- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminars are from 12:10 to 1 p.m. and most will be recorded for later viewing on UCTV.
Jan. 7
Ronald Rosenberg
Title of Seminar: "Detecting the Emergence of Novel Arthropod-Borne Pathogens"
Associate Director for Global Health in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fort Collins, Colo.
Nominators/hosts: Professor Shirley Luckhart, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Medicine and graduate student advisor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and Professor Ed Lewis and Distinguished Professor James R. Carey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Jan. 14
Daniel Matute
Title of Seminar: "Hybrid Speciation in Drosophila"
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Nominator/host: Meredith Cenzer, graduate student, Louie Yang lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Jan. 21
George Dimopoulous
Title of Seminar: "Exploiting Infection Bottlenecks in the Mosquito to Control Human Disease"
Director of the Parasitology Core Facility
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Professor, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Baltimore, Md.
Nominator/host: Jiawen Xu, graduate student, Bruce Hammock lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Jan. 28
Michael Parrella
Title of Seminar: "To Antarctica and Back: The Search for Belgica antarctica Jacobs, 1900 (Diptera; Chironomidae)"
Professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Feb. 4
Jay Evans
Title of Seminar: "What's It Like Inside a Bee? Genetic Approaches to Honey Bee Health"
Research entomologist
USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS)
Beltsville, MD.
Nominator/host: Marin County Beekeepers
Feb. 11
Amro Zayed
Title of Seminar: "Honey Bee Behavioral Genomics: Worker Behavior and Adaptation"
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
York University
Toronto, Canada
Nominator/host: Brian Johnson, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Feb. 18 (CANCELLED, due to inclement weather and flight cancellation)
Steven Frank
Title of Seminar: "Can Forests Take the Heat? Managing Pests and Ecosystem Services in a Warming Climate"
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, N.C.
Nominator/host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
March 11
Thomas Eltz
Title of Seminar: "Perfume Making and Signalling in Orchid bees: New Light on an Old Enigma"
Chemical Ecologist
University of Bochum
Bochum, Germany
Nominator/host: Santiago Ramirez, faculty member, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology
April 1
George Kennedy
Title of Seminar: "Modeling the Epidemiology of Tomato Spotted Wilt: Understanding the Role of Thrips Population Dynamics and Virus Inoculum Sources "
William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Agriculture
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, N.C.
Nominator/host: Diane Ullman, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
April 8
Michael Strand
Title of Seminar: "Role of Microorganisms in Growth, Development and Reproduction of Mosquitoes”
Regents Professor
University of Georgia
Athens, Ga.
Nominators/hosts: Professor Shirley Luckhart, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Medicine and graduate student advisor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and Professor Ed Lewis and Distinguished Professor James R. Carey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
April 15
Eric Palevsky
Title of Seminar: "Plant-Feeding Phytoseiids: Cheliceral Morphology, Feeding Mechanism and Host Plant Interactions" Acarologist, Department of Entomology
Newe-Ya'ar Research Center
Agricultural Research Organization
Ministry of Agriculture
Ramat Yishay, Israel
Nominator/host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
April 22
John Lane
Title of Seminar: "Explorations of the Hargy Caldera, New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea"
Professional Geologist/Registered Environmental Assessor
Environmental Scientist/Certified Mold Inspector
Chico Environmental Science and Planning
Chico, Calif.
Nominator/host:Lynn Kimsey, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
April 29
Matt Daughtery
Title of Seminar: "Understanding the Impact of an Invasive Vector: Sharpshooter Transmission Efficiency, Behavior, and Pathogen Spread"
Assistant Extension Specialist and Principal Investigator
UC Riverside
Riverside, Calif.
Nominator/host: Jay Rosenheim
May 13
Amy Toth
Title of Seminar: "Molecular Evolution in Insect Societies: Insights from Genomics of Primitively Social Paper Wasps"
Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology
Department of Entomology
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
Nominator/host: Brian Johnson, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
May 20
John Hawdon
Topic: "Molecular Mechanisms of Hookworm Infection"
Research Center for Neglected Diseases of Poverty, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, The George Washington University
Washington, D.C.
