- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The three founders and directors: UC Davis Distinguished Professor Jay Rosenheim, an insect ecologist (now emeritus as of June 2024); Professor Louie Yang, a community ecologist; and Professor Joanna Chiu, molecular geneticist and physiologist, and now chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"Our goal is to develop a long-term mentoring relationship for students, to extend until the completion of the undergraduate program (usually 2 to 3 years)," Rosenheim said.
They are and they have. The success stories are amazing.
Meet Kaitai Liu, an outstanding entomology major, scholar, researcher, and volunteer. He is as dedicated to insect science as he is passionate.
As a RSPIB scholar, Kaitai joined the arachnid and systematics lab of Professor Jason Bond, who triples as the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology; director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology; and associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. The Bond lab motto: "Studying arthropod diversity to inspire appreciation for life on Earth."
It's a perfect fit.
"When I was about 4 or 5, my grandfather wanted to keep me away from television and video games, so he took me outside and caught me bugs like cicadas and grasshoppers to play with," Kaitai recalled. "That was how I got into the world of insects, and somehow, I became really into insects. My parents supported me after noticing my fascination with insects. They always took me to the mountains to collect insects and observe nature, and they encouraged me to learn from books and the Internet. Jean-Henri Casmir Fabre became my childhood idol after I read his book Souvenirs entomologiques--of course, it was a Chinese children's book version--and I gradually formed the idea of becoming an entomologist like Fabre. I guess that is why I am still super interested in insect taxonomy now."
Kaitai's initial plan was to attend a university in China. "In high school, I participated in the Chinese National Biology Olympiad, known as a super difficult, highly competitive event, and to prepare for it, I read more than 30 college-level textbooks in a year," Kaitai related.
Next: which university to study entomology?
Kaitai chose UC Davis for its highly ranked entomology program.
He's now 21 and it's been a busy three years at UC Davis. He was recently featured in UC Davis piece on “Student Entomologists Gain Hands-on Skills in Insect Biology.” Wrote writer José Vadi: “Bond's lab matches Liu's passion--using systematics and taxonomy to describe and define new species--as well as studying the evolution of spiders and millipedes.” Kaitai holds at 3.95 GPA.
To date, Kaitai has been involved in three research projects: from millipedes to turret spiders to the California Insect Biodiversity and Barcode Project, the latter part of Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order on climate change to document all insect life in California:
- Investigation of the skeletal musculature structure and homology of millipedes' gonopods: "The gonopod is the male millipede's copulatory organ that is derived from walking legs, which is important for species identification," Kaitai explained. "I helped construct 3D models of gonopods from micro-CT images using ITK-SNAP and then compared and homologized the structure of the sclerites and muscles in different millipede groups using 3D visualizations."
- Evaluation of morphological variations and population structure in Atypoides riversii, commonly known as the California turret spider. "It's an endemic mygalomorph spider to northern and central California. Phylogeographic studies show that A. riversi is separated into multiple parapatric and allopatrically distributed populations, indicating that A. riversi is a species complex. My job was to generate somatic morphological data (length and width of the head, length of legs, etc.) from female specimens from different populations using a dissecting microscope equipped with Analysis Suite Software. Then, we applied Principal Component Analysis to a continuous variable dataset to evaluate morphological divergence in light of the species tree."
- California Insect Biodiversity and Barcode Project: This state-funded, collaborative project with the Bond lab and the Bohart Museum, aims to document all the insect species throughout California. "My job is to select specimens collected in California from the Bohart Museum of Entomology collection based on their quality and age, then confirm the identification and the validity of the scientific name of the specimens. I also relocate and correct misidentified specimens and outdated names. Lastly, I capture a series of images of the specimens using the Giga-Macro imaging system and stack the images with the Zerene Stacker." To date, he has prepared more than 700 specimens for the project. Next step: to collect tissues from the specimens and preserve them for DNA extraction and sequencing.
Future plans? Obtain a doctorate in entomology, become a professor, and specialize in rain beetles.
His primary activities at UC Davis focus on insects. A core member of the UC Davis Entomology Club, he has participated in multiple camping and collecting trips, including three collecting trips to Arizona. He helps plan the itinerary, and "I organize, drive and cook." In the meantime, he has built a large personal insect collection. "I spent a lot of my free time looking for bugs on campus and around Davis."
Kaitai also participates in the annual UC Davis Picnic Day Parade with fellow members, and loves to introduce the public to insects. This year during the Picnic Day entomological activities at Briggs Hall, he taught visitors how to use an insect net.
