As a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Edward “Eric” Grissell chased insects, pursued  toads and snakes, admired nasturtiums and scotch broom, and hunted for fossils that he acknowledged he never found. 

Dragonflies, cabbage white butterflies, skippers, and honey bees especially drew his attention. 

His choice of a career—entomologist, botanist, paleontologist, anthropologist, herpetologist, everything with an “ist”—“rested largely on what I could sneak into the house,” Grissell quipped, recalling that his mother wasn't terribly enthusiastic about bugs or snakes. In fact, she hated them.  “But I could hide a lot more bugs in my bedroom than I could snakes—take my word on it!”

 “I eventually gravitated to what was most abundant in my habitat, namely plants and bugs,” Grissell, would later write in his chapter, ‘City Toads and Country Bugs,” in Jean Adams' book,  Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology.  “Of the two, insects fulfilled a more immediate need than did plants. After all chasing butterflies was a lot more stimulating than chasing dandelions.” 

Born Aug. 10, 1944 in Washington, D.C., Eric lived in San Francisco from 1947 to 1952. His adventures led to his first published paid story ($2) in 1954 at age 12 in the San Francisco Examiner. “It was about a crawfish.” 

E. Eric Grissell went on to receive his master's degree and doctorate in entomology from the University of California, Davis, completing his Ph.D. in 1973. Grateful for the advice, encouragement, and opportunities given him, he is now giving back to the university that mentored, molded and motivated him.

Grissell, now retired and living in Sonoita, Ariz.,  has pledged a total of $50,000 in endowment funds to the UC Regents to establish the Law Family Award for the study of Systematic Entomology and the Law Family Award for the Study of Systematic Botany. Both awards will include matching support from the Dean's Circle Fund, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 

The entomology fund is geared for undergraduate and graduate students studying insect systematics, with preference for students associated with the Department of Entomology and Nematology's Bohart Museum of Entomology, named for his major professor, Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007). 

The botany fund is in appreciation for the mentoring, advice and assistance Grissell received from UC Davis botanist John Maurice Tucker, “Dr. Oak” (1916-2008), professor and longtime director of the UC Davis Herbarium. (See more information about the herbarium and its founders).

“My thesis and dissertation dealt with parasitoid wasps that prey on gall-forming insects (some of which cause gall formation on oaks),” Grissell said. “Any botanist at Davis during the last half-century knows that Dr. Oak was the foremost authority on the oak genus at the time.” Tucker identified Grissell's specimens and “was always willing to help.” 

Grissell received Sigma Xi and National Science Foundation grants to survey the western states for oak galls and reared parasitoids. Today many Grissell oak specimens are housed in the herbarium. 

“I ended up essentially minoring in botany because I've always had an interest in plants,” Grissell said. 

Fast forward to today. “The main reason I am supporting students in both the Plant Science and Entomology departments is that I received support when I needed it in the form of jobs from Richard Bohart (work study, research assistantship), much needed guidance and advice from John Tucker, and encouragement from both. Dick and his wife Margaret even housed and fed me for his last year of study. 

 “In those days tuition was not horrendous, as it is today, so one could actually work part time and afford tuition, room, and occasionally food,” Grissell said. “These days it seems as if students get by only if they have a whopping big loan, so any amount of help I can provide seems like a small return for the kindness shown to me by John, Dick, and all the other professors, technicians, and students with whom I was associ­ated at Davis. 

“The Law Family Award is named in recognition of the moral support given by family members who never under­stood my attraction to bugs but opted not to place me in a mental institution where I would have been much better off,” he joked. 

Following his UC Davis studies, Grissell accepted a position as a taxonomic entomologist for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services until 1978. From 1978 to 2005, he worked as a research entomologist for the Systematic Entomology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), located at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History. During his periods of employment, Grissell authored more than 100 papers, and served as editor of the Journal of Hymenoptera Research for seven years. Although retiring in 2005, he continues his work as a Smithsonian Institution research associate with the Museum of Natural History, and is a former adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland. 

