- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The deadline to RSVP for the Celebration of Life and Legacy for internationally known honey bee authority, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is Monday, Aug. 1.
The memorial is set from 4 to 6 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 28 in the Putah Creek Lodge, 685 Putah Creek Lodge Drive. To RSVP, access https://ericmussencelebrationofli.rsvpify.com. For those who cannot attend in person, UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and a former chair of the Department of Entomology, is generously donating his time and talents to do a live Zoom webinar. Registration is underway here at https://bit.ly/3czl5Am; no deadline to register. It also will be on YouTube.
Dr. Mussen, a 38-year California Cooperative Extension apiculturist died Friday, June 3 from liver cancer, after a diagnosis several days before. He was 78. (See https://bit.ly/3ou1O5W)
The tentative program:
- Introductory remarks by administrators, including UC Davis Chancellor Gary May
- Speakers from UC Davis, the bee industry and almond industry
- Memory table
- PowerPoint presentation of images
- Frank Fox will emcee the doo wop musical performances. Tune Up, a Davis-based doo wop group directed by Bill Cavins, will perform. Eric enjoyed singing with the Davis doo wop groups.
- A honey bee observation hive, compliments of Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño, director of the California Master Beekeeper Program
- Light refreshments, including a bee-themed cake.
The National Honey Board is donating honey bee pins, and Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center, will provide honey straws.
Dr. Mussen, known to all as "Eric,” joined the UC Davis entomology department in 1976. Although he retired in 2014, he continued his many activities until a few weeks prior to his death. For nearly four decades, he drew praise as “the honey bee guru,” “the pulse of the bee industry" and "the go-to person" when consumers, scientists, researchers, students, and the news media sought answers about honey bees. Join us to celebrate his life and legacy.
Dr. Mussen worked with everyone interested in honey bees--from 4-H beekeepers to large-scale commercial beekeeping operations. For years, he volunteered his expertise for the National 4-H Beekeeping Essay Competition sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees. He chaired the California-level contest and judged the entries.
Family and friends suggest memorial contributions be made to the California State 4-H Beekeeping Program, with a note, "Eric Mussen Memorial Fund." Mary Ciriceillo, director of development for the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, said checks may be made out to the California 4-H Foundation and mailed to:
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Jean-Pierre Delplanque, vice provost and dean of Graduate Studies, says the program recognizes "faculty providing outstanding service in advising and mentoring at the program level."
In a letter to Professor Rosenheim, he praised his "excellent service to your graduate program, as well as your positive impact on graduate students and your colleagues. We thank you for your investment in advising and mentoring graduate students and contribution to their success."
Delplanque singled out a few excerpts from the award packet:
- “He has demonstrated his unparalleled dedication to mentoring students, and ability to cultivate an atmosphere of learning, excitement, and critical thinking in the lab, field, and classroom. He consistently makes time to support his students. Regardless of his current teaching and research demands, Jay will provide feedback, schedule meetings, and maintain his open door policy.”
- “Jay is a remarkably skillful and reassuring mentor with a natural generosity of spirit and a broad view of mentorship. He has deep knowledge in a wide range of subject areas, and also has the wisdom to offer students good advice on all stages of the research process. Jay is especially good at putting students at ease and motivating them to persist through the setbacks of research. I have often seen students go to Jay for advice when they are worried and leave feeling better about the road ahead.”
Delplanque noted that "Graduate Studies is committed to showcasing and promoting positive mentoring experiences like yours. Graduate advising and mentoring is vital for guiding students through their degrees and professional development, while also helping ensure their overall success and well-being. Your efforts exemplify outstanding service in mentorship and we hope you will join us in championing the benefits and significance of graduate student mentoring across campus. Congratulations again on your achievement."
Rosenheim, who specializes in insect ecology, integrated pest management, and biological control, and the use of farmer-generated data to enhance pest and crop management ('Ecoinformatics'), holds a bachelor's degree in entomology (1983) from UC Davis and a doctorate in entomology (1987) from UC Berkeley. He joined the UC Davis faculty in 1990. and become a UC Davis distinguished professor in 2018.
