- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Professor Chiu is the newly announced faculty recipient of the 2023 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
The three-pronged Chancellor's Award, launched in 1994, annually honors three outstanding mentors: a graduate student; a postdoctoral fellow or project scientist; and a faculty member.
Chiu, who joined the faculty in 2010, focuses her research on the molecular and cellular biology of circadian rhythms and seasonal rhythms.
Doctoral candidate Christine Tabuloc of the Chiu lab--she'll be receiving her PhD this month--nominated her for the award. Five Chiu lab alumni submitted a group letter of recommendation. (See more on Department of Entomology and Nematology website.)
A native of Hong Kong and a first-generation college student, Joanna received her bachelor's degree in biology and music from Mount Holyoke College, Mass., 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.
Chiu joined the Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2010 as an assistant professor, and advanced to associate professor and vice Chair in 2016, and to professor and vice chair in 2021. She was named one of 10 UC Davis Chancellor's Fellows in 2019, a five-year honor awarded to associate professors who excel in research and teaching. The UC Davis Academic Senate honored her with a Distinguished Teaching Award, Graduate/Professional category, in 2022.
Chiu co-founded and co-directs (with Professors Jay Rosenheim and Louie Yang) the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, launched in 2011 to provide undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology. The program's goal is to 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.
What sparked your interest in science and in your field?
"In a way, maybe to try to escape from their expectations to be a doctor, I applied to attend college in the U.S.. far away from home so I can choose to study what I want. I did not know that research can be a career and I certainly have never ever dreamed of being a professor when I was a college student. I just know I love biological research so I can learn more about the natural world, I love asking questions, and I love the joy of discovery."
"In terms of my lab research focus in animal circadian rhythms, I first learned about this field of research in graduate school from my professors Justin Blau and Todd Holmes at New York University. I learned from them the extensive influence of internal biological clocks on animal physiology and behavior, and I have been hooked since."
What is your teaching/mentoring philosophy?
"As a first-generation college student and U.S. immigrant, I am familiar with the challenges faced by those who pursue a STEM career without a robust support system. This is why I value every opportunity to contribute to teaching and mentoring of diverse scientists and to create a safe space for them to learn and grow. Every student is different so I strive to provide tailored mentoring based on a trainee's learning style and career goals. It is obviously important for my trainees to learn about the scientific process, technical skills necessary for them to complete their research, and the subject matter relevant to their research project. But I feel that it is just as important or perhaps even more important for me to mentor them during their time in my lab so that they can learn about themselves and their career/life goals. I don't mentor my students so that they can all be like me; I guide them so that they can find their own paths."
She admires many teachers/mentors. "One of them is certainly my graduate advisor Professor Gloria Coruzzi. She is not only a very successful scientist, she is also one of the most determined and resilient person I have ever met. To be honest, I don't think I fully appreciated many of the lessons I learned from her until I started my own research program."
"My postdoctoral advisor Isaac Edery is another mentor I admire; he has incredible patience as a mentor and he was the person who made me understand teaching/mentoring is definitely not one size fits all. He is certainly one of the kindest persons I have met."
What are some of your outside interests?
"Outside of my research and my job, I really enjoy spending time with my dogs (Oliver and Kaia are Golden Retrievers and Phoebe is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever). We do conformation, scentwork, obedience, dock diving, retriever training, and are starting to train in agility. I love to learn how to communicate with my dogs through all these activities. They all have different personalities. I also love going to competition and trials with them, meeting other dogs and owners; I really enjoy the camaraderie and we cheer each other on."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The multi-talented professor, researcher, teacher and editor--with a deep background in administration--is the newly appointed Associate Dean for Research and Outreach for Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
"Jason's position is effective today, Oct 25," announced Dean Helene Dillard. "Jason succeeds Anita Oberbauer, who was reappointed earlier this summer as executive associate dean for the college."
"He has a long history at land-grant institutions, beginning with his Ph.D. in evolutionary systematics and genetics at Virginia Tech and later as a postdoctoral researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago," she related.
In an email to fellow members of his department today, Bond wrote: "Like everyone, the events over the last year and half related to the pandemic, like how we communicate science, global change, and the massive social problems these issues are revealing, have really left an impression on me, and consequently feeling like I should be doing more. I have been impressed with Dean Dillard and the group that she has advising her, and am really excited about the opportunity to help facilitate the research, outreach, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) missions of the College in a meaningful way."
Bond added that he has "no intention of abandoning my research/systematics program, teaching, or other Departmental obligations." He noted that he and his wife, Kristen (who coordinates a nurse training program for Dignity Health) graduated their only daughter this past June from Davis High School and "we are now empty nesters."
