- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Society of Nematologists (SON) will present him with its Teaching Excellence Award at its 55th annual meeting, set July 17 – 21 in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Caswell-Chen, who joined the UC Davis Department of Nematology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) in 1989, was praised as being an “exemplary teacher who loves to teach and interact with his students.”
“Ed is known for his enthusiasm, dedication, high-quality instruction and keen interest in helping his students understand and appreciate nematology—from the undergraduate level to the graduate level and beyond,” his nominators said.
“If I had to distill my endorsement of Ed into a single sentence, it would be that he has unbridled passion and dedication when it comes to getting undergraduates excited about science,” said nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. “His dedication to teaching is truly altruistic, and although he has maintained a solid program of research, his major effort in recent years has involved teaching undergraduate and graduate students.”
Over the last five years, Caswell-Chen has taught 24 undergraduate courses, enrolling some 2400 students. His commitment to teaching includes five years of service as associate dean of the Graduate Program, UC Office of Graduate Studies. He is a former chair of the UC Davis Department of Nematology, and the Graduate Group in Ecology.
Caswell-Chen, who considers teaching his No. 1 priority, says the classroom is “an important forum for communication with students, and an opportunity for outreach with respect to the Agricultural Experiment Station mission, especially when lecturing to undergraduates in nematology, animal biology, and science and society courses.” His students describe his courses as informative, interesting and engaging.
Caswell-Chen said his philosophy of teaching “is that to be effective, teaching must engage students by highlighting the relevance of course material, and instructors must capture student attention through enthusiasm and supportive stimulation of student creativity. Interaction helps students learn how to think, ask questions, and form connections among the diverse facts they learn in their courses.”
“If students are participating and engrossed with the topic in the classroom, they don't immediately realize that they are learning—they are carried along by their thinking and engagement with the material,” he said. “All of these features of effective classroom instruction are relatively easy to attain when the subject matter is nematology—and biology, for that matter—because of the field's many fascinating and relevant aspects. In a nematology course, one can incorporate a wide range of intriguing topics, from nematode biodiversity and the deep, hot biosphere to soil ecology, to the fascinating interactions between nematodes and other organisms, to the importance of animal parasites and means for their management, to plant parasites, nematicides, and genetic engineering of crop plants for nematode resistance, to topics in aging and neurobiology from research on the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.”
Caswell-Chen is known for his research on the life history and ecology of C. elegans, a free-living or non-parasitic nematode that lives in temperate soil environments.
His interest and dedication to undergraduate education is reflected in his current service as the chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate Undergraduate Council, membership on the UC system-wide Educational Policy Committee, and his recent appointment as vice chair of that same Educational Policy Committee for the coming academic year.
UC Davis researcher Kristi Sanchez, former undergraduate student who received her doctorate from him in 2014 and served as his teaching assistant, described him as “the best professor I've ever had.”
“I have not met another professor at UC Davis who not just focuses on his research but enjoys, loves and wants to make teaching classes a priority for undergraduate students,” Sanchez said. “He is always about the students and making sure they understand the material. He always goes out of his way to provide more office hours so they can learn the material better or ask questions. And he is a professor who has the students text him instead of emailing him. The students love it.”
She credited him with inspiring her to pursue her degree and career in nematology. “Ed has given me many opportunities to pursue research questions that I would like to investigate, provides great advice and not just as a major professor but a father figure. He has pushed me to follow my goals and with my hard work, anything is possible.”
Said graduate student Chris Pagan, who has known Caswell-Chen for 12 years, beginning as an undergraduate student and then as a lab technician: “Ed makes the classroom a comfortable place. He is always approachable, and always genuinely interested in hearing what students have to say. Ed is always revising his lecture material and methods. He is constantly seeking new ways to keep students engaged.”
Nematologist Becky Westerdahl, UC Davis professor of entomology and nematology, praised Caswell-Chen for his excellence in teaching and as “one of the first professors at UC Davis to embrace the use of World Wide Web technology for teaching…He was instrumental in obtaining, establishing and maintaining the first web server for teaching in the Department of Nematology.” She said Caswell-Chen provides his students with “an excellent foundation, not just as future researchers, but as future educators as well.”
Caswell-Chen also teaches animal biology courses and Science and Society courses. He sometimes teaches freshman seminars by using the Campus Book Project selections, such as “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” and “Half the Sky.” He has also taught his own selection of topics, including “The Ancient Middle East: Cradle of Civilization, Religion and Science” and “Protest Songs.”