With his passion for entomology comes his passion for volunteerism. At the Bohart Museum of Entomology open houses, he enjoys introducing everyone--from toddlers to senior citizens--to the live petting zoo, which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.
"It is a really cool experience," Kaitai said of helping out at the Bohart Museum open houses. "I feel like this is a way to contribute to entomology. I like to see people overcome their entomophobia after learning about insects, and it makes me happy when I see people eager to learn about insects."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
At least, the UC Davis headlines!
We're delighted to see that UC Davis undergraduate student Juan Amado “Ado” Sales, a member of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology and a laboratory assistant for nematologist Shahid Siddique, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has just been awarded a coveted summer fellowship from the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health (ILFH) to do independent research on parasitic nematodes.
As we wrote in a news story today, Sales submitted his successful research application on “Toward a More Resistant Plant: Uncovering Plant Host Targets of Novel Plant Parasitic Nematode Effectors.” He is one of only four students to be awarded the summer fellowship.
Sales, who is on track to receive his bachelor's degree in biotechnology (with an emphasis on plant biotechnology) in June 2022, draws high praise from Siddique.
“Ado is a highly gifted student with a strong interest in agriculture and plant biology,” said Siddique. “I have really enjoyed one-on-one interaction with Ado and I have observed him growing academically and intellectually. He has a level of maturity in his research, including contributing ideas for troubleshooting, that I had no hesitations about giving him the space to continue his project independently. The IIFH fellowship program will add to his personal and professional growth and contribute to the experience of first-generation immigrant students like himself.”
ILFH awards Undergraduate Research Center Fellowships (URC-IIFH) to faculty-guided undergraduate students who perform research related to food, agriculture and health. Each fellow receives a summer research stipend, and funds for travel and/or research supplies. The fellows also will participate in professional development and entrepreneurship training, including the on-campus Entrepreneurship Academy. They will present their research results at the annual IIFH Innovator Summit in spring 2022, with opportunities to participate in the UC Davis Little Bang poster competition and the Big Bang competition.
His research involves RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and gel electrophoresis, as well as GreenGate Cloning of plant parasitic nematodes genes. His skills also include seed germination and nematode hatching for plant-nematode assays, and the microscopic evaluation of nematode damage on plants.
Sales' journey to the Siddique lab began in May 2019 when he was selected a research scholar in the campuswide program, Research Scholar in Insect Biology (RSPIB), launched by UC Davis Entomology and Nematology faculty Jay Rosenheim, Joanna Chiu and Louie Yang to provide undergraduates with a closely-mentored research experience in biology. Students join in their first or second year and are placed in a faculty mentor's laboratory where they receive ongoing training and career guidance in research and scientific writing. They also learn how to present their research results at professional scientific meetings and to prepare applications for graduate or professional schools.
His research involves RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and gel electrophoresis, as well as GreenGate Cloning of plant parasitic nematodes genes. His skills also include seed germination and nematode hatching for plant-nematode assays, and the microscopic evaluation of nematode damage on plants.
Sales' journey to the Siddique lab began in May 2019 when he was selected a research scholar in the campuswide program, Research Scholar in Insect Biology (RSPIB), launched by UC Davis Entomology and Nematology faculty Jay Rosenheim, Joanna Chiu and Louie Yang to provide undergraduates with a closely-mentored research experience in biology. Students join in their first or second year and are placed in a faculty mentor's laboratory where they receive ongoing training and career guidance in research and scientific writing. They also learn how to present their research results at professional scientific meetings and to prepare applications for graduate or professional schools.
Sales enrolled in Rosenheim's class, BIS2B (Introduction to Biology, Ecology and Evolution) and the rest is history, as they say.
It was in the Rosenheim class that Sales learned about RSPIB, joined the Siddique lab, and applied for--and received--the summer fellowship.
Well done, Ado Sales.
Next step? Explaining what the study of nematology (microscopic round worms) is all about? Read what Siddique says about plant parasitic nematodes.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What an honor and so well-deserved!
Yang will receive the Outstanding Faculty Academic Advising Award from NACADA, also known as the Global Community for Academic Advising, at its Sept. 30-Oct. 3 conference in Phoenix, Ariz. He earlier received the 2017 Faculty Advisor Award of Excellence in NACADA's Pacific Region 9, comprised of California, Nevada and Hawaii.
The accolades flow.
“Professor Yang is dedicated to helping students link their academic studies to research and other careers,” said associate dean Susan Ebeler of Undergraduate Academic Programs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “ He has developed innovative mentoring programs that help students develop as scholars and scientists and he is committed to enhancing diversity and retention in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. He has made exemplary contributions to student success in our college and campus-wide and it is great to see his contributions recognized.”