Grissell authored several books published by Timber Press, including Bees, Wasps, and Ants: the Indispensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens (2010); Insects and Gardens, in Pursuit of a Garden Ecology, published in 2001 and recipient of  two of the "Top 10" 2002 Garden Globe Awards presented by the Garden Writers Association of America -- one for Best Book and one for Best Writer; and another award from the American Horticultural Society); A Journal in Thyme(published in 1994); and Thyme on My Hands (published in 1987).  He is currently writing a book on the history of garden zinnias.  He hopes to finish the book, about three-fourths finished, by the middle of next year. “I've tried to make the book readable by including many odds and ends associated with the garden zinnia.” 

In  his book, Bees, Wasps and Ants, he writes: “Few insects are more important than bees, wasps, and ants. They maintain the garden's biological balance, fertilize vegetables, fruits, and flowers, and recycle nutrients within the soil. It's no exaggeration to say that a garden can't be understood without an understanding of its insects.”

He dedicated Bees, Wasps and Ants  to Richard Bohart and his high school biology teacher, Ellsworth Hagen (Sir Francis Drake High School, San Anselmo), who helped him receive a student internship at UC Berkeley and introduced him to his first professional entomologist, Ken Hagen, well known in biological control circles. 

Grissell and fellow UC Davis entomologist Arnold Menke nominated Bohart for the International Society of Hymenopterists Distinguished Research Medal, which he received at a ceremony held May 15, 2006 in Briggs Hall. They also coedited an honorary edition of the Pan-Pacific Entomologist (vol. 59) on the occasion of Bohart's 70th birthday. “Doc Bohart” died Feb. 1, 2007 in Berkeley. 

Menke, a decade older than Grissell, was a postgraduate student in the Richard Bohart lab when Grissell was an undergraduate.  “I knew him because I helped Dick catalog wasps for his book,” Grissell recalled. “Arnold took a job with the Systematic Entomology Laboratory when he graduated and then a number of years later, I took a job in the same lab a few doors down the hallway in the U.S. National Museum. I lived near Arnold and we commuted to work together until he retired.“ Today they live about 60 miles from each other.

“Eric was one of a group of Doc Bohart's favorite students,” said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, professor of entomology at UC Davis, and one of Bohart's last graduate students.  She received her doctorate from UC Davis in 1979 and joined the faculty in 1989. “Eric is an excellent insect taxonomist and his research and writings have always brought together his interest in insects and plants. His generosity with this scholarship will help support and encourage students who share these interests.”

DAVIS--Professor Jay Rosenheim of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology has received the 2014 "Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award" in the College of Biological Sciences from the Associated Students of UC Davis.

Rosenheim was the winning recipient among several faculty nominated in the College of Biological Sciences. He teaches "Introduction to Biology: Principles of Ecology and Evolution (BIS 2B)." This is an introduction to basic principles of ecology and evolutionary biology, focusing on the fundamental mechanisms that generate and maintain biological diversity across scales ranging from molecules and genes to global processes and patterns, according to the course catalog.

The ceremony honoring Rosenheim and other nominees took place Monday, June 2 in the King Lounge of the Memorial Union.

This is the second time that Rosenheim has been honored with the Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award for teaching BIS 2B, a first-year biology course that he developed. In 2009, he received the "Excellence in Education Award" in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Students nominate and select the recipients.

In addition to BIS 2B, Rosenheim also teaches SAS 110 (Applications of Evolution in Medicine, Human Behavior, and Agriculture).   

Rosenheim is one of the co-founders of the UC Davis Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology with faculty members Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

Rosenheim joined the faculty in 1990. He received his bachelor of science degree from UC Davis in 1983 with a double major in entomology and genetics, and his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley in 1987. He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Hawaii, 1987-1989, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Israel from 1989 to 1990. His research involves insect ecology, with a focus on host-parasitoid, predator-prey, and plant-insect interactions interactions, with direct applications to biological control.

At the awards ceremony, the educator-of-the-year award went to Rebekka Andersen, an assistant professor in the University Writing Program.

The complete list of recipients, by college:

• College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences — Frank Mitloehner, associate professor, animal science.
• College of Biological Sciences — Jay Rosenheim, professor, entomology 
• College of Engineering — Stephen Robinson, professor, mechanical and aerospace engineering.
• College of Letters and Science — Abigail Boggs, lecturer, American studies.

DAVIS--How do you find justice in a more human world?

Why is there a gap between computational and artistic models of movement?

How does vegetation respond to microclimate?

When science and medicine change, how does that affect us?

Those are some of the topics to be explored Monday, June 2 at the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous  (LASER) event, part of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. 

