Doctoral student Erin Taylor Kelly of the Geoffrey Attardo laboratory, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is the 2022 winner of the highly competitive Student Leadership Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America for her leadership in STEM and entomological activities. 

Kelly will be honored at an awards luncheon during the annual PBESA meeting, set April 10-13 in Santa Rosa. The branch encompasses 11 Western states, parts of Canada and Mexico and several U.S. territories.

Kelly, who joined the Attardo lab in 2018, is the two-term president of the UC Davis Equity in STEM and Entrepreneurship (ESTEME) and serves as the vice president of the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA). 

"She excels in leadership, as well as in research, academics and public service," wrote Steve Nadler, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, in his letter of nomination.  Known as Taylor, she "is an important role model, sharing her enthusiasm for entomology and other sciences with the public, and eagerly supporting undergraduate students and others on their paths to scientific careers."

Taylor drew strong support from doctoral candidate Jill Oberski, president of EGSA and an active member of ESTEME;  ESTEME past president Alexus Roberts, and ESTEME colleague Sophie Zhu.  The organization supports greater equity and inclusion in science, helping help low-income, underrepresented, non-traditional students face and overcome the overwhelming barriers in reaching their goals. They also organize and coordinate activities for K-12 students and undergraduates, while also providing professional development events for fellow members.

Helping Fellow Graduate Students. Taylor's leadership activities in EGSA include collaborating with her peers to provide resources to support incoming students. Each year she collects information about awards they can apply for, and the courses that need teaching assistants. "She surveys students on their cost-of-living needs, and works with our administration to secure the assistance they need," wrote Nadler. "She continually shares information related to living in Davis and thriving in graduate school." Since 2019, Kelly has helped the EGSA coordinate the department's UC Davis Picnic Day activities, leading the EGSA committee in 2020-21. She also serves on the UC Davis Graduate Admissions Committee.

Taylor's leadership activities in EGSA include collaborating with her EGSA peers to provide resources to support incoming students. Each year she collects information about awards they can apply for, and the courses that need teaching assistants. "She surveys students on their cost-of-living needs, and works with our administration to secure the assistance they need," wrote Nadler. "She continually shares information related to living in Davis and thriving in graduate school." In addition, she is the EGSA coordinator of the department's UC Davis Picnic Day activities and serves  on the UC Davis Graduate Admissions Committee.

Kelly won a coveted first-place award at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting last November with her poster, “Metabolic Snapshot: Using Metabolomics to Compare Near-Wild and Colonized Aedes aegypti.”  She has been instrumental in teaching the graduate student offering of ENT 010 (Natural History of Insects).  

Her major professor, medical entomologist and geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, praises her strong leadership, her excellence as a doctoral student and her strong leadership role in his lab. "She is dedicated, self-motivated, compassionate, enthusiastic, confident, and demonstrates deep-rooted integrity in how she goes about her work and her interactions with colleagues and students," Attardo wrote in his letter of recommendation. "Within the lab, Taylor plays a strong leadership role, critical to the mentorship of undergraduate researchers who join the lab. Taylor greatly helps assist students with training in experimental design and execution; reading and interpretation of the scientific literature; training in data analysis; and scientific writing. Her mentorship manifested in the publication of a first- author manuscript (van Schoor et al.) by a talented undergraduate researcher in my group. The work explores the relationship between larval dietary composition and adult outcomes in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Taylor is always willing to help lab members with their projects and plays a key role in maintaining the lab's welcoming atmosphere and research successes."

People-Motivated. Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, the faculty chair of the department's Picnic Day activities, says that  "Taylor ranks among the most people-motivated graduate students I have had the pleasure to work with.”

“Setting aside for the moment Taylor's top flight academic background and qualifications, I have found her to be the ideal collaborator, very cooperative, consistently cheerful, perfectly dependable, and delightful to work with,” Kimsey related. “Competition may or may not select for exceptional researchers, but often selects for difficult characters. Taylor almost uniquely combines high productivity and intense curiosity with a delightful personality, an ideal combination to have in a program in which people must survive with each other. She has been an excellent graduate student, very gregarious, conscientious, with an exceptional ability to work with persons of any sort. She ranks among the most people-motivated graduate students I have had the pleasure to work with.”

UC Davis medical entomologist Anthony Cornel, who leads the Mosquito Control Research Laboratory in Parlier, works with Taylor on insecticide resistance in mosquitoes. “Taylor's PhD project is challenging as she endeavors to tease apart the biochemical and genetic factors that cause resistance to some commonly used insecticides to control Aedes aegypti," Cornel wrote.  "Ae. aegypti is considered the second most dangerous insect worldwide because of its role in transmission of dengue, yellow fever, Zika and Chikungunya viruses which cause considerable morbidity and mortality. Hence, it is an important organism to study especially to eventually improve measures to control this mosquito."

Critical Thinker. "Taylor has done very well as a PhD student, so far, having 4 publications related to Ae. aegypti, 3 publications on webspinners (Embioptera) and 2 publications related to astrobiology," Cornel related.  “My interactions with her convince me that she is a critical thinker and questions everything before undertaking tasks and experiments. These are attributes of a young scientist that will stand her in good stead to become excellent in academia. Almost all successful academics think out of the box and can work independently and collegially. She works with several other graduate and research assistants, and everyone likes her kindness, honesty, and helpfulness. Taylor's interests so far have mostly related to entomology systematics, genetics, and metabolomics. She has expressed her desire to remain as an entomologist beyond her graduate studies. She will always be a wonderful ambassador for entomology and her diverse knowledge of disciplines from systematics to behavior to protein and DNA studies makes her an excellent entomologist indeed.”

Taylor holds a bachelor of science degree in biology, with a minor in chemistry, from Santa Clara University, where she served as president of the campuswide Biology Club and led STEM projects, encouraging and guiding underrepresented students to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

UC Davis medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, a global expert on vectorborne diseases, and renowned for his groundbreaking work on tsetse flies, is the 2022 recipient of the Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America. 

Attardo, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2017 from the Yale School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, “excels not only as a researcher, but as a teacher, mentor, scientific illustrator, macro photographer, videographer and science communicator,” said UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock in his letter of nomination. 

The Attardo lab monitors the dynamics of vector insects at the levels of physiology, population genetics and environmental interactions.

“I have known Geoff personally since July 2017 and I have always admired his scientific expertise, his unbridled enthusiasm, his many talents, and his scores of accomplishments,” wrote Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the entomology department and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. “He leads a highly successful research group that focuses on the molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology of medically important insects. His work, encompassing his research, teaching/mentorship, public service and outreach, brings international recognition to our department, college, university, the UC system and the entomological world.” 

Eleven Western States. PBESA will recognize Attardo at an April 12 awards luncheon during its annual meeting, set April 10-13 in the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country. (link to https://www.entsoc.org/membership/branches/pacific/meeting.) PBESA is comprised of 11 Western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming), parts of Canada and Mexico, and seven U. S. territories. (Link to https://www.entsoc.org/membership/branches/pacific)

Hammock praised Attardo for developing “a unique niche that focuses on the fundamental aspects of insect disease vector physiology. He specializes in understanding the reproductive biology of mosquitoes and tsetse flies (vectors of African Trypanosomes). His novel investigations have led to major insights into the genetic, molecular and biochemical mechanisms that facilitate the unique life histories of these fascinating and medically important insects. Note that his groundbreaking research has garnered international media attention. During his doctoral studies, Geoff made major discoveries on the bloodmeal-derived nutritional signals that regulate gene expression, protein translation and egg development in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. This work resulted in two high-profile papers, both published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Attardo received a Ruth Kirshstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the molecular and biochemical physiology of tsetse fly lactation. His results “broadened our understanding of the physiology of live birth and lactation,” said Hammock, adding that his work “was the first to bring to bear state-of-the-art/high-throughput genetic, molecular and biochemical techniques.”

The co-principal investigator of a five-year NIH R01 grant, Attardo led a multinational collaboration resulting in the production, annotation and functional analysis of the first tsetse fly genome sequence. 

Attardo is also a talented macro photographer and scientific illustrator, Hammock noted. Science editors featured his tsetse photo on their cover and used his illustrations throughout the article to show the tsetse's unique physiology. Attardo's work also drew high-profile coverage twice in the New York Times. 

Attardo's current work focuses on defining the mating physiology of tsetse flies. He uses X-ray based MicroCT scanning to generate high resolution 3-dimensional images of tsetse reproductive tissues to understand the morphological specializations that enable live birth and lactation in tsetse flies.  (See Attardo lab)

Yellow Mosquito Research. Attardo, who holds a doctorate in genetics from Michigan State University, where he researched the molecular biology of mosquito reproduction, is also targeting the California spread of the invasive yellow mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which can carry such diseases as dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever. His work involves predicting insecticide resistance and tracking movements of genetically independent populations of aegypti throughout the state. 