Yang, an associate professor who joined the UC Davis faculty in 2009, teaches Insect Ecology and Field Ecology. He holds a bachelor's degree (ecology and evolution) from Cornell University, 1999 and received his doctorate from UC Davis in 2006.
He is known for fostering creative and critical thinking, and challenging his students to succeed by linking their academic studies to research and other goals.
“Professor Yang epitomizes what makes a great professor: his command of the subject matter, his ability to stimulate discussions and involvement, and his kindly concern for their education, welfare and success,” said nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “He engages and challenges students in his lectures, in the lab, and in the field and encourages them not only to expect success but to pursue their goals.”
“His mentees not only include undergraduate and graduate students, but high school students and postdoctoral scholars and beyond,” Nadler said. “He attends to the unique needs and interests of each student, respecting their perspectives and ideas. Mentorship, he finds, is really about helping students identify the questions that they want to ask. His success is their success."
An important part of his advising is his work in the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB), a campuswide program co-founded by Jay Rosenheim, Joanna Chiu and Yang. Aware that some of the most important skills for research biologists cannot be taught in big lecture halls or even in lab courses, they set out to help students learn cutting-edge research through close mentoring relationships with faculty. The program 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. The goal? 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.
In addition to RSPIB mentoring, Yang mentors many undergraduates in his lab. He has welcomed and mentored students from UC Davis and from around the country with the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program and the UC Davis-Howard University Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Ecology and Evolution Graduate Admissions Pathways (EEGAP) program
In the past year, Yang mentored 15 undergrads in his lab in studies that included: the nonconsumptive effects on monarch development to see if parasitoid avoidance behaviors in early development have a long-term cost for monarch development; the factors that contribute to herbivory by generalist herbivores on milkweed; the effects of a recently observed plant foliar fungal pathogen on milkweed on monarch growth and development; the costs of switching milkweed species for monarch larvae; and the density dependence in larval and adult blue milkweed beetles.
Former student Allyson Earl, now a researcher in Guam, credits Yang with shaping her academic career: "I had the pleasure of working under Louie Yang for the last year of my undergraduate degree at UC Davis as one of his research assistants. I watched as he worked tirelessly with several other student assistants in the lab on personal projects focused on our study subjects, Monarch butterflies. His mentorship style in these projects was one that guided students to draw their own conclusions rather than handing them answers, leading them to ask more complex questions and develop themselves as better students and scientists. I can say with confidence, he not only nurtured my desire to study the intricacies of ecology, but also to pursue a career in this field, without his guidance and support I would not be where I am today."
Yang also launched the Monitoring Milkweed-Monarch Interactions for Learning and Conservation (MMMILC) Project in 2013 for high school students in the environmental science program at Davis Senior High School or those associated with the Center for Land-Based Learning's GreenCorps program. They monitor milkweed-monarch interactions in a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Yang and UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students serve as mentors.
Established in 1983, the NACADA Annual Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising within higher education. Its membership totals more than 11,000.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Jessica, who is majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, works in the Chiu lab on the Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii or SWD), a serious pest of fruit crops. In collaboration with scientists in the U.S. and around the world, including Frank Zalom, UC Davis professor of entomology, West is surveying populations of SWD using next-generation sequencing to determine the extent of possible insecticide resistance.
“By correlating her results to insecticide bioassay data, she can start to understand the mechanisms of developing resistance and use this information to help the agricultural industries manage SWD in a more sustainable manner,” said Chiu, an assistant professor.
The UC Global Food Initiative “is a commitment to apply a laser focus on what UC can do as a public research university, in one of the most robust agricultural regions in the world, to take on one of the world's most pressing issues," said UC President Janet Napolitano. This includes research related to food security, health and sustainability.
West received a $2500 stipend. The selection committee said “Jessica's ability to articulate a novel, hypothesis-driven research idea and follow it up with a detailed plan stood out from the rest.”
Said Chiu: “Jessica wrote an outstanding research proposal, detailing how her project can contribute to the mission of the UC Global Food Initiative.”
West applied for--and received--membership in the Class of 2013, Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIP), which was organized by three UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty (Jay Rosenheim, Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu) to provide undergraduates with closely mentored research experiences 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 and useful for students whose career goals will take them to medical school, veterinary school, or graduate programs in any biological sub-discipline."
Undergraduates can easily feel like they are lost in the crowd, Chui said, and rarely get close mentorship from faculty or other research staff. The RSIBP program fills that bill. “It is highly competitive and being selected is not an easy feat in itself,” Chiu said. West was one of eight students from the pool of 50 applicants selected.