Humbled and honored to receive the award, Rosenheim says that "The job of a professor is quite diverse, and quite rewarding in different ways. Teaching in a classroom provides instant gratification, as you see the light of understanding and excitement shining in students' eyes as they explore and grasp new concepts. Research in the laboratory provides instead delayed gratification, where long periods of hard work--sometimes years--may pass before questions are answered and one feels the satisfaction of pushing forward the margins of scientific understanding."
"But, perhaps the most lasting sense of accomplishment comes from mentoring graduate students," Rosenheim says. Building relationships with graduate students, watching them grow in their skills and confidence and, finally, seeing them establish themselves in their careers, provides the kind of reward that is similar in some ways to the happiness that parents derive from their children. And the relationships never end – they are bonds that last a lifetime. I think the key to effective mentorship is to place the student's welfare at the top of one's priority list. So, drafts of papers should be returned promptly with constructive suggestions, and not allowed to languish in a long queue of manuscripts waiting for reviews--more senior colleagues can wait, if someone needs to wait.
"And, I think effective mentorship also means tailoring the kind of assistance provided to the needs and desires of each student. Mentorship is definitely not a one-size-fits-all kind of undertaking. Some students need a lot of encouragement (actually, almost everyone benefits from positive feedback, because research often produces huge servings of critiques), some students need more assistance, especially at the earliest stages of their research, but some students absolutely chafe under too much input, and instead want total independence. That's fine – it's important to adjust to each student's desires and needs. I think good mentorship also means establishing a laboratory culture of openness and collegiality. Everyone should be happy to come to the lab, learn from each other, and contribute to each other's research progress. Mentorship doesn't just come from the lab PI (principal investigator), but from everyone who makes the lab a community."
A native of Yorktown, N.Y, young Jay developed an interest in biology while exploring the vernal pools behind his Hudson River Valley home. As an undergraduate at UC Davis, he initially majored in physics. "On a lark" he enrolled in Professor Harry Kaya's Entomology 100 course in 1981. The professor inspired him, the class enthralled him, and insects captivated him.
Rosenheim's career has not only led to his being elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, but recipient of teaching awards from the Associated Students of UC Davis and the UC Davis Academic Senate; and the Distinguished Student Mentoring Award from ESA's Pacific Branch.
He co-founded and co-directs the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB) with Professors Joanna Chiu and Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. The program aims to provide "undergraduates with a closely-mentored research experience in biology," according to the website. "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. The program's goal is 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."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
After a two-year hiatus due toCOVID, it's back by popular demand, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum.
It's free, family friendly and open to the public. Inside, visitors will see the Bohart's special moth collection, and outside, visitors will see moths and other insects land on the hanging white sheet of the blacklighting display, comprised of an ultraviolet (UV) light, and a generator.
The Bohart collection includes the Atlas moth, Attacus atlas, the world's largest moth with the greatest wing area of 10 to 12 inches. The Atlas is found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia.
Another large moth on display will be the "bat moth" or "black witch" (Ascalapha odorata), found in Central America, South America, Bahamas and parts of the southwestern United States. In Mexican and Caribbean folklore, it is considered a harbinger of death. The insect played a role in the movie, "Silence of the Lambs" but the name was changed to "Death's-head Hawkmoth."
Folks are invited to bring photos or moth specimens from their house, yard or neighborhood that they would like help in identifying, Yang said.
There will also be a craft activity, cookies, and "hot cocoa for anyone who needs help staying up past their bedtime," Yang quipped.
Back in 2019, before the COVID pandemic, the blacklighting display drew at least 11 different species from five moth families: Tineidae, Tortricidae, Pyralidae, Geometridae, and Noctuidae, according to Bohart associate and "Moth Man" John De Benedictis.
The families represented:
Family Tineidae:
Opogona omoscopa (Opogona crown borer)
Family Tortricidae:
Clepsis peritana
Platynota stultana (omnivorous leafroller)
Cydia latiferreana (filbertworm)
Family Pyralidae:
Achyra rantalis (garden webworm)
Ephestiodes gilvescentella (dusky raisin moth)
Cadra figuliella
Family Geometridae:
Digrammia muscariata
Family Noctuidae:
Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm)
Spodoptera praefica (western yellow-striped armyworm)
Parabagrotis formais
Moth Night (NMW) "celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths, according to the national website. “Moth-ers of all ages and abilities are encouraged to learn about, observe, and document moths in their backyards, parks, and neighborhoods."
