. A postdoctoral position in insect toxicology at UC Irvine followed. In 1983 he accepted a position as assistant professor in the UBC Department of Plant Science, attaining the rank of professor in 1994. He served as dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC from 2005–2014.
At UC Davis, Isman was the second graduate student of the late Sean Duffey. Faculty member Bruce Hammock, now a UC Davis distinguished professor, was a member of Isman's supervisory committee. "I think the last time I saw Bruce was in 2010 (also the last time I was on the UC Davis campus) when I delivered the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar to the Department of Entomology," he wrote this week in an email.
The biosketch singled out his teaching, research and public service, and his many accomplishments. Among his many honors, received the Entomological Society of Canada's Gold Medal in 2011, the C. Gordon Hewitt Award (1991) for outstanding achievement by an entomologist under the age of 40, and the PheroTech Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. In 2010 he delivered the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Lecture at UC Davis.
Murray presided over the International Society of Chemical Ecology (2002), the Phytochemical Society of North America (1993, he remains the only entomologist to have done so), and the Entomological Society of British Columbia twice (1988 and 1999). He also organized and chaired two conferences in Vancouver: the 14th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (1997) and the Fourth World Neem Conference (1999).
He still does.
"I officially retired in mid-2018, but served as Interim Director of UBC's Wine Research Centre from mid-2017 until mid-2020," Isman shared. "I spend most of my 'professional' time now serving on editorial boards of three international journals, reviewing grant proposals and continuing to do some modest consulting to pesticide companies in the USA and Australia."
"My main recreational activity is playing ice hockey (twice a week) with different senior (60+) teams. As a goalie, I hope to keep playing as long as my knees permit!"
He and his wife Susie have a daughter and a son. The Ismans will be in San Francisco for Thanksgiving to visit their daughter (a Columbia, UBC and UC-Berkeley alumna) and son-in-law (a Harvard and Oxford alumnus).
"I really should make a return visit to Davis on a future trip, something I suggested to (UC Davis distinguished professor and friend) Walter Leal."
Leal, who chaired the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2006-2008 before accepting a position in 2008 as professor of biochemistry in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is listed in the Stanford/Elsevier database as No. 22 among the world's top entomologists.
Other UC Davis entomologists on the list, in the order of ranking, are:
- Jay Rosenheim, No. 68
- Harry Kaya, 206
- Fumio Matsumura (1934-2012), 208
- James R. Carey, 232
- Robbin Thorp (1933-2019) 321
- Christian Nansen, 452
- Lester Ehler (1946-2016) 593
- Robert E. Page Jr., 548
- Frank Zalom, 557
Elsevier. Elsevier, a global information analytics company that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance, published its "science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators" on Oct. 4, 2023. The ranking of scientists is at https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw. It is a publicly available database "of top-cited scientists that provides standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). Separate data are shown for career-long and, separately, for single recent year impact. Metrics with and without self-citations and ratio of citations to citing papers are given. Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification. Field- and subfield-specific percentiles are also provided for all scientists with at least 5 papers. Career-long data are updated to end-of-2022 and single recent year data pertain to citations received during calendar year 2022. The selection is based on the top 100,000 scientists by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above in the sub-field. This version (6) is based on the October 1, 2023 snapshot from Scopus, updated to end of citation year 2022. This work uses Scopus data provided by Elsevier through ICSR Lab (https://www.elsevier.com/icsr/icsrlab). Calculations were performed using all Scopus author profiles as of October 1, 2023. If an author is not on the list it is simply because the composite indicator value was not high enough to appear on the list. It does not mean that the author does not do good work."
Scientists from China filtered the list to spotlight only entomologists. The list is at https://wxredian.com/art?id=9f6eea221698e282/. (See UC Davis news story)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Members of the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology design insect and arachnid-themed T-shirts that are all the fashion.
The critters climb, crawl, jump, roll, flutter, buzz, fly or otherwise position themselves on EGSA T-shirts.
If you've ever seen the EGSA booth at Briggs Hall during the campuswide annual UC Davis Picnic Day, you know how popular the T-shirts are.