Nominator/host: Steve Nadler
May 27
John "Jack" Longino
Title of Seminar: "Project ADMAC: Ant Diversity of the Mesoamerican Corridor"
Professor of Biology
Adjunct Curator of Entomology, Utah Museum of Natural History, University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Nominator/host: Phil Ward, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
June 3
Mike Singer
Title of Seminar: "One Butterfly, Six Host Shifts"
Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
Specialty: Butterfly ecology and behavior
(Formerly with University of Texas, Austin, Texas)
Nominator/host: Meredith Cenzer, graduate student, Louie Yang lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Chen, an associate project scientist, will discuss the emerald ash borer and the goldspotted oak borer and their interactions with their host plants. His talk is from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall.
Research entomologist Steve Seybold of the USDA's Forest Service and an affiliate of the Department of Entomology and Nematology is the host.
Chen, who holds a master's degree in applied statistics (2010) from Michigan State University, obtained his doctorate in entomology from the University of Georgia in 2007. For his dissertation research, he investigated various effects of nitrogen fertilization on tritrophic interactions among cotton plants, the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, and the parasitoid, Cotesia marginiventris. The project integrated ecological, chemical, nutritional, and behavioral elements to evaluate the role of nitrogen in shaping tri-trophic interactions in cotton.
Chen carried out postdoctoral research at Michigan State University's Department of Entomology from 2008 to 2011 on the behavioral, chemical, and nutritional interactions between the invasive emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, and ash trees. He relocated to UC Davis in July 2011 to lead an effort to improve trapping lures for detection of another invasive pest, the goldspotted oak borer, Agrilus auroguttatus.
In collaboration with research entomologists from the USDA Forest Service, Chen is now working to develop management options for the invasive walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis, and polyphagous shot hole borer, Euwallacea sp.
Chen's overarching research goals are to build arthropod pest management systems that emphasize naturally occurring pest suppression agents and environmentally friendly tactics, that is, insect sex pheromones and other semiochemicals, in a holistic, ecosystem-based approach. He is also interested in studying pest population dynamics in the context of various pest management tactics, agronomic practices, and abiotic environmental factors (e.g., temperature and precipitation) with mathematical and statistical tools.
Wednesday, Oct. 8
Vaughn Walton
Associate professor and Extension entomologist
Lead investigator, Spotted Wing Drosophila Project
Oregon State University
Title: "Complexities Associated with Two Invasive Pests: Challenges and Opportunities"
Hosts: Assistant professor Joanna Chiu and distinguished professor Frank Zalom, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Surendra Dara
Strawberry and Vegetable Crops and affiliated IPM Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.
Title: "Thinking Outside the Cubicle to Provide Practical Solutions to the Farmers"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 22
Blaine Cole
Professor, University of Houston, specializing in evolution, ecology and behavior.
Title: "Colony Growth and Fitness in Harvester Ants"
Host: Marshall McMunn, graduate student, Louie Yang lab, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 29
Clifford Ohmart
Entomologist and vice president of professional services
SureHarvest, sustainable agriculture
Title: "Sustainable Agriculture: What Is Happening Out on the Farm?"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 5
Chuck Fox
Professor, University of Kentucky, specializing in ecology and evolution of life histories; insect-plant interactions; insect behavioral ecology
Title: "Inbreeding-Environment Interactions: Experimental Studies and a Meta Analysis"
Host: Jay Rosenheim, professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 12
Louie Yang
Assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, specializing in ecology
Title: "Pulses, Phenology and Ontogeny: Towards a More Temporally Explicit Framework for Understanding Species Interactions?"
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Ray Hong
Associate professor of biology, California State University, Northridge, specializing in nematology
Title: “A Fatal Attraction: Regulation of Development and Behavior in the Nematode Pristionchus pacificus by a Beetle Pheromone”
Host: Valerie Williamson, professor of nematology, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 26
Doris Bachtrog, lab
Associate professor, UC Berkeley, specializing in evolutionary and functional genomics
Title: "Numerous Transitions of Sex Chromosomes in Diptera"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Dec. 3
To be announced
Wednesday, Dec. 10
Sawyer Fuller
Postdoctoral researcher, Harvard University
Title: "RoboBee: Using the Engineering Toolbox to Understand the Flight Apparatus of Flying Insects"
Host: James Carey, distinguished professor of entomology
This seminar by Sawyer Brown will be remote broadcast to UC Davis.