NMW, also celebrated worldwide, is traditionally held a week in July. "NMW offers everyone, everywhere a unique opportunity to become a citizen scientist and contribute scientific data about moths," the website relates. "Through partnerships with major online biological data depositories, NMW participants can help map moth distribution and provide needed information on other life history aspects around the globe."
NMW scientists point out:
- Moths are among the most diverse and successful organisms on earth.
- Estimates show that moth species number anywhere from 150,000 to more than 500,000.
- Their colors and patterns are either dazzling or so cryptic that they define camouflage. Shapes and sizes span the gamut from as small as a pinhead to as large as an adult's hand.
- Most moths are nocturnal, and need to be sought at night to be seen--others fly like butterflies during the day.
- Finding moths can be as simple as leaving a porch light on and checking it after dark. Serious moth aficionados use special lights and baits to attract them.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In the highly competitive “service award” category of the UC Davis Staff Assembly's annual 2022 Citations of Excellence program, Dyer received the second-place honor or honorable mention. The university employs some 17,000 academic and administrative staff.
Dyer, who holds a bachelor's degree in entomology (2018) from UC Davis, began volunteering at the Bohart Museum in 2015, advanced to a paid internship in 2016, and then in 2018, accepted his current position as the lab assistant.
Dyer overcame three obstacles: a challenging childhood, a marriage that didn't work, and the loss of his home and hometown in the 2018 raging inferno in Paradise known as “The Camp Fire.” He successfully struggled from #ParadiseStrong to #DyerStrong.
“Ninety-five percent of the town is gone,” Paradise council member Michael Zuccolillo told the San Francisco Chronicle in a news story published Nov. 10, 2018. “The remaining 5 percent of buildings are barely standing. I felt like I was living in a bad dream. It was unrecognizable. I had to keep asking, ‘Where are we?' All the landmarks are gone. Block by block, nothing. Anybody who had a house in Paradise probably doesn't anymore.”
Love of Science. Dyer today credits his “love of science” with helping him overcome life's hardships. “And now in return, he inspires others to love science,” wrote his three nominators Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology; Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator; and Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Kimsey described him as “bright, gifted and personable. It doesn't matter what needs to be done in the museum, curation, insect identification, live colony care, computer or software issues, and working with student volunteers, he takes care of it. It is so rare to find someone who can do some of these tasks so well, much less all of them like he can.”
Another faculty member added this to the nomination packet: “(Brennen) is what I would generally characterize as a servant leader, defined by a philosophy and practice that aims to enrich the lives of the people. He works to build a better organization, and create a more caring environment for everyone. He is an exceptionally hard worker who is always available to assist students, staff, volunteers alike.”
An alumnus: “(Brennen) is incredible. He is intelligent, meticulous and proactive, and goes above and beyond to assist peers and colleagues. For example, when I was finishing my PhD thesis, I needed photos of insect specimens to add to my last chapter, but I had neither the time nor the skills to utilize our modern microscope to photograph specimens. He generously offered to help, and did so perfectly and quickly. If he hadn't been so reliable and proactive, I wouldn't have been able to finish my PhD in time.”
Accolades. Other comments from faculty and colleagues:
- “Frankly, we do not know what we would do without him. He is that exemplary. He is always kind, courteous, respectful, reliable, flexible, and eager to help with any project. When you ask for a favor or task from him, you can count on it being done promptly and correctly.”
- “(Brennen) steps up to difficult tasks, such as taking the lead in a landmark, three-year, federally funded project of surveying and databasing insects from three counties in the Sacramento River Delta (to date, 700 species, including 30 new species). He does it all, from organizing collections, coordinating field trips, and training interns, to helping graduate students, faculty and peers with equipment, including the GIGAmacro system and freeze freeze dryer; and assisting them with their projects and publications, such as imaging holotypes and photographing specimens for their publications. With BioQuip closed and supplies scarce, he even designs collecting equipment!”