They are hot-ticket items during the holiday season, too. They can be viewed and ordered online at https://mkt.com/UCDavisEntGrad/.
EGSA president Mia Lippey, a doctoral student in the laboratories of UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim and assistant professor Emily Meineke, says that currently, the designs offered are:
- The Beetles (in black or red)
- Entomo Gothic (a play on the American Gothic, in grey)
- Whip Scorpion (in lavender and black)
- Bee-Haw (in black)
- They See Me Rollin' (dung beetles rolling a poop, in heather blue)
- Et in Terra (dark green)
- Entomophagy (in blue and green)
All T-shirts come in sizes from XS to XXL.
"The Beetles" T-shirt is EGSA's all-time best seller. Instead of the English rock band John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star crossing Abbey Road in single file (that's the iconic image on the cover of their album, Abbey Road), think of The Beetles (four insects) crossing Abbey Road in single file. Beneath the images of the beetles are their family names: Phengogidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae and Scarabaeidae. Think glowworm, snout, long-horned, and scarab beetles.
One of the newer designs is "Bee Haw," of a honey bee disguised as a cowgirl, complete with hat and rope. The entomophagy ("eating insects") T-shirts are also "in," as are those that whip and roll--whip scorpions and dung beetles.
They are also great conversation pieces! What's that design on your shirt? Where did you get it?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Sometimes overlooked as pollinators are the syrphid flies, also known as "hover flies" or "flower flies."
Unfortunately, they are often mistaken for honey bees. Hey, if it's a critter on a flower, it's a bee, right?
Not necessarily!
Syrphid flies are easily distinguished from honey bees. Among the differences: (1) honey bees don't hover, (2) syrphids have only one pair of wings, while honey bees have two (3) syrphids have short, stubby antennae, while honey bees have long, bent antennae called genticulate antennae and (4) syrphids belong to the order Diptera, while honey bees are in the order Hymenoptera.
We spotted this syprhid fly soaking up some early-morning sun It stayed still for a dorsal photo and then sensing danger, slipped under a leaf.
Scientists estimate that there are more than 6200 species of syrphid flies in the world, and more than 3000 in California alone.
The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) has this to say about syprhids in its Natural Enemies Gallery post: "Adults are robust to slender flies 1/8 to 1 inch (4–25 mm) long, varying by species. The broad head is about the width of the abdomen or wider and has large eyes with distinct antennae. The body of many adults is black with bands or stripes of orange, yellow, or white, resembling stinging bees or wasps. Some species are mostly brown, metallic blue or green, yellow, or combinations of these or other colors. For example, adults of ant-predaceous Microdon species are blackish to brown or bright to dark greenish."
Many syrphids prey on aphids and mealybugs, so they're good guys and gals to have in your garden.
Says UC IPM: "Most species are predaceous, most commonly on aphids or mealybugs. Some syrphids prey on ants, caterpillars, froghoppers, psyllids, scales, other insects, or mites."
The good guys and gals of the garden...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
French evolutionary biologist Etienne GJ Danchin will discuss that topic at a seminar on Monday, Nov. 20, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The seminar is from 4:10 to 5 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall. It also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672
Danchin, known for his work on genomics and adaptive molecular evolution, is with INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) and is a senior scientist and scientific leader of the GAME team (Genomics and Adaptive Molecular Evolution) at ISA (Institut Sophia Agrobiotech), in Sophia-Antipolis, on the French Riviera.
"Root-knot nematodes are devastating plant parasites of worldwide importance. Interestingly, species that cause most damages reproduce entirely asexually," he writes in his abstract. "These nematodes are extremely polyphagous and have a wide geographic range. Theoretically, in the absence of sexual recombination animal species have lower adaptive potential and are predicted to undergo genome decay. To investigate how these species can be successful parasites on many hosts and in many places around the world, we have sequenced and analyzed their genomes. Out analysis confirmed these species are polyploid hybrids and the combination of several genotypes from different species might provide them with a general-purpose genotype. However, this does not explain how with a theoretically fixed genotype these species are able to overcome resistance genes or adapt to a new host. Therefore, we analyzed genomic variability across different populations and the possible mechanisms underlying genomic variations. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of our findings."