Professor Bond joined the UC Davis faculty in 2018 from Auburn University, where he directed the Auburn University Museum of Natural History (2011–2016), and served as professor and chair of the Auburn Department of Biological Sciences (2016–2018). He played a major role in the design and construction of a new state-of-the-art collections facility. He also directed the Alabama Natural Heritage Program, guiding its conservation activities of endangered and threatened species in the Southeast.
Bond was recently named co-editor-in-chief of the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity (ISD), published by the Entomological Society of America, and will serve a four-year term, starting Jan. 1. His credentials also include associate editor of Systematic Biology (2019–present) and editor of New World Mygalomorphae for Zootaxa (2016–present).
In his research, Bond specializes in the evolutionary diversification of terrestrial arthropods, specifically spiders, millipedes, and tenebrionid beetles; and researches the landscape scale genomics of California species, with an emphasis on understanding the impact of global change on biodiversity. (See Bond laboratory.) He is also a principal investigator associated with the California Conservation Genomics Project, a state-funded initiative with a single goal: to produce the most comprehensive, multispecies, genomic dataset ever assembled to help manage regional biodiversity.
Born in Johnson City, Tenn., Jason spent his childhood in Lewisville, N.C., a small town just outside of Winston-Salem. His American roots run deep; his ancestors made munitions for George Washington's army. His father grew up on the campus of East Tennessee State University, where his grandfather served as head of facilities. “The Bond Building” bears his name.
Jason received his bachelor's degree in biological sciences, cum laude, in 1993 from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, and his master's degree in biology in 1995 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg. He earned his doctorate in evolutionary systematics and genetics in 1999 from Virginia Tech.
A veteran of the U.S. Army, Bond served for a number of years as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crew chief.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Gathering your family and friends? Watching football? Eating black-eyed peas? Trying to keep a resolution? (Or keeping a resolution NOT to make a resolution?)
How about looking for a cabbage white butterfly in the three-county area of Yolo, Sacramento or Solano, starting Friday? You could win yourself a pitcher of beer or its equivalent.
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, is hosting his annual "Beer for a Butterfly" contest that he launched in 1972.
If you collect the first live cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) of 2016 within that three-county area and it's verified as the winner, that beer is yours.
Beer for a butterfly.
Shapiro sponsors his annual contest to draw attention to Pieris rapae and its first flight.
It's part of his four-decade study of climate and butterfly seasonality that he began in 1971. “It is typically one of the first butterflies to emerge in late winter. Since 1972, the first flight has varied from Jan. 1 to Feb. 22, averaging about Jan. 20.”
Shapiro, who is in the field more than 200 days a year, usually wins his own contest because he knows where to look. He won the 2015 contest by netting a cabbage white at 12:30 p.m.. Monday, Jan. 26 in West Sacramento, Yolo County. The site: a mustard patch near the railroad tracks.
“It was a very easy catch; I suspect he emerged that morning and that was his first flight.”
Has he seen any lately? “It was flying as of Dec. 22,” he said.
Although the first flight of the cabbage white has been as late as Feb. 22, Shapiro says it is emerging earlier and earlier as the regional climate has warmed. “There have been only two occasions in the 21stcentury in which it has come out this late: Jan 26, 2006 and Jan 31, 2011.”
The professor, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Entomological Society and the California Academy of Sciences, maintains a research-based website on butterflies at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/. He and biologist/writer/photographer Tim Manolis co-authored A Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions, published in 2007 by the University of California Press.
Shapiro says the cabbage white butterfly inhabits vacant lots, fields, and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow. The butterfly, which has black dots on the upperside (they may be faint or not visible in the early season), inhabits vacant lots, fields and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow.
The male is white. The female is often slightly buffy; the "underside of the hindwing and apex of the forewing may be distinctly yellow and normally have a gray cast,” Shapiro says. “The black dots and apical spot on the upperside tend to be faint or even to disappear really early in the season.”
The contest rules include:
- It must be an adult (no caterpillars or pupae) and be captured outdoors.
- It must be brought in alive to the department office, 2320 Storer Hall, UC Davis, during work hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the full data (exact time, date and location of the capture) and your name, address, phone number and/or e-mail. The receptionist will certify that it is alive and refrigerate it. (If you collect it on a weekend or holiday, keep it in a refrigerator; do not freeze. A few days in the fridge will not harm it.)
- Shapiro is the sole judge.
Shapiro has been defeated only three times since 1972. And all by his graduate students. Adam Porter defeated him in 1983; and Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s.
Meanwhile, Pieris posse, get ready, get set...It's almost time to chase a cabbage white.