- “He also serves as the unofficial IT specialist. (Brennen), who learned to dismantle and resassemble computers as a child, troubleshoots the office computers and printers, and assists with the website.
- “He volunteers to drive hundreds of miles to bring back collections, donations or other materials. He eagerly supports UC Davis Picnic Day, (Bohart) open houses, and UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. He engages with visitors, showing them displays, answering their questions, and encouraging them to ask more!”
- “(Brennen) strongly supports diversity, equity and inclusion. When a colleague's developmentally disabled aunt arrived for a tour, he noticed her limitless enthusiasm and curiosity for insects, so he headed to the Arboretum to bring back a male Valley carpenter bee (a blond, green-eyed bee known as a ‘teddy bear bee') and let the aunt hold it (note that ‘boy bees don't sting') before releasing it. Her joy, glee and excitement were as unforgettable as (Brennen's) kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity.”
- “(Brennen) has been an anchor to the museum, especially these last COVID years. We are a small team who tries to do big things. (Brennen) is the glue that holds everything together and gets the job done. He supports all aspects of the (workplace) from research to outreach and education. He is tireless and very deserving of recognition. He is not someone who likes to step into the limelight, but is definitely behind the scenes making everything happen smoothly. He is also just a caring and kind co-worker and sensitive to inclusivity and equity.”
In summary, the nominators wrote that (Brennen) “epitomizes the excellence of our UC Davis workforce.”
Dyer said he is humbled and honored to be singled out for the award.
The judging criteria in the service award category included
- Provides exemplary services to students, staff, faculty and/or general campus
- Makes notable contributions to the department and/or campus
- Creates and maintains high morale
- Embodies the Principles of Community
In all, the UC Davis Staff Assembly awarded individual honors in five categories: innovation, mentorship, service, supervision, and teaching, as well as a team award and a faculty and staff partnership award. The judges also awarded scholarships to staff and staff dependents. (See award winners)
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 and located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, houses a global collection of eight million insects. It also maintains a live “petting zoo” (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The parallel, cluster-randomized, controlled trial revealed that a spatial repellent, currently under review by the World Health Organization (WHO), reduced human Aedes-borne virus infection by 34.1 percent.
“That is a significant statistical and public health reduction,” said Scott, an internationally recognized medical entomologist who retired from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2015 but continues his scientific research on the ecology and epidemiology of dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection transmitted mainly by A. aegypti. Dengue, one of the most rapidly increasing vector-borne infectious diseases, infects some 400 million people a year, with 4 billion people at risk annually.
The clinical study results mean that spatial repellents have “the potential to reduce a variety of vector-borne diseases, augment existing public health efforts, and can be an effective component in vector control intervention strategies,” Scott said.
The newly published research, “Efficacy of a Spatial Repellent for Control of Aedes-borne Virus Transmission: A Cluster-Randomized Trial in Iquitos, Peru,” appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded the research in a grant to the University of Notre Dame (UND). Medical entomologist Nicole Achee, a research professor at UND, served as the project leader.
“To have shown a substantial public health impact at an endemic site, is rewarding,” said Scott, now a resident of Luck, Wis. “Our results provide valuable new data on mosquito control that will help to fill long-standing knowledge gaps and improve guidance for development of enhanced public health policy. Because literally billions of people around the globe are at risk of infection and disease from these viruses we are encouraged that results from our trial will contribute to improved health and well-being of so many people.”
Epidemiologist Amy Morrison, a 1996-2018 project scientist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and now with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, served as the lead author of the PNAS paper. “This trial was the most logistically challenging field project I've ever participated in,” she said. “I led the field efforts in Iquitos, Peru where I have resided since 1998. Our research team continued to amaze me; they had to replace more than 20,000 products in more than 2,000 houses every 15 days and managed 80 percent coverage of participating houses. This type of vector control trial is very difficult to carry out so demonstrating protective efficacy is very gratifying.”
Achee said the Peru study outcomes “are a critical component to achieving our goals for supporting a WHO policy endorsement for spatial repellents. The reduction in Aedes-borne virus infection in at-risk participants seen in trial results have fundamentally contributed to the WHO encouraging further consideration for the use of this product class in public health worldwide. This is a historical milestone that was led by the UC Davis implementing team and I am thrilled to have been part of the collaborative effort."