Plans call for recording the seminars, coordinated by Professor James Carey, for later posting on the web.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--Professor Steve Nadler, coordinator of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's fall seminars, has announced the list of the department's noonhour seminars.
The seminars begin Oct. 1 and continue through Dec. 10. They will take place on Wednesdays from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall, located off Kleiber Hall Drive, UC Davis.
The schedule as of Sept. 11:
Wednesday, Oct. 1
Yigen Chen
Associate project scientist and entomologist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: "Interactions Between Two Invasive Wood-Boring Insects with Their Respective Host Plants"
Host: Steve Seybold of the USDA's Forest Service and an affiliate of the Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 8
Vaughn Walton
Associate professor and Extension entomologist
Lead investigator, Spotted Wing Drosophila Project
Oregon State University
Title: "Complexities Associated with Two Invasive Pests: Challenges and Opportunities"
Hosts: Assistant professor Joanna Chiu and distinguished professor Frank Zalom, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Surendra Dara
Strawberry and Vegetable Crops and affiliated IPM Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.
Title: "Thinking Outside the Cubicle to Provide Practical Solutions to the Farmers"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 22
Blaine Cole
Professor, University of Houston, specializing in evolution, ecology and behavior.
Title: "Colony Growth and Fitness in Harvester Ants"
Host: Marshall McMunn, graduate student, Louie Yang lab, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Oct. 29
Clifford Ohmart
Entomologist and vice president of professional services
SureHarvest, sustainable agriculture
Title: "Sustainable Agriculture: What Is Happening Out on the Farm?"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 5
Chuck Fox
Professor, University of Kentucky, specializing in ecology and evolution of life histories; insect-plant interactions; insect behavioral ecology
Title: "Inbreeding-Environment Interactions: Experimental Studies and a Meta Analysis"
Host: Jay Rosenheim, professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 12
Louie Yang
Assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, specializing in ecology
Title: "Pulses, Phenology and Ontogeny: Towards a More Temporally Explicit Framework for Understanding Species Interactions?"
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Ray Hong
Associate professor of biology, California State University, Northridge, specializing in nematology
Title: “A Fatal Attraction: Regulation of Development and Behavior in the Nematode Pristionchus pacificus by a Beetle Pheromone”
Host: Valerie Williamson, professor of nematology, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 26
Doris Bachtrog, lab
Associate professor of integrative biology, UC Berkeley, specializing in evolutionary and functional genomics
Title: "Numerous Transitions of Sex Chromosomes in Diptera"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Dec. 3
No seminar
Wednesday, Dec. 10
Sawyer Fuller
Postdoctoral researcher, Harvard University
Title: "RoboBee: Using the Engineering Toolbox to Understand the Flight Apparatus of Flying Insects"
Host: James Carey, distinguished professor of entomology
This seminar is being remote broadcast to UC Davis via internet
Plans call for recording the seminars, coordinated by Professor James Carey, for later posting on the web.
Contacts:
Steve Nadler, sanadler@ucdavis.edu
Professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Jesael "Jesa" David, jcdavid@ucdavis.edu
Student Affairs Officer, Graduate Programs
Plant Pathology, Entomology and Nematology
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Department of Entomology has been renamed the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Carolyn de la Pena, UC Davis interim vice provost for undergraduate education, relayed the message May 28 to interim dean Mary Delany of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The faculty of the Department of Entomology and Department of Nematology had earlier proposed the consolidation of the two departments in response to a recommendation by the College for the elimination of the Department of Nematology. In the interim following consolidation, the name, “UC Davis Department of Entomology,” was used until university administrators approved the new name.
Of the 27 faculty members in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, five are nematologists.
Michael Parrella, professor of entomology, serves as the department chair, and nematologist Edwin Lewis, professor of both entomology and nematology and former interim chair of the UC Davis Department of Nematology, is the department’s vice chair. Professor Steve Nadler served as the last chair of the Department of Nematology.
Said Nadler: “Since approval of the consolidation of our departments nearly two years ago, our nematologists and entomologists have been working together and finding common ground to build upon prior successes. As the state economy improves and the university grows, I believe our newly named department will be successful in adding faculty positions that rebuild core research areas that were lost through faculty retirements.”
