Jan. 10, 2012
DAVIS--The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program will sponsor a presentation by distinguished process-based visual artist Judit Hersko from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18 in the Walter Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, UC Davis.In her presentation, "Pages from the Book of the Unknown Explorer," the installation artist will examine polar exploration and science with her performance, described as “richly visual” and that will “invoke art, art, Antarctic ecology, oceanography and biology, microscopic and global phenomena, and changing perceptions of science.”
Hersko, an assistant professor in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at California State University, San Marcos, has exhibited her work widely throughout the United States and Europe. In 1991 she was a visiting artist at the Women's Museum in Bonn, Germany and in 1997 she represented her native Hungary at the Venice Biennale.
Her work has been shown in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, and in many cities around the United States including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego. The recipient of an Artslink Collaborative Grant and a California Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, she recently was invited as a fellow to the Lucas Artists Residency Program at Montalvo. She has several pieces in museum collections including The Museum of Contemporary Art, Ludwig Museum in Budapest.
Hersko's work has been the subject of many publications, including articles in Sculpture magazine, Art in America and the Los Angeles Times.
She received her master of fine arts in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989.
The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, co-founded (2006) and co-directed by Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, 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).
The Art/Science Fusion Program 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 Jan. 18th event is part of the Speaker Series, "The Consilience of Art and Science" and is sponsored in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Jan. 10, 2012
DAVIS--Former Alcatraz inmate Robert Luke, author of "Entombed in Alcatraz," will speak at the UC Davis Entomology Club meeting on Friday, Jan. 13 in Giedt 1002 on the UC Davis campus.
Luke will speak from noon to 1 p.m. about his experiences on The Rock. A book signing (bring your own copy) will take place from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Bohart Museum of Entomology, 1124 Academic Surge, California Drive.
Luke, convicted of armed robbery, did time on Alcatraz from 1954 to 1959. He was known as Alcatraz Inmate No. 1118AZ. "I was convicted of bank robbery with an automatic weapon and was sent to Alcatraz for attempted escape from Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas," said Luke, who now lives in Northern California and is a National Park Service volunteer on The Rock.
The Entomology Club and Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) invited Luke to give the seminar, said UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, club advisor.
"The students met Robert during their 2011 retreat to Alcatraz Island, and learned much of the intimate details of Alcatraz prison life and his extraordinary experiences as an inmate as he toured them around the main cell block," Kimsey said. "Robert and the students have remained in contact ever since."
Kimsey does research on the nuisance flies that plaque staff and tourists on Alcatraz.
(Editor's Note: Giedt Hall, named for mechanical and aeronautical engineering professor emertius Warren Geidt and his wife, Leta, is located north of Kemper Hall, in the UC Davis engineering/physical sciences district.)
Related links:
Robert Kimsey, Fly Man of Alcatraz
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Jan. 10, 2012
DAVIS--Two lectures on honey bees are among the topics planned at the UC Davis Animal Behavior Graduate Group (ABGG) winter seminar series, which will open Jan. 13 and continue through March 16. All will be on Fridays at 12:10 in 6 Olson Hall. (Download flier)The line-up:
Jan. 13: Walt Koenig, Cornell University, “Fitness Consequences of Cooperative Breeding in the Acorn Woodpecker” (Host: Alan Krakauer, ahkrakauer@ucdavis.edu)Jan. 20: Tom Seeley, Cornell University, “The Flight Guidance Mechanisms of Honey Bee Swarms.” (Host: Brian Johnson, UC Davis Department of Entomology, brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu)
Jan. 27: Amanda Izzo, UC Davis Department of Entomology, “Spotting the Top Male: Sexual Selection in a Lekking Paper Wasp.”
Feb. 3: Sean Fogerty, UC Davis, ABGG Exit Seminar: “Ecological Effects of Mosquitofish Personality: From Individual Behavior to Landscape Outcomes.”
Feb. 10: Madhusudan Katti, California State, Fresno, “Of Fast Junk Food, Urban Jive, and Homelessness: the Behavioral Ecology of City Life” (Host: Tom Hahn, tphahn@ucdavis.edu)
Feb. 17: Brian Johnson, UC Davis Department of Entomology, “Organization of Work in the Honey Bee”
Feb. 24: Storer Lecture: Ruth Newbury, Washington State university, “Behavioral Assessment of Affective States in Animals” (Host: Jennifer Chen, jmchen@ucdavis.edu)
March 2: Christoph Winckler, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, ‘The Function of Allogrooming in Dairy Cattle” (Host: Cass Tucker, cbtucker@ucdavis.edu)
March 9: ABGG Exit Seminar, Danielle Brown, UC Davis and Middle Tennessee State University, “Observing the Invisible through Acceleration Logging of Animal Movements and Behavior”
March 16: ABGG Exit Seminar: Maxine Zylberberg, UC Davis and Cal Academy “Disease Defense Stategies: Linking Behavior, Immune System and Disease Ecology in Galapagos and House Finches”
Contact information:
College of Biological Sciences Dean's Office
Animal Behavior Graduate Group
310 Life Sciences Bldg.
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616-5294
Phone: (530) 752-2981
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Dec. 29, 2011
DAVIS—Three doctoral candidates affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology are recipients of the 2011 William Hazeltine Memorial Research Fellowship Awardsto support their mosquito research.Sharing a total of $4800 are Brittany Nelms Mills, $1,900; Kelly Liebman, $1,900 and Jenny Carlson, $1000.
MIlls studies with major professor William Reisen, Department of Entomology/Center for Vectorborne Diseases. Reisen does research on Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus.. Liebman studies with major professor Thomas Scott, who researches Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit dengue. Carlson's major professor is Anthony Cornell, an associate professor of entomology at UC Davis who studies anopheline (malaria) mosquitoes. His lab is based at the Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier.
Carlson received a Hazeltine felllowship in 2010, and Liebman in 2009.
The annual Hazeltine awards single out student research that is of a practical nature and is designed to help solve problems in the area of mosquito and vector control. The intent is to encourage students to prepare for and become contributors in the field of applied public health entomology.
The award memorializes William “Bill” Hazeltine (1926-1994), who managed the Lake County Mosquito Abatement District from 1961-64 and the Butte County Mosquito Abatement District from 1966-1992. He was an ardent supporter of the judicious use of public health pesticides to protect public health. He continued work on related projects until his death in 1994.
Hazeltine studied entomology in the UC Berkeley graduate program from 1950-53, and received his doctorate in entomology from Purdue University in 1962.He maintained close ties with UC Davis entomologists. UC Davis medical entomologist Bruce Eldridge eulogized him at the 2005 American Mosquito Control Association conference. His talk was later published in the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. (See PDF)
Hazeltine's three sons assist with the memorial fellowship awards. They are Craig of Scottsdale, Ariz.; Lee of Woodland, Calif.; and Jeff of Los Angeles.
Prior Recipients of Hazeltine Awards:
2010: Tara Thiemann and Jenny Carlson (see story)
2009: Kelly Liebman and Wei Xu (See story)
2008: Ashley Horton and Tara Thiemann (See story)
2007: Lisa Reimer and Jacklyn Wong (See story)
2006: Christopher Barker and Tania Morgan (See story)
2005: Nicole Mans
2004: Sharon Minnick
2003: Hannah Burrack
2002: Holly Ganz and Andradi Villalobos
2001: Laura Goddard and Linda Styer
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Dec. 28, 2011
/table>Richard "Dick" Rice of Kingsburg, Calif. passed away on Dec. 24, 2011, at the age of 74. Dr. Rice was a UC Davis professor emeritus who worked at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center for 33 years.Dr. Rice was raised and spent much of his career in the Central Valley. He attended Sultana Grammar School, Dinuba High School and a semester at Reedley Jr. College before going on to UC Davis in 1956. There he earned his bachelor's degree in 1960 and master's degree in 1961 before serving two years in the U.S. Army as a medical entomologist. He earned his Ph.D. in insect ecology and agricultural entomology at UC Davis in 1967.
Dr. Rice's specialty became pest management in tree fruit and nut crops. He worked closely with the tree fruit and nut industries in the Central Valley on a number of significant insect and mite pests over his career, becoming especially noted for his research on trapping and monitoring systems for San Jose scale, peach twig borer, navel orangeworm, oriental fruit moth, codling moth, omnivorous leafroller, and a number of Hemipterans attacking pistachios and almonds.
UC Davis entomology professor Frank Zalom said Dr. Rice's research helped make the producers of California fruit and nut crops dominant in world markets today.
"His contributions cannot be overstated," Zalom said. "He was an early innovator in using management approaches to regulatory and quarantine entomology, focusing on developing acceptable programs for exporting California's fruit to other countries through cultural management and monitoring while minimizing the use of disruptive and environmentally harsh interventions."
Dr. Rice was an active member of the Entomological Society of America. He served as president of the Pacific Branch and secretary-treasurer for three years.
Dr. Rice was born in Dinuba on Sept. 5, 1937, to F. Edwin and Eleanor Rice. He served on the USDA/CDFA Medfly Science Advisory Panel, and on science advisory committees for the California avocado, citrus, stone fruit, nut and olive industries. Upon his retirement in 2001, he received the status of professor emeritus at UC Davis and remained active professionally as a consultant to several agricultural industry commissions.
Dr. Rice was a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church of Dinuba, Dinuba Lions Club and the Kings River Golf & Country Club.
Dr. Rice was preceded in death by his parents; and his sisters, Joanne DeWitt and Barbara Rice. He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Carol; his son Kevin of Truckee; his daughters, Kim Lindell and husband Chris of Mancos, Co., and Kari Bettencourt of Sonoma; sister, Bette George and husband Steve of Sultana; stepson, Scott Lewis and wife Renata; stepdaughter, Cari Hager and husband Edward; and grandchildren, Samantha and Cameron Rice and Corey Lewis.
As a tribute to Dr. Rice, donations may be made to the Kingsburg Cancer Volunteers, P.O. Box 26, Kingsburg, CA 93631; Alta District Historical Society, P. O. Box 254, Dinuba, CA 93618 and Nancy Hinds Hospice, 1616 W. Shaw, Ste C-1, Fresno, CA 93711.
A celebration of life will take place at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11 in the Spike 'n Rail Steakhouse, 2950 Pea Soup Anderson Blvd. (Highway 99 at Highway 43), Selma, Calif. 93662.
--Submitted by Jeannette Warnert, UC ANR
A Tribute to Richard Rice
Integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom, professor and former vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, relates that Richard Rice "received his PhD at UC Davis in 1967 under the gifted Agricultural Entomologist Frank Strong. His specialty became pest management in tree fruit and nut crops. He worked closely with the tree fruit and nut industries in the central valley on a number of significant insect and mite pests over his career, becoming especially noted for his research on trapping and monitoring systems for San Jose scale, peach twig borer, navel orangeworm, oriental fruit moth, codling moth, omnivorous leafroller, and a number of Hemipterans attacking pistachios and almonds. He was an excellent biologist, contributing much to our knowledge of the biology of these pest species. Indeed, his research helped to make the producers of California fruit and nut crops dominant in world markets today, and his contributions cannot be overstated.
"He was an early innovator in using management approaches to regulatory and quarantine entomology, focusing on developing acceptable programs for exporting California's fruit to other countries through cultural management and monitoring while minimizing the use of disruptive and environmentally harsh interventions. An active member of the Entomological Society of America, he served as both president of the Pacific Branch, and also as its secretary-treasurer for 3 years."
"Dick was one of the people who taught me most about the arthropod community associated with California's tree fruit and nut crops, and in doing so he had a significant positive impact on my career."
Spike n' Rail Steakhouse
A celebration of life will take place at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11 in the Spike n' Rail Steakhouse, 2950 Pea Soup Anderson Blvd. (Highway 99 at Highway 43), Selma, Calif. 93662. Reservations should be made with golfers2@comcast.net. For those wishing to stay in a nearby hotel, the family has made plans for a special discount at the Swan Court Holiday Inn. (559-891-8000) in the same complex as the restaurant. The hotel rate is $89 per night, with a $10 voucher toward breakfast if you register as part of "The Rice Celebration" by Feb. 8. The discount will apply if there is a minimum of 10 rooms reserved. In addition, there is a Best Western across Highway 99 and a new Fairfield Inn in Kingsburg.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894