Spatial repellents are “devices that contain volatile active ingredients that disperse in air,” the authors explained. “The active ingredients can repel mosquitoes from entering a treated space, inhibit attraction to human host cues, or disrupt mosquito biting and blood-feeding behavior and, thus, interfere with mosquito–human contact. Any of these outcomes reduce the probability of pathogen transmission.”
More than half of the world population is at risk for infection with viruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, including include dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever, the scientists wrote.
Vector interventions are needed for Aedes-borne viral (ABV) disease prevention “but their application is hindered by the lack of evidence proving they prevent infection or disease," they wrote. "Results from our ABV study will help guide public health authorities responsible for operational management and worldwide ABV disease control and incentivize new strategies for disease prevention.”
“The primary mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, thrives in modern tropical urban environments. Despite decades of effort to control Ae. aegypti populations and prevent disease, the geographic range of illness and the viruses this mosquito transmits continue to expand,” they related. “Rigorously proven vector control interventions that measure protective efficacy against Aedes-borne viruses are limited to Wolbachia in a single trial in Indonesia and do not include any chemical interventions. Spatial repellents, a new option for efficient vector control, are designed to decrease human exposure to Aedes-borne viruses by releasing active ingredients into the air that disrupt mosquito–human contact and, thus, reduce the risk of human infection.”
The Iquitos trial is one of two trials recommended by WHO for assessing public health value and developing global health policy for the intervention class of spatial repellents. “Fully integrating vector control into Aedes-borne viral disease prevention programs requires quantitative guidance based on quantitative measures of the impact from each intervention component,” the authors wrote. “Ministries of Health, local to national governments, and nongovernmental organizations can use the Peru trial results as an evidence base for informed application of spatial repellents. Considering the growing public health threat from Aedes-borne viral disease, difficulties of developing vaccines against multiple viruses, and past poorly informed vector control failures, enhanced Aedes-borne viral disease prevention will benefit greatly from interventions, like the Peru trial, with proven public health value.
Thomas Scott. Scott, a member of three WHO committees and one of the world's Highly Cited Researchers for the third consecutive year, co-chairs a Lancet Commission that focuses on how prevention of viruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. He served on the faculty of the Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, from 1983 to 1996 before joining the UC Davis entomology faculty as a professor of entomology and director of the Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory. Highly honored by his peers, Scott won the coveted Harry Hoogstraal Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2018. He is a fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Entomological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He holds bachelor and master's degrees from Bowling Green (Ohio) State University and a doctorate in ecology in 1981 from Pennsylvania State University.
Amy Morrison. Morrison, who holds a doctorate in public health from Yale University, with a concentration in epidemiology of infectious diseases, and a master's degree in public health from UCLA, has served as the principal investigator, co-principal investigator and a collaborator on a number of federally funded grants. She specializes in the epidemiology of tropical vector-borne diseases, with an emphasis on (1) arthropod vector ecology and dengue virus transmission dynamics and (2) spatial and temporal analyses using Geographic Information Systems.
As a project scientist, Morrison supervises multiple studies on A. aegypti and dengue virus transmission dynamics, including longitudinal cohort studies evaluating A. aegypti control interventions, and the role of human movement in dengue transmission dynamics in Iquitos, funded by National Institutes of Health, Military Infectious Disease Research Program and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is an active member of the American Mosquito Control Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Entomological Society of America, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the Society of Vector Ecologists.
Nicole Achee. Achee is a research associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, UND, and holds a joint associate professor appointment in the Eck Institute for Global Health, UND. She worked as a medical entomologist in the international settings of Belize, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, South Korea, Suriname, Tanzania and Thailand. Her curriculum vitae includes principal investigator for large scale clinical trials in Peru and Indonesia. Both studies aimed “to generate evidence of the protective efficacy of spatial repellents for prevention of malaria and dengue human infections for use toward full World Health Organization public health policy recommendations,” she says on her website. Achee holds a doctorate in medical entomology from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science, Bethesda, Md.
In addition to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Iquitos project drew support from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Military Infectious Disease Research Program and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.