The event, free and open to the public, takes place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Room 3001 of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Building, UC Davis campus.

The event begins with socializing and networking from 6:30 to 7 p.m. A break is planned from 7:15 to 8:10 p.m. to allow the audience to share their work intersecting art and science (30 seconds each), said moderator/coordinator Anna Davidson, a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and a teacher with the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program.

 The speaker schedule:

• Gene Felice, graduate student, at the University of California Santa Cruz, will speak on "Justice in a More Human World" from 7 to 7:25. 
• Michael Neff, associate professor in Computer Science and Cinema and Technocultural Studies at UC Davis, will speak on "The Gap Between Computational and Artistic Models of Movement"
• Danielle Svehla Christianson of the Berkeley Center for New Media, will discuss "The Gap Between: Computational and Artistic Models of Movement, “A Digital Forest: 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100” from 8:10 to 8:35 p.m.
• Joe Dumit, director of Science and Technology Studies and professor of anthropology at UC Davis, will speak on "Haptic Creativity: Seeing, Scaling and Storymaking with the KeckCAVES" from 8:35 to 9 p.m.

Brief Bios
Gene Felice, a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz, is enrolled in the DANM (Digital Arts and New Media) program and is currently working with OpenLab and the Mechatonics Research Group to develop his project Oceanic Scales. He  divides his research between art, design and education. He says this split allows him to develop balance between interactive art, living systems, and the latest available technology for new media. Felice maintains a hybrid practice at the intersection of nature and technology,developing symbiotically creative systems as arts/science research.

About his talk, Felice says: "We, as humans, are enmeshed in multiple and complex interactions within the more-than-human world." He and colleagues Sophia Magnone and Andy Murray, as individuals, "find problematic the ways in which these relationships are so often exploitative or taken for granted. In our independent work, we each address from a different perspective the ways in which humans and nonhumans are intertwined: Sophia inquires into the worlds of animals, cyborgs, objects, and other nonhumans in speculative fiction, tracing unexpected forms of agency, liveliness, and interaction. Gene explores the relationships between living systems and contemporary technology in an attempt to find balance and grace through interactions of art, science and education. Andy focuses on bioengineering, the creation of new complex collaborative relationships, and the effective discard of others. We have come together to merge our work around these topics and produce a shared set of provocative questions. We hope to use these questions as a jumping-off point for an event that will engage a broader community and generate awareness, reflexivity, and affinity."

Michael Neff, as an associate professor in Computer Science and Cinema and  Technocultural Studies at UC Davis, directs the Motion Lab, which he describes as "an interdisciplinary research effort in character animation and embodied input." He also co-directs the program, Cinema and Technocultural Studies. Neff holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and is a certified Laban Movement analyst. His interests include character animation tools, especially modeling expressive movement, physics-based animation, gesture and applying performing arts knowledge to animation. His honors include: National Science Foundation Career Award, the Alain Fournier Award for his dissertation, a best paper award from Intelligent Virtual Agents, and the Isadora Duncan Award for Visual Design.  

 

Danielle Svehla Christianson, a member of the Berkeley Center for New Media, studies microclimate: how vegetation responds to it; how it may occur in a warmer future; and how it scales up to climate represented at coarser spatial and temporal scales that are commonly used in models. She observes tree seedlings and measures the physical environment in Sequoia National Park to address these ecological questions. In addition, Christianson works to improve awareness of science and the natural world via visualizations.  Prior to pursuing her Ph.D. in the Energy and Resources Group with designated emphasis in New Media at UC Berkeley, Christianson co-authored Flora of the Santa Ana River and Environs (Heyday 2007) in which she first mixed natural history and visual communication. She holds a master's degree from Energy and Resources Group as well as a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Joe Dumit, director of Science and Technology Studies and professor of anthropology at UC Davis,who will speak on "Hpatic Creativity: Seeing, Scaling and Story-Making with the KeckCAVES." He  is also on the faculty of the Cultural Studies Ph.D program, and on the executive committee of the Performance Studies Graduate Group. Dumit studies how science and medicine change and how the lives of Americans, including consumers, patients, doctors and scientists also change as the nature of facts and evidence change. His first book, Picturing Personhood: Brains Scans and Biomedical America (Princeton University Press, 2004), looked at the development of PET scan brain imaging and what assumptions about brain anatomy, psychology, and human nature needed to be made in order to conduct experiments, and then how the images circulate through popular culture, courtrooms, and patients' lives. Dumit's second book, Drugs for Life: How Pharmaceutical Companies Define Our Health (Duke University Press, 2012), focuses on the way clinical trials are designed in ways that grow pharmaceutical treatments in the latter half of the 20th century.

The UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program was co-founded and is co-directed by two people: UC Davis entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and a former associate dean with the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and self-described "rock artist Donna Billick of UC Davis.

Ullman and Billick began teaching classes in the mid-1990s that led to the formation of the Art/Science Fusion Program. The program today includes design faculty, science faculty, museum educators, professional artists and UC Davis students. “Participants see and feel art and science, hold it in their hands, hearts and memories—in ceramics, painting, photographs, music, and textiles,” Ullman said.

The program, developed initially in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, is "an innovative teaching program that crosses college boundaries and uses experiental learning to enhance scientific literary for students from all disciplines," Ullman said. The program promotes environmental literacy with three undergraduate courses, a robust community outreach program, and sponsorship of the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASERs).  

For more information:

• UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program
• Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER)
• Upcoming Programs, LASER
• Plant and Environmental Sciences Building (map)

 Contact information: Anna Davidson, adavidson@ucdavis.edu.

DAVIS--“Seeing the Invisible: Art and Insects.” 

That's the theme of the June 6th public reception celebrating the work of Entomology 1 students and the accomplishments of Donna Billick, co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. The event will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. June 6 in the Third Space, 946 Olive Drive, Davis. 

It is free and open to the public.

Billick, a self-described "rock artist," co-founded the program with entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now Entomology and Nematology), and former associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Ullman and Billick began teaching classes in the mid-1990s that led to the formation of the Art/Science Fusion Program. The program today includes design faculty, science faculty, museum educators, professional artists and UC Davis students. “Participants see and feel art and science, hold it in their hands, hearts and memories—in ceramics, painting, photographs, music, and textiles,” Ullman said.

The program, developed initially in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, is described as "an innovative teaching program that crosses college boundaries and uses experiental learning to enhance scientific literary for students from all disciplines." The program promotes environmental literacy with three undergraduate courses, a robust community outreach program, and sponsorship of the Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASERs).  

The ENT 1 classes, taught by Ullman and Billick, are part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and affiliated with the Art/Science Fusion Program.  One of  the most visible and “wow!” projects is the 2,500 pound mosaic art, Nature's Gallery in the Storer Garden, UC Davis Arboretum. Showcasing the interaction of insects and plants, it's a product of the ENT 1 class and community outreach. It was initially displayed at the U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington D.C. and at the California State Fair.

Another project that draws much attention and acclaim is the Ent 1 art in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee garden on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.  

Billick created “Miss Bee Haven,” a six-foot-long honey bee sculpture that anchors the garden. "I like to play with words,” said Billick.

She also is the artist behind the colorful Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility's ceramic sign that features DNA symbols and almond blossoms. A hole drilled in the sign leads to a bee hive.

Billick toyed with a scientific career before opting for a career that fuses art with science. She received her bachelor of science degree in genetics in 1973 and her master's degree in fine arts in 1977, studying art with such masters as Bob Arneson, Roy De Forest, Wayne Thiebaud and Manuel Neri.

Billick traces her interest in an art career to the mid-1970s when then Gov. Jerry Brown supported the arts and offered the necessary resources to encourage the growth of art. He reorganized the California Arts Council, boosting its funding by 1300 percent.

Also in Davis, Billick created the whimsical Dancing Pigs sculpture and the Cow Fountain, both  in the Marketplace Shopping Center on Russell Boulevard; the Mediation sculpture at Central Park Gardens; and the Frawns for Life near the West Area Pond.

She maintains a compound in Baja, where she teaches three workshops a year called "Heaven on Earth." She has won numerous awards for her work.

For outstanding teaching, Diane Ullman was recently selected the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Award in Teaching from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America. She is now one of six candidates for the ESA Distinguished Teaching Award. ESA will select the recipient from one of six branches—Pacific, Eastern, North Central, Southeastern, Southwestern and International—and present the award at its Nov. 16-19 meeting in Portland, Ore.