Insects can be used as model systems to explore virtually any area of biology (population biology; behavior and ecology; biodiversity and evolutionary ecology; agroecology; genetics and molecular biology; biochemistry and physiology; and cell biology).
The Chiu lab collaborates with the Zalom lab and with research groups at Oregon State University, Washington State University, North Carolina State University, University of Georgia, and Cornell University to develop pest management strategies to combat SWD. Most drosophila flies feed on spoiled fruits, but SWD prefers fresh fruit (berries and soft-skinned fruits). The national crop loss has been estimated at more than $700 million annually.
“As a result, to control pest population and reduce crop loss, growers now rely on preventive applications of broad-spectrum neuroactive insecticides,” Chiu explained. “The selection pressure for insecticide resistance is therefore extremely high and will likely lead to resistance development in SWD, which threatens the sustainability of these high value crops.”
“Our laboratory has already set up a large network of collaborators all over the world to support this project,” Chiu said. “Jessica regards this project as an opportunity to explore new research areas, while contributing to an urgent food crisis as the crop industries and growers all over the world are becoming gravely concerned. “
Jessica West and her mentor, Joanna Chui, are a good fit. And that should mean bad news for the spotted wing drosophila.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No wonder. The insect, measuring about 1.5 millimeters long, is much smaller than a grain of rice.
Now, however, they can see a teddy-bear-sized version, thanks to a University of California, Davis entomology major Kristina Tatiossian, a member of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology.
Through the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, Tatiossian, a junior, crafted a ceramic mosaic sculpture of the tiny walnut twig beetle for her research poster, “Flight Response of the Walnut Twig Beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, to Aggregation Pheromones Produced by Low Densities of Males.”
The beetle jutting from the poster is so true to form that scientists studying the insect not only readily recognize it, but point out that it’s a female. That includes her mentor, chemical ecologist and forest entomologist Steve Seybold of the Davis-based Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, and an affiliate of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Seybold and Andrew Graves, a former UC Davis researcher with the UC Davis Department of Plant Pathology, who now works for the USDA Forest Service, first detected the newly recognized beetle-fungus disease, known as Thousand Cankers Disease (TCD), in California in 2008. TCD had been detected earlier in Colorado and its impact had been noted even earlier in New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah. TCD and its history are chronicled in a newly revised “Pest Alert” issued by the USDA Forest Service.
Tatiossian accomplished the research project as part of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, which aims to provide undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology. Headed by professor Jay Rosenheim, and assistant professor Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, the program currently has 12 students; students apply when they are freshmen, sophomores or transfer students. Tatiossian joined the program in 2011 and is mentored by Steve Seybold.
Tatiossian completed the ceramic mosaic project over a four-week period. She earlier worked on two UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program projects, including the “Tree of Life,” with the program’s founders, entomologist/artist Diane Ullman and artist Donna Billick. A former Los Angeles resident, Tatiossian will receive her bachelor’s degree in entomology this June and then plans to attend graduate school to study either biochemistry or virology.
Tatiossian will giving an oral presentation on her research at the Pacific Branch, ESA meeting, set for April 7-10 at South Lake Tahoe. Then she will display the poster again in the Undergraduate Research Conference at UC Davis on April 24 in Wellman Hall.
By itself, the beetle, native to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Mexico, does little or no damage. But when coupled with the newly described fungus, Geosmithia morbida, it is killing thousands of walnut trees.
The disease is creating havoc throughout much of the western United States, Seybold said, and is now heading east. Its primary host is the black walnut tree but it also attacks other walnut trees.
“Male WTB initiate new galleries and produce an aggregation pheromone, which can be used to study patterns of initial host colonization behavior of WTB. It has been previously shown by Graves and colleagues (2010) that as the number of males in a branch is increased from 20 to 200, the flight response of males and females is similarly increased,” she wrote. “We investigated flight responses to lower numbers of males in cut branch sections of northern California black walnut, Juglans hindsii.”
Her objective: “To determine the minimum number of males in an artificially infested branch of Juglans hindsii necessary to elicit a flight response from WTB.” She found that as little as one to five males is enough to elicit the aggregation response at her field study sites at two locations in Davis.
The poster will be displayed on the third floor of Briggs Hall, just outside the Department of Entomology’s administration office.
On her poster, Tatiossian credits Seybold; Extension entomologist Mary Louise Flint, associate director for Urban and Community IPM, UC Statewide Integrated Pest Program; entomology graduate student Stacy Hishinuma, and postdoctoral researcher Yigen Chen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
And the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program where the tiny walnut twig beetle sprang to life.