The UC Davis Department of Entomology began as an offshoot of the UC Berkeley Department of Entomology, while the UC Davis nematologists were closely linked with UC Riverside nematologists.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology traces its roots back to Oct. 30 1907 when UC Berkeley professor C. W. Woodworth spoke to the State Farmers' Institute in Davisville (now Davis) on the "Whitefly Situation in California." This was a forerunner to the Farmers' Short Courses (three-to-six-week courses) launched in the fall of 1908.
UC Davis established a two-year non-degree program in entomology in 1913 and its first degree in entomology in 1923-24 when Stanley Freeborn moved from Berkeley to Davis to head up this new and expanding program. The Davis campus began its administrative independence from Berkeley under Provost Freeborn (later chancellor) in 1952. R. M. Bohart became vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 1957, and the following year, the College of Agriculture instituted the rotating-chair system. In the spring of 1960, entomology settled into its new quarters in Robbins Hall, and in 1971, moved into the newly built Briggs Hall, intended for biological sciences faculty and staff.
The history of the UC Davis Department of Nematology began in 1954 with the establishment of the Statewide Department of Plant Nematology, comprised of the UC Riverside and UC Davis nematologists. The University of California was the first academic institution to recognize nematology as a field of science separate from plant pathology, entomology or parasitology.
In 1962, research competency at the two sites broadened sufficiently for the university to approve of a name change from the Statewide Department of Plant Nematology to the Department of Nematology. In 1962, J. D. Radewald was appointed as a Cooperative Extension Specialist at UC Riverside. In 1965, statewide University administration embarked on a decentralization program, giving the individual campuses greater autonomy.
From 1965 onwards, the two nematology departments evolved independently. In 1969, D. E. Johnson was appointed as a Cooperative Extension Specialist at the San Joaquin Valley Research and Extension Center at Parlier.
UC Davis entomology and nematology faculty have received worldwide recognition for their research, teaching and public service.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, considered the top news and job-information source for college and university faculty members, administrators, and students, ranked the UC Davis Department of Entomology as the No. 1 in the country in 2007. Factors considered were remarkable performances in faculty scholarly productivity, scientific citations per faculty, percentage of faculty with a journal publication, number of journal publications per faculty, and grantsmanship, among other factors. (The rankings have not been updated since 2007.)
UC Davis is No. 1 in the world for teaching and research in the area of agriculture and forestry, according to rankings released this year by QS World University Rankings.
DAVIS--Professor Steve Nadler of the UC Davis Department of Entomology has been selected to receive the Henry Baldwin Ward Medal, presented by the American Society of Parasitologists (ASP) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of parasitology.
Nadler will be honored at ASP's 88th annual meeting, set June 26–29 in Quebec City, Quebec. The award, established in 1959, is named for H.B. Ward, the society's first president and founder of the Journal of Parasitology.
Nadler studies the evolutionary biology and molecular phylogenetics of parasites, focusing mainly on nematodes. He joined the UC Davis faculty in 1996, serving as chair of the Department of Nematology from 2005-2011.
A past president of ASP (2007-08), Nadler has published more than 90 journal articles, and co-authored the textbook Foundations of Parasitology. His molecular systematic research is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, and his publications have yielded fundamental insights into host-parasite co-phylogeny and the evolutionary biology of parasites.
The UC Davis professor has served as an associate editor or editorial board member for several journals, including Parasitology, Journal of Parasitology, and Systematic Parasitology.
Nadler received his bachelor's degree in biology from Missouri State University, and his doctorate in medical parasitology from Louisiana State University Medical Center. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He was appointed assistant professor of biological sciences at Northern Illinois University in 1990.
Henry Baldwin Ward (1865-1945), a native of Troy, N.Y., is considered “The Father of American Parasitology.” A zoologist, parasitologist and administrator, he was the first dean of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and later served as professor and head of the Department of Zoology at the University of Illinois until his retirement in 1933.
Founded in 1924, ASP is a diverse group of more than 800 scientists from industry, government, and academia who are interested in the study and teaching of parasitology. ASP members contribute not only to the development of parasitology as a discipline, but also to primary research in such fields as systematics, medicine, molecular biology, immunology, physiology, ecology, biochemistry and behavior.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894