Attardo collaborated with the KQED (Public Broadcasting Service) “Deep Look” team to produce a YouTube video  featuring macro footage and illustrations of tsetse live birth, blood feeding, and mating. The video, winner of a 2020 Northern California Emmy Award, has scored 6.2 million views, as of Jan. 4, 2022.  

In a letter of support, molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, wrote in part: 

 “Dr. Attardo's internationally recognized research program on the physiology and genomics of insect vectors is creative, significant, and always of the highest quality and rigor. His research program seamlessly integrates fundamental mechanistic work and applied research to study physiology and behavior of insects that vector devastating human diseases. His teaching and mentoring program is innovative, inclusive, and he is fiercely supportive of his trainees and junior colleagues. Finally, he is passionate about outreach and extension because he understands the importance and value of transferring technologies from his lab to the field and extending information to benefit stakeholders locally and internationally.” 

Very Effective Teaching Style. For the past two years, Chiu and Attardo have been co-teaching an undergraduate animal biology course on “Applications, Social and Ethical Issues in Animal Biology.” Chiu praised his ability to “engage the students” and his “very effective teaching style in helping students build critical thinking skills and confidence.”   

Professor Immo Hansen of the Department of Biology, Institute of Applied Biosciences at New Mexico State University, echoed the praise. “Geoff is a prolific scholar with more than 55 publications and an h-index of 30 a value that one might expect for a full professor in the entomology field (my own h-index is 29). His early work on mosquito regulation of gene expression and nutritional signaling pathways as well as his later works on Tsetse genomics, nutrition, milk production, and symbiont interactions are highly original and represent significant increases in our knowledge in insect reproductive physiology.” 

“He led the effort to sequence and annotate the genome of the Tsetse fly which resulted in a Science paper,” Hansen pointed out.  “Geoff is a leading expert in the field of the molecular basis of insect reproduction (of tsetse flies) which is reflected by the large number of invited presentations he has given over the years. His truly innovative research in the field puts him at the forefront of researchers in his discipline.”

UC Davis undergraduate entomology major Gwendolyn "Gwen" Erdosh, a research scholar in the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB) and president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, is recipient of the inaugural Dr. Stephen Garczynski Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA).  

Erdosh will receive a $1000 award and waived registration for the PBESA annual meeting April 10-13 in Santa Rosa. 

The award memorializes a research geneticist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Wapato, Wash., with “an unmatched passion for mentoring undergraduate students in their research,” PBESA announced. Garczynski (1960-2019) specialized in the molecular genetics of codling moths and other tree fruit pests.  

Erdosh is a researcher in the lab of community ecologist  Louie Yang, a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology professor and a co-founder and co-director of RSPIB.  “Gwen has been particularly motivated to examine the effects of smoke on insect olfaction and behavior, and recently received a Provost's Undergraduate Fellowship (PUF) to support this work,” wrote Professor Yang in his letter of recommendation. She is developing “a Y-tube olfactometer apparatus to test some of the hypotheses she has been developing. She has been amazingly creative, innovative and independent in this work, and I'm excited to see what she learns.”

“Gwen has the skills and motivation to excel in research,” Yang noted. “She is extraordinarily knowledgeable about insect diversity and has strong and persistent interest in research. The project that Gwen is focused on is of both applied and fundamental importance, and her latest iteration of this experiment offers a good first step towards assessing the ecological importance of wildfire smoke for insects.”

Gwentomologist. Erdosh, known as “Gwentomologist” on Instagram, with 24,000 followers, anticipates receiving her bachelor's degree in 2023.

 The awards packet required a two-page essay outlining the applicant's current research and future career aspirations, and a letter of nomination from a research mentor or professor.  Judges scored the applicants on such attributes as energy, passion, innovation and initiative, creativity and originality an potential impact.

In her essay, Erdosh wrote that getting accepted into RSPIB and becoming a member of the Yang lab “has given me the opportunity to get critical research experience as an undergrad. My current research project aims to determine whether an insect's ability to locate food is hindered by ambient smoke."

"My research idea was motivated by a desire to understand and predict potential ecological  responses to climate change," Erdosh wrote. "One of the effects of climate change is higher rates of extreme events. Recently, California has been experiencing larger, more damaging fires than seen in previous years. One aspect of fires is the immense amount of smoke produced. This air pollution is made up of particulates and volatiles, ones that are hazardous to the health of many organisms. The impact that smoke has on humans has been studied, but its impact on smaller animals is often overlooked. Little to no experiments have been done to test the effects of smoke on insect communication. Smoke may interfere with chemical signaling and prevent an insect from locating its food and conspecifics. I am currently investigating the effects of smoke on fruit fly behavior and its olfactory system using a Y-choice apparatus; the objective is to determine whether fruit flies are more or less likely to find their food when smoke is blown into the Y-choice apparatus compared to a clear air control. I hypothesize that when smoke is present, the flies will be less accurate in finding their food and will take a longer time to find their food than the control group."

Gwen, a 2018 graduate ofLos Gatos High School, Santa Clara County, decided at age 12 to pursue a career in entomology. She attended aBioBoot camp hosted by theBohart Museum of Entomology and then at age 16, interned with JasonDombroskie at Cornell University. Those "experiences with lab work and fieldwork led me to decide that I wanted to go into research." Her work included identifying microlepidoptra in the family Tortricidae; sampling monarch butterflies for Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) spores; catching and tagging the gray petaltail dragonfly (Petalurid) at a local state park; and collecting, identifying and presenting moths for a Moth Night program at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.

Costa Rico Internship. At age 17, Gwen completed a five-week internship in the summer of 2018 at the Monteverde Butterfly Gardens in Costa Rica, where she studied insects, conducted tours, and cared for the arthropods in the insectarium

Erdosh enrolled in the UC Davis entomology program in 2019. "I am interested in both insect ecology and systematics, and I plan on going to graduate school for a PhD in entomology," Erdosh wrote in her essay. "I aspire to be a professor who not only carries out unique and meaningful research, but is also a true educator and role model for students, inspiring young scientists to pursue their ambitions and remain curious about the natural world. More specifically about entomology, I want to show people the beauty and peculiarity of arthropods; I love public outreach and want to spread my passion for insects to others. While I did not know Dr. Stephen Garczynski personally, I would like to think that he was this kind of person, and that I would have looked up to him, as I do my own mentor Louie Yang."

Erdosh launched her Instagram account in 2013 to share her passion for moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera).  “Back then, it was one of only a few accounts that focused on such a niche interest," she said in a recent interview.  On her account, she posts her macro images, with detailed captions about the featured insect. "My goal is to not only teach others, but also learn a lot myself. I also post fun and engaging videos to encourage others to pursue entomology. Many times, people have told me that my page helped them decide that they wanted to pursue entomology as a career! I love being able to spread the love of insects to others, and will continue to be active on my page.”

Additionally, she maintains a YouTube account as “gwentomologist.” 

Erdosh was recently featured on Sacramento Channel 31's Good Day Sacramento in a segment on "Bringing Bugs to Instagram." (See Part 1 and Part 2)

Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), presented its annual awards at a virtual ceremony on Monday, April 20. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, no physical gathering took place, and the congratulations and applause bestowed were online only.

UC Davis faculty and UC Cooperative Extension specialists fared well, with Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, receiving the highest award, the C. W. Woodworth Award. (See news story)

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology received the Distinction in Student Mentoring. (See news story)

Walter Leal, distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and a former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won the Award for Excellence in Teaching. (See news story)

Emily Symmes, who received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 2012, and is an agricultural entomologist  specializing in integrated pest management (she was formerly with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources), was part of the almond team that won the PBESA Entomology Team Award.

The complete list of recipients, as announced by PBESA President Elizabeth Beers, professor of entomology at Washington State University:

C. W. Woodworth Award
Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

Award for Excellence in Teaching
Walter Leal, UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Distinction in Student Mentoring
Robert Kimsey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

Award for Excellence in Integrated Pest Management
Surendra Dara, UC Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology Award
Laura Lavine, Washington State University Department of Entomology, Pullman, Wash.

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology Award
Dong-Hwan Choe, UC Riverside Department of Entomology, Riverside

Excellence in Early Career Award
Priyadarshini Chakrabarti, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.

Entomology Team Work Award
David Haviland (team leader)
UC Cooperative Extension, Bakersfield
Team: Brad Higbee, Charles Burks, Jhalendra Rijal, Emily Symmes, Robert Curtis, Stephanie Rill

John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Award
Jacqueline Serrano, who holds a doctorate from UC Riverside, is currently with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) in Wapato, Wash.

Student Leadership Award
Megan Asche, Ph.D candidate, Washington State University Department of Entomology

PBESA encompasses 11 western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming), U.S. territories, and parts of Canada and Mexico.