Etienne holds a doctorate in reproductive biology from the University of Paris (1980). He says on his website: "I am an evolutionary biologist working with genomes. I try to make biological sense of genomic singularities observed through comparative genomics. I have a special interest in plant parasites and I use bioinformatics as a tool to perform this research."
He lists his main research interests as:
- The impact of non tree-like evolution such as horizontal gene transfers and hybridization on species biology
- Evolution and adaptation of animals in the absence of sexual reproduction and the underlying mechanisms
- Genomic signatures of adaptation to a parasitic life-style
Seminar coordinator is Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of seminars is posted here.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Hammock, internationally recognized for discovering a new group of human chemical mediators, is a newly inducted Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS). (He's also our favorite to some day win the Nobel Prize, as we've told him many times!)
Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, was inducted along with 13 other Fellows on Nov. 14 during the annual Fellowship meeting. He joins the ranks of more than 500 Academy Fellows, a governing group of distinguished scientists and other leaders who have made notable contributions to scientific research, education, and communication.
“We're proud to announce 2023's distinguished pool of new Fellows—each of their contributions to science and society represent major advancements in their respective fields,” said Academy Dean of Science and Research Collections Shannon Bennett. “Our Fellows body is a group of future thinkers and innovators whose leadership inspires the next generation of scientists, science educators, story-tellers and change-makers. We look forward to forging a future with our new Fellows that advances the Academy's mission to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaborative partnerships.”
A member of the UC Davis faculty since 1980, Hammock was nominated by colleagues James R. Carey, UC Davis distinguished professor, and Robert E. Page Jr., UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor and emeritus provost of Arizona State University. The CAS Board of Trustees selects the Fellows.
Hammock discovered that regulating degradation of insect hormone mediators is as important as biosynthesis in development. He applied this toward the development of green chemical and the first recombinant viral pesticide. He asked if the same systems of metabolism of chemical mediators could be important in other species, notably man, resulting in the discovery of a new group of human chemical mediators. By inhibiting a key enzyme in this pathway, beneficial natural mediators increased there by showing benefit in treating multiple diseases including arthritis, cancer, Alzheimer's with the resulting drug candidates currently in human trials to treat pain.
Hammock founded the Davis-based pharmaceutical company, EicOsis LLC, formed in 2011 to develop an orally active non-addictive drug for inflammatory and neuropathic pain. The former chief executive officer, he now serves on the board of directors.
Hammock directed the UC Davis Superfund Research Program (funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) for nearly four decades, supporting scores of pre- and postdoctoral scholars in interdisciplinary research in five different colleges and graduate groups on campus.
He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the National Academy of Sciences., and the Entomological Society of America. He is the recipient of scores of awards, including the first McGiff Memorial Awardee in Lipid Biochemistry; and the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the America Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. At UC Davis he received the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Faculty Research Lectureship. In 2020, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from UC Davis Chancellor Gary May.
Hammock is known for his expertise in chemistry, toxicology, biochemistry and entomology. Early in his career, he founded the field of environmental immunoassay, using antibodies and biosensors to monitor food and environmental safety, and human exposure to pesticides. His groundbreaking research in insect physiology, toxicology led to his development of the first recombinant virus for insect control.
A native of Little Rock, Ark., Hammock received his bachelor's degree in entomology (with minors in zoology and chemistry) magna cum laude from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, in 1969. He received his doctorate in entomology-toxicology from UC Berkeley in 1973. Hammock served as a public health medical officer with the U.S. Army Academy of Health Science, San Antonio, and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation, Department of Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
In the Army, he served as a medical officer at Fort Sam, Houston, and what he saw--severely burned people in terrible pain--made a lasting impression on him and steered him toward helping humankind.
Fun Fact: For years Hammock--who believes science should be fun and camaraderie is crucial-- hosted water balloon battles on the Briggs Hall lawn. It was not "Fifteen Minutes of Fame"; it was "Fifteen Minutes of Aim." See Bug Squad blog.
Check out UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal's video of the Fellows' induction. (A screen shot is below) Leal is on X (used to be Twitter) at @wsleal2014.
