- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The $6000 grant is designed to support women over a two-month period in the summer as they prepare a solo-authored manuscript.
Bick's application focused on her scientific modeling work that originated from her Ph.D. program: investigating the lygus bug immigration and aggregation in California strawberries. Lygus hesperus, a serious pest of strawberries--as well as cotton, and seed crops such as alfalfa-- causes an estimated $40 million in annual losses to California's strawberry industry.
Bick's application detailed the academic women who supported her career, including one of her mentors, Cornell University entomology professor Laura Harrington. Additionally, women students she mentored while at UC Davis provided letters of support.
“Prior to receiving this good news, my fiancé, Nora Forbes, and I decided to get married in the historic home of the AAUW in St. Paul, Minn.,” Bick said. “We are both aware of AAUW's legacy of supporting women in their academic pursuits since 1881 and wanted to celebrate in a location in line with their pioneering vision.” Forbes is a statistician at the Danish Medtronic office.
Earlier this year, Bick received a $23,000 fellowship from the American Scandinavian Foundation for her proposal, "Designing Pest-Resilient Apple Orchards Using Bespoke Models." The project will start immediately following the AAUW grant.
As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen, the UC Davis alumnus is a member of Professor Lene Sigsgaard's research team. She received a $244,000 postdoctoral grant from the Danish Innovations Fund to estimate insect population dynamics in relation to FaunaPhotonics's LIDAR insect sensor. LIDAR stands for light detection and ranging.
Emily's entomological journey began at Cornell University, where she received her bachelor's degree in entomology in 2013. She then received two degrees in entomology from UC Davis: her master's degree in 2017 and her doctorate in 2019.
Bick, who specializes in integrated pest management, helped anchor the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's Linnaean Games Team that won the national championship at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting in 2016, and the University of California (UC Davis and UC Berkeley) Linnaean Games Team that won the national championship in 2018. The Linnaean Games, launched in 1983, are lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competitions on entomological facts and played by winners of the ESA branch competitions. The teams score points by correctly answering random questions. (Watch the championship game on YouTube).
While at UC Davis, Bick served as vice president of the UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA). ESA honored her as a Board-Certified Entomologist in 2014, and the Student Certification Award in 2018. She served as an emergency medical technician from 2008 to 2017.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Host is Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Dara, an Extension entomologist since January 2009, serves San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and is an affiliated UC IPM advisor, part of the UC Statewide IPM Program.
In his role as the strawberry and vegetable crops advisor, Dara primarily looks after pest management, but also works on disease, irrigation, weed, and nutrition management issues. As an IPM advisor, he contributes to the IPM solutions of various crops grown in California. "My research focuses on developing IPM solutions with the goal to balance the use of chemical and non-chemical alternatives for pest management," he said. He serves as a resource person for microbial control of various pests.
Dara is a member-at-large of the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America; a trustee of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, and the vice chair for S1052, the national working group on improving microbial control of arthropod pests. He also chairs the UC Cooperative Extension Strawberry Working Group. In addition, Dara has served on the faculty of the University of Phoenix, California, since 2008.
The Extension advisor has written 19 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, one book chapter, 34 articles in other journals, and 117 extension articles. He has delivered several presentations worldwide. He has trained strawberry growers in India, Kosovo, Moldova, and Transnistria, and also lends his expertise to strawberry industries in a number of countries.
As a principal investigator, co-principal investigator and a collaborator of various projects, Dara has received more than $2 million in grant funding.
Dara earned both his bachelor's degree and master's degree at the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, India, obtaining his bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences, and his master's degree in entomology. He went on to receive his doctorate in entomology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va. in 1995.
After receiving his doctorate, Dara served as an entomopathologist from 1996-1999 for the Plant Health Management Division, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture under the United Nations Development Program, Cotonou, Republic of Benin in West Africa. He was a post-doctoral research associate from 2003-2004 with the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, and an independent software consultant, 2001-2003.
His other work experience includes assistant project scientist, 2005-2006, with the UC Davis Department of Nematology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology), and quality control manager-ISO (International Organization for Standardization) from 2006 to 2009 for Certis, USA, Wasco.
Dara's seminar will be recorded for later viewing on UCTV.
Upcoming seminars are listed here.