Caswell-Chen received his bachelor's and master's degrees in botany and plant pathology from Michigan State University in 1979 and 1982, respectively, and his doctorate in 1985 in plant pathology from UC Riverside. He began his academic career in 1985 as an assistant professor in the University of Hawaii's Department of Plant Pathology before joining the UC Davis faculty in 1989.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Undergraduate student Jessica West, Ph.D. candidate Rosanna Kwok, and research specialist Katherine “Katie” Murphy all excel in STEM, an acronym that stands for the academic disciplines of “science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
“Undergraduates who learn cutting-edge research skills in laboratories like Dr. Chiu's set themselves apart from students who only pursue coursework for their degree,” said Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “Undergraduate research opportunities are what turn science students into young scientists.”
Early in their undergraduate studies, West and Murphy were accepted into the UC Davis Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, a vigorous, multi-discipline, research and mentoring program administered by UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty members Jay Rosenheim, Louie Yang and Chiu.
"Including this year, over the first six years that the program has operated, we have admitted 58 students, 36 of which (62%) are women," said Research Scholars Program co-administrator and professor Jay Rosenheim.
"It is asking a lot of freshmen and sophomores to jump into an intensive research experience when they are already challenged by their academic course load," Rosenheim said. "But we've been very gratified with the accomplishments of the students and their demonstrated abilities to develop the skills needed to conduct independent research. Strong effort by the students and close mentorship by campus faculty seem to be key ingredients in student success.”
West, who will receive her bachelor's degree in bochemistry and molecular biology June 12, is the recipient of the 2016 College of Biological Sciences Medal—only one is awarded each year. She also won an “Outstanding Citation for Research Performance.” Although not yet in graduate school, West has already published two peer-reviewed articles. In November 2015, she received the President's runner-up prize at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting in Minneapolis for her talk on the seasonal biology of the spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii. This fall she will enroll in the Ph.D. program in biochemistry at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. “Over her undergraduate graduate career, Jessica has compiled an impressive list of awards and prizes,” said Chiu, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Kwok, scheduled to graduate from UC Davis in the fall of 2016 with a Ph.D. degree in entomology, has already published six peer-reviewed papers, including one in PLOS Genetics, and has three more in preparation. As part of her requirement for her 2014-16 NIH fellowship, she will leave the Chiu lab in June 2016 to start an internship at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Redwood City, CA. The internship is her last requirement before graduation from the Entomology Graduate Group.
Like West, Kwok received a President's runner-up prize (2013 ESA meeting) for her presentation on the chronotoxicity of spotted wing drosophila, working with Chiu and Professor Frank Zalom, integrated pest management specialist in the department. “I believe Rosanna will have a very successful career in the biotech industry,” Chiu said.
Murphy, who was accepted into the inaugural class for the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, began working in the Chiu lab her sophomore year. When she graduated from UC Davis in 2014 with a bachelor of science degree in neurobiology, physiology, and behavior, she received an “Outstanding Citation for Research Performance.” After graduation, she opted to stay in the Chiu lab to gain more research experience. “Over her career in my lab--from undergraduate research to two years of technician-- Katie has already published four peer-reviewed papers, has one currently in review, and two in preparation,” Chiu said. She is also an author on a provisional patent application for a biopesticide that the Chiu lab developed to target insect pests.
The three young women followed a similar path to get where they are today and strongly encourage others to pursue STEM careers.
Jessica West
Jessica West, who grew up in the Redding area of Northern California, spent her childhood in the small town of Shasta Lake before enrolling at UC Davis.
“I first became interested in science in high school, particularly when I took Advance Placement (AP) Biology,” West recalled. “ I was very curious and always asked a lot of questions in school. What excites me the most is that now I can ask questions that don't yet have answers, and through my research I can work to actually answer them.”
West, who will start her PhD program in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology at Cornell in the fall, says her career goal “ is to teach and conduct research at the university level.”
“I think it's important to start getting girls involved in science at a young age,” West said. “Often young girls are not encouraged to pursue their interests in STEM subjects, but I think that the culture is changing. There are programs like Girls Who Code that seek to get more girls involved in STEM fields that are traditionally male-dominated. If young girls can see that other women like them can succeed in STEM fields, they are more likely to see their goals as attainable.”
Rosanna Kwok
Rosanna Kwok grew up in Las Vegas, Nev. –“Yes, people actually live there,” she quipped. “I have always been interested in having a career in science,” she recalled, “and it just took a bit of exploration before I found myself studying the circadian clock under the mentorship of Joanna. The most exciting and motivating thing about being a scientist is knowing that I have the resources to answer the ‘how' and ‘why' questions regarding biological phenomenon.
Her career plan is “to contribute my background and skills to the field of precision therapeutics. It is hard to predict where I will be in a few years, but my goal is to be in an environment where I am constantly challenged and growing as a scientist.”
How to get more young women and girls interested in science? “Thankfully, I do believe that there is a much greater representation of women in sciences than there has in the past,” Kwok said. “With that said, I really believe in the importance of establishing mentoring relationships when it comes to retaining the amount of women in science. I have definitely benefitted from having strong female mentors throughout my scientific career. Many girls are discouraged starting from pursuing their curiosities, or from pursuing certain career paths, and sometimes it takes a more established person in that field to tell them to just go for it, and not apologize for wanting something different than what's expected of them.”
“I believe that in order to get more people in general interested in science, there needs to be more communication between scientists and people who are not in STEM fields,” Kwok said. “Not only will this show that large scientific achievements can be made by real people, it will also help prevent the misconceptions and distrust in science that we sometimes see."
Katherine “Katie” Murphy
Katie Murphy spent her childhood in a small rural town in Lake County, Northern California. “ I grew up on a pear farm, which exposed me to the staggering amount of fruit that goes to waste if the appearance of the fruit is not perfect enough for the grocery store,” she related. “I believe we have a duty as a society to be less wasteful, and therefore I feel inspired to find ways to turn waste into useful materials."
“I discovered my interest in science as a career through a student research position in Dr. Joanna Chiu's lab at UC Davis,” Murphy said. “I believe the greatest challenges that face the world today, such as world hunger, global warming, and the energy crisis, can only be met through technological advancement. I am excited for the opportunity to develop new technologies that use cutting edge science to make the world a better place.”
As an undergraduate research assistant, she was awarded a UC President's Undergraduate Research Fellowship for the summer/fall of 2012 for her project, “Transgenic Yeast as an Organic Pesticide.” She explored the use of RNAi technology in combating the invasive pest, the spotted-wing drosphila, Drosophila suzukii.
Murphy's career plans? “I am pursuing a career in metabolic engineering,” she said. “The technology I hope to develop uses microbes to produce fuels and chemicals from ‘leftovers' such as agricultural waste and non-edible plant materials. This technology will reduce dependency on fossil fuels and provide sustainable energy alternatives."
When asked how society can engage more young women and girls in science, she commented “I think children and adolescents of both genders can benefit from greater exposure to STEM fields. In the media, scientists are often represented as evil, mad, or even downright uncool on TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory. What about a TV show where scientists and engineers are portrayed as heroes?”
The Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, established in 2011, aims 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. This could result in career goals that will take them to medical school, veterinary school or graduate program sin any biological sub-discipline, the administrators said. Because 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; cell biology), faculty in the program can provide research opportunities across the full sweep of biology. More information on the program is at http://ucanr.edu/sites/insectscholars/
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His appointment was announced this week by Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter.
Nadler chaired the Department of Nematology for six years, until the two departments merged in 2011. He succeeds Michael Parrella, who has accepted a position as the dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Idaho, effective Feb. 1, 2016.
“Steve is an exceptionally strong researcher and teacher and has considerable administrative experience,” said Parrella, who served as chair from 1991-1999 and from 2009-2015. “I am confident he will continue to move the nationally ranked Department of Entomology and Nematology forward. It is good to know that I am leaving the department in very good hands.”
“I am pleased to have this opportunity to lead the Department of Entomology and Nematology,” Nadler said. “The department has remarkable faculty, and I look forward to working with them and our dedicated staff and students to advance our research, teaching and extension goals.”
The Department of Entomology and Nematology was recently ranked as the top program of its kind in the United States and has an annual budget of almost $20 million. The department has 21 ladder-rank faculty, 40 graduate students, an undergraduate major with 40 students and oversees the undergraduate animal biology major with more than 300 students.
Nadler joined the UC Davis faculty in 1996 as an associate professor and associate nematologist, advancing to professor in 2001. He was named chair of the Department of Nematology in May 2005 and held that leadership position until June 2011.
Nadler researches the molecular evolutionary biology of free-living and parasitic nematodes and teaches undergraduate classes in parasitology and nematology, and a graduate class in molecular phylogenetic analysis.In 2013 he was awarded the Henry Baldwin Ward Medal by the American Society of Parasitologists; this is the society's highest research honor. His research program is well funded by the National Science Foundation. He is a co-author (with L. S. Roberts and J. Janovy, Jr.) of Foundations of Parasitology (9th edition, McGraw Hill), globally the most widely used undergraduate parasitology textbook.
“Much of my recent evolutionary research,” Nadler said, “has focused on nematodes of the suborder Cephalobina, a group that includes numerous bacterial-feeding species in soil, but also some parasitic taxa hosted by invertebrates. My current NSF research is designed to discover and characterize nematode biodiversity in soil by applying high-throughput sequencing of individual nematodes and metagenetics.”
A native of St. Louis, Mo., Nadler received his bachelor of science degree, cum laude, in biology in 1980 from Missouri State University, Springfield. He holds a master's degree (1982) and a doctorate (1985) in medical parasitology from Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans.
He did postdoctoral research from 1985 to 1986 as a National Institutes of Health research trainee in the Experimental Parasitology Training Program, Center for Parasitology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, followed by two years as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research associate at Louisiana State University's Museum of Natural Science, Baton Rouge.
Nadler joined the biological sciences faculty at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, as an assistant professor in 1990. He was promoted to associate professor in 1995.
Active in the American Society of Parasitologists (ASP), Nadler served as the organization's president from 2007 to 2008. He is an associate editor of Systematic Parasitology; subject editor of Zookeys (molecular systematics and phylogeny); and a member of the editorial board of Parasitology (British).
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar is from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. Nematologist Steve Nadler, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will introduce the speaker.
"Hookworms are important parasites of humans and animals, infecting over 750 million people worldwide," says Hawdon. "In heavy infections they cause anemia and impair physical and cognitive development, and are particularly problematic in children, the elderly and pregnant women. A better understanding of the molecular biology of hookworm infection is required for the development of rational controls strategies and new drugs."
"The infective third stage larva (L3) is developmentally arrested until it enters a permissive host, when it receives a host-specific signal that initiates developmental pathways and progression to the adult stage. The obligate requirement for a vertebrate host makes studying the infective process of hookworms difficult. Fortunately, the L3 is analogous to the dauer stage of free-living nematodes such as C. elegans, and recovery from dauer has been used as a model for the resumption of development that occurs during infection. Using an in vitro assay, our lab has described and characterized an “activated” larval state in response to host like conditions. We have demonstrated the presence of conserved signaling pathways controlling activation, as well as conserved molecular components, between hookworms and C. elegans. I will discuss these advances and the role of activation in the life history of hookworms and similar parasitic nematodes.'
Hawdon has served as an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, since 2005, and an associate professor, Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, at the George Washington University Medical Center, since 2000.
Hawdon received his bachelor's degree in animal bioscience in 1981 from Penn State University and his doctorate in parasitology from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the MacArthur Center for Molecular Parasitology, Yale University School of Medicine, from 1991 to 1994. He then served as an associate research scientist, Medical Helminthology Laboratory, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Hawdon is a past president of the Helminthological Society of Washington and a member of the American Society of Parasitology. He serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Parasitology.
Plans call for the seminar to be video-recorded for later viewing on UCTV.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar will take place from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs. Host is Jiawen Xu, a graduate student in the Bruce Hammock lab.
"Transmission of human disease-causing agents by mosquitoes depends on the successful completion of the pathogen's infection-cycle in the insect vector," Dimopoulous said. "The mosquito's innate immune system and microbiota represent important bottlenecks for pathogen transmission, and can thus be exploited for the development of novel disease control strategies." He will discuss "advances in our understanding of how the mosquito immune system and natural microbiota can influence Plasmodium and dengue virus infection in their respective vectors."
Dimopoulous has more than 20 years experience with molecular entomology of the vectors Anopheles. gambiae and Ae. aegypti. His research has mainly focused on the mosquito's innate immune system and the mosquito midgut microbiota, and how they interact with various the human pathogens Plasmodium falciparum and the dengue virus, using genomics, functional genomics and molecular biology techniques and approaches. His group's research over the past 8 years has contributed significantly toward the understanding of how the mosquito innate immune system and microbiota influences the mosquito and its permissiveness to human pathogen infection.
Dimopoulous received his bachelor's degree in microbiology from Stockholm University, Sweden, and his doctorate in biology from the University of Crete, Greece. He did postdoctoral work in molecular entomology at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany from 1996 to 2001. In 2007 he obtained his master's of business administration from Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University, studying management and leadership.
Since 2013, Dimopoulous has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Microbiology and Medical Zoology, School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan.
Professor Steve Nadler chairs the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminars. Most are recorded for later posting on UCTV.
See schedule for remaining seminars of the quarter.