Dec. 13, 2011

Robert K. Washino

DAVIS--Most people have never served 38 consecutive years on an executive board that looks out for the health and welfare of two million people.

But then again medical entomologist Robert Washino isn't  “most people.”

Washino, emeritus professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and former associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has just completed 38 years of service as a trustee of the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District (SYMVC) Governing Board.

He retired Dec. 13 as the longest-ever trustee term on the board. The Davis City Council appointed him as the city's representative to the mosquito abatement board in 1973. The district covers 2000 square miles in Yolo and Sacramento counties.

The SYMVC board honored him at its Dec. 13th meeting, held in the district headquarters, Elk Grove, with a proclamation for his “exemplary public service and dedication to public health.” Next, the Davis City Council will present a proclamation at its meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20 in the Community Chambers, 23 Russell Blvd.

Washino, now 79, served as president of the board five times during his tenure.

Te Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District lab/library building is named for Robert Washino. (Photo courtesy of Luz Rodriguez)

The trustees pose for one last photo together. In front (from left) are Rosemarie Moore, Robert Washino and board president
Jayna Karpinski-Costa. In back (from left) are Raul DeAnda
Crai

Internationally known for his expertise on mosquitoes, “Dr. Washino brought a perspective to the board that is difficult to replace,” SYMVC Manager David Brown said. “He is known worldwide for his work on mosquitoes and public health and bringing that knowledge to the district has provided a level of service that is hard to match. Without his guidance and tutelage, I am sure our program would not be as effective as it is today.”

Washino spearheaded the name change from "Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Abatement District" to "Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District" to reflect the district's expanded role in the surveillance of ticks, mites, fleas and other vectors. A vector is an insect or animal that transmits a disease to other animals or humans.

The Davis resident said he's overwhelmed by the reception and outpouring of thanks. “I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve,” Washino said.  “A safe and an effective mosquito vector control program in the context of public health relies on the proper blend of science, technology, resource management and political smarts, but like any other successful program, it comes down to the quality of motivated people throughout an organization, such as this one that serves the residents of Sacramento and Yolo counties. Although I have served in a similar capacity at the state and federal levels, representing the City of Davis in this role has given me the deepest sense of satisfaction.”

Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and a veteran of the  SYMVC board, described Washino as a thoroughly dedicated public servant. “Dr. Washino is totally committed to public service, particularly advancing public welfare,” said Parrella, praising how Washino guided scientists and shared information on vector ecology and mosquitoes and other vectors.

While on the board, Washino proposed and helped design and develop the laboratory/library resource center built n 1994 on the 40-acre district complex. And, for research and teaching purposes, Washino gifted his entire collection of mosquito-related books and journals, photographs and slides to the district. The center, dedicated in 1994, bears his name.

The SYMVC facility "continues to be viewed as the standard of vector control operations in California,” Brown said.

Lt. Robert Washino (far right) served with the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps from 1956 through 1958.

Lt. Robert Washino (front left) during his service with the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps from 1956 through 1958.

Medical entomologist Robert Washino during his military years. This photo was taken in a lab south of Paris, France.

In 1990, Washino saw triple public service.  Not only was he president of the SYMVC Board of Trustees, but of the statewide California Mosquito and Vector Control Association, and associate dean of Academic Affairs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 

A native of Sacramento, Washino recalled that in his childhood, he greatly admired the work of mosquito experts. "I, too, vowed to make a difference," he said. He drew inspiration from the work of the Rockefeller Foundation for developing the 17D vaccine against yellow fever. He also admired Walter Reed, who discovered the role of the mosquito as the culprit in the transmission of the yellow fever virus.

Washino received both his master's degree and doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, 1956 and 1967 respectively. After completing his master's thesis, he joined the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, serving as a lieutenant from 1956 through 1958 and seeing duty in Europe (Orléans, France for two years). He conducted a small detachment and a laboratory and later served an assistant preventative medicine officer.

Washino joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty in 1964. He chaired the department from 1981-1987 and again in his retirement years.

Throughout his academic career and his retirement life today, Washino “gives freely of his time and expertise to state, federal and international agencies as well as the private sector,” Parrella said.

During his retirement, Washino accepted a total of three administrative posts on the UC Davis campus: special assistant to the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; interim co-director of the Center for Vectorborne Diseases, School of Veterinary Medicine; and chair of the Department of Entomology.

One of the highlights of his career occurred in 2005 when he received the international Harry Hoogstraal Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Medical Entomology for his work on the ecology of mosquitoes and mosquito control agents. Among his other awards. the 1996 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of Vector Ecology; and 1987 C. W. Woodworth Award from the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America; and the 2001 Award of Distinction from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
    
A past president of the American Mosquito Control Association, former director of the UC ANR Statewide Center for Pest Management and an ongoing consultant with the USDA Cooperative State Research Service, Washino has also worked with groups ranging from the World Health Organization to the Entomological Society of America.

Aedes washinoi

He published 193 papers and abstracts on topics related to mosquito biology, ecology, and control. He co-authored the last complete treatise on the Mosquitoes of California. Among his other activities: he  testified before congressional committees and the UC Board of Regents, and served on USDA and California Department of Food and Agriculture task forces targeting such insects as the Africanized honey bee and Mediterranean fruit fly.

Washino chaired the Contained Research Facility Committee that focused on the need to study plant pest and disease caused by harmful non-indigenous (exotic) organisms. His goal: to facilitate urgent research in high security quarantine facilities (bio-safety level 3plus). That work, during and after retirement, resulted in the establishment of containment facilities on the UC Davis and UC Riverside campuses “to solve the critical demand for strengthened pest exclusion, early detection, and alternative strategies for managing pest and disease problems,” Parrella said.

Washino's legacy also includes a mosquito named for him—Aedes washinoi. SYMVC district office posted a photo of the day-biting mosquito at his reception. Known as "The Fresh Water Mosquito”--because the larvae inhabit freshwater ground pools and shaded pits near rivers or streams--the Washino mosquito does not move than a half a mile from a larval source.

But Robert Washino moves.  His career has taken him around the world—and back again.

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Back to News 

--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894

Chemical ecologist Walter Leal (right) is the 2010 recipient of the prestigious C. W. Woodworth Award. With him is Brian Holden, great-grandson of Woodworth.

Leal, a noted authority on insect communication and olfaction, received the award on Monday, April 12 during the branch's 94th annual meeting in Boise, Idaho. Brian Holden of Monte Sereno, Calif., great-grandson of Woodworth and a 1981 graduate of UC Davis in electrical engineering, presented the award.

The award memorializes Woodworth (1865-1940), a trailblazing entomologist who is considered the founder of the UC Berkeley and UC Davis departments of entomology.  

“Because of his deep and meaningful body of work over the last 10 years, Dr. Walter S. Leal of UC Davis is a wonderful selection as the 42nd recipient of the C.W. Woodworth Award," said Holden, who is writing a book on his great-grandfather. "His research into the detailed neuronal responses in mosquitoes to DEET and nonanