Oct. 22, 2012
This is part of the Entomology 1 and UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program course taught by Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, co-founders of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
“We welcome all members of the UC Davis community to participate, especially those in Insect Science, Design and Techno-Cultural Studies,” said Brady, the creator of the Insect News Network.
“I will be stepping beyond the standard boundaries of insect science into the emerging, unexplored territory of cultural entomology,” Brady said. “Since over 50 percent of the world's population now lives in cities-- and more than 250 million Americans live in or around urban areas -- a bold new interpretation of the human-insect interdependence is essential. There is ample evidence that this is already in the works: cultural entomology examines the microcosm in over 60 fields of human endeavor not traditionally examined by insect science.
“In this talk I will offer vivid examples in architecture, tattoos, grafitti, video games, digital design, media, fashion, and urban tribes,” he said, adding that he will frame the discussion “in a contemporary context for the student populace, citing entertainment celebrities, blockbuster video games and films, and cultural luminaries who are re-defining our concepts about life on Earth.”
“I set the stage for the catalysis of an urban re-evolution regarding Insects, spiders and other organisms that run the planet. We will discuss practical, compelling and sublime examples of the influence of insects, and the origins of the insect tribe.”
The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded in 2006, is a pioneering program in the use of an art-science fusion paradigm in undergraduate education and community outreach.
Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is the associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Billick, a self-described “rock artist,” is an alumna of UC Davis (bachelor of science degree in genetics in 1973 and her master’s degree in fine arts in 1977).
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 22, 2012
Dadala, an associate professor in the Department of Sericulture in Tirupati, India, was notified of the honor Oct. 18. She is expected to begin her eight-month Fulbright-Nehru-2013 senior research fellowship in August.
“This is a highly competitive and a huge honor,” said Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology. "We are thrilled to have her back as part of the laboratory family."
Specifically, Dadala is researching genes for insect specific enzymes that metabolize the juvenile hormone (JH) and how they can be expressed to develop recombinant baculovirus.
During the 35-minute oral interview, she was asked: “Baculovirus expression can be done in India, too, in many labs. How do you justify?”
“Yes, it’s true,” she told them, “but beyond baculovirus expression, I'm looking for the able mentorship of Professor Bruce Hammock, to study and explore the endogenous role of JHEH (Juvenile Hormone Epoxide Hydrolase) protein which can be further brought forth as a biopesticide.”
“They were well pleased with the answer,” Dadala told Hammock in an email.
“Further, looking at my application and your consent letter, one of the board members said ‘Your mentor seems to be a very big guy in the United States.”
Dadala told them “very true. It’s my privilege to get his consent and learn from him.”
Dadala, a researcher in the Hammock lab from July 13, 2007 through June 8, 2008, is the lead author of Integrated Insect Pest Management-Physiological and Molecular Approaches, with Sreedevi Kolla. Of the 148-page book, published by VDM Publishing, they wrote: “The agricultural land is becoming a scarce resource with increased pressure of population wherein ways to enhance the crop productivity needs to be strengthened. One of the focuses is to curb the crop losses due to insect pests in a sustainable manner. The alarming and detrimental effects of chemical pesticides on environment and non target organisms, integrated pest management has been evolved with viable, benign and ecofriendly strategies. As juvenile hormone (JH) plays an important role in insect's physiology and reproduction, the systems (metamorphosis, moulting and reproduction) related to JH are potential targets of pest management. Genes for insect specific enzymes that metabolize JH can be expressed to develop recombinant baculovirus, which can disrupt physiology and in turn becomes detrimental to the pest itself. Further, the role of JH binding protein, Ecdysone receptor proteins are also explored for biocontrol strategies. Development of novel recombinant baculovirus biopesticide and its applicability are discussed.”
She is also a co-author of “The Role of a- and b-hydrolase Fold Enzymes as Biopesticides in Pest Management” published last year in the Journal of Biopesticides. It is online at
http://www.jbiopest.com/users/LW8/efiles/Vol_5_0_233_238F.pdf
Hammock, who has a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, directs the campuswide Superfund Research Program, the National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program and the NIEHS Combined Analytical Laboratory. He is a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and the recipient of the UC Davis Faculty Research Lecture Award in 2001 and the Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate and Professional Teaching in 2008.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 15, 2012
The public event, themed “The Bounty of Pollination: More Than Just Honey,” is set from 1 to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 27 in the RMI’s Silverado Vineyards Sensory Theatre, UC Davis campus.
The event will feature award-winning cinematographer, director and producer Louie Schwartzberg whose film “The Beauty of Pollination” has resulted in more than 23 million views on YouTube. Schwartzberg will give his presentation at 2:50 p.m. Another key speaker is pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology, who will discuss “Integrated Pollination Strategies: Managed and Wild Bees for a Sustainable Future” at 3:30 p.m.
Amina Harris, executive director of the RMI Honey and Pollination Center and owner of Z Specialty Food, Woodland, will speak on “Honey Tastings Across America” from 1:15 to 1:45 p.m.
Also on the agenda:
--Victoria Wojcik, associate program manager of the Pollinator Partnership, based in San Francisco, will discuss “The World of Pollinators” from 1:45 to 2:15 p.m.
--Julie Loke, teaching kitchen educator at Davis Co-Op, “Varietal Honeys—Blending the Flavors in the Kitchen” from 4:05 to 4:35 p.m.
RMI executive director Clare Hasler-Lewis and Edwin Lewis, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, will welcome the crowd. Lewis and Andy Waterhouse, professor of enology in the Department of Viticulture and Enology, are the newly selected faculty chairs of the Honey and Pollination Center.
Following the program, a reception at 4:35 p.m. will include honey wine (mead) tasting; varietal honey tasting; the second annual “Best Honey” competition; a bee observation hive from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis; displays from Queen Sheba Winery, Woodland; Sky River Meadery, Redmond, Wash., and Z Specialty Foods; and UC Davis displays from Shields Library, Bohart Museum of Entomology, and the UC Davis Bookstore
The organizers promise “an afternoon of lively discussions, unique tastings and interesting displays on the science behind honey and the non-honey bee pollinators.”
Tickets are $60 per person. Friends of RMI, faculty, staff and students will be admitted for $50. For online registration and other information, see the RMI website.
For the honey competition, any beekeeper can drop off a jar of honey, with a business card and a summary of the honey to the RMI office on Wednesday, Oct. 24. There is no charge to enter the honey competition, said RMI event coordinator Tracy Dickinson
RMI executive director Clare Hasler-Lewis said the newly established Honey and Pollination, was approved earlier this year by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The vision is to “make UC Davis the nation’s leading authority on honey, honey bees and pollination by combining the resources and expertise of RMI and the Department of Entomology’s Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.”
The center’s mission is “to showcase the importance of honey and pollination to the well-being of the citizens of California. The center will spearhead and nucleate efforts to gain support and assembly teams for research, education and outreach programs for various stakeholder groups including the beekeeping industry, agricultural interests who depend on bee pollination, backyard beekeepers and the food industry."
The goals:
• Expand research and education concerning nutrition, health, quality and appreciation of honey
• Develop useful information for California’s agricultural bounty that depends on insect pollination
• Help the honey industry establish labeling guidelines to guarantee pure and unadulterated varietal honey
• Coordinate a multidisciplinary team of experts in honey production, pollination and bee health
• Promote the use of locally procured honey in the home, food industry and restaurants.
For more information and registration see the website at http://rmi.ucdavis.edu/bounty-of-pollination. The contact person is Kim Bannister at kbannister@ucdavis.edu.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 14, 2012
The group, comprised of university faculty, researchers, pest abatement professionals, students and other interested persons, will meet from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, 155 Mason Circle, Concord.
Members and their guests will gather at 9:15 a.m. for registration and coffee.
First on the agenda is Kipling “Kip” Will, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM), UC Berkeley, who will discuss “The Transition from Classical Alpha taxonomy to Beta Taxonomy of Insects” at 9:30 a.m.
Speaking at 11 a.m. will be Carlos Argurto, Pestec Integrated Pest Management Provider, San Francisco, on “Contra Costa County IPM Program, Including New DPR (Department of Pesticide Regulation) Regulations for Surface Water Protection in Outdoor Non-Agricultural Settings.”
A luncheon catered by Kinder’s Custom Meats will be served at noon for a cost of $20 per person. (Advance reservations must be made with Nor Cal Entomology Society treasurer Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology, at ecmussen@ucdavis.edu or by calling (530) 752-0472)
The afternoon session will include research entomologist Patrick Moran of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Albany, speaking at 1:15 on “Using Insects to Control Invasive Weeds in California.” He is with the Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Program.
The last speaker of the day is Stephen Colbert of DuPont Crop Protection, Escalon. At 2 p.m., he will discuss “What’s Behind the Label?” Colbert is active in the California Weed Science Society, based in Salinas.
The society meets three times a year: the first Thursday of February at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento; the first Thursday of May, at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis; and the first Thursday of November in the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District conference room, Concord.
Membership is open to the public; dues are $10 year.
President of the group is Robert “Bob” Case of Concord, retired deputy agricultural commissioner from the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
DAVIS--Micky Eubanks, professor of entomology at Texas A&M University, will speak on “Community Ecology of a ‘Pest’: Aphids Rule Their World Via Powerful Indirect Effects” at the UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar on Wednesday, Oct. 24 in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Building.
His seminar, set from 12:10 to 1 p.m., is the second in a series of noonhour seminars. He will be introduced by his host, graduate student Billy Krimmel.
Eubanks received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in biology from the University of Mississippi and his doctorate in entomology from the University of Maryland.
Prior to moving to Texas A&M University, Eubanks was a postdoctoral fellow at Bucknell University and an assistant and associate professor at Auburn University. Eubanks is broadly interested in the community and evolutionary ecology associated with plant-insect interactions. Much of his research focuses on understanding variation in the strength of species interactions.
The Eubanks lab, he says, seeks to understand “keystone” interactions that explain a disproportionately large amount of variation in the abundance and distribution of species. “Understanding these interactions is critical if we are to accurately predict the outcome of species interactions in diverse and highly connected ecosystems and maintain ecological sustainability in a world where human impacts increase daily.”
The UC Davis Department of Entomology fall seminars are coordinated by assistant professors Joanna Chiu and Brian Johnson. Through the coordination of professor James R. Carey, this seminar will be videotaped and posted on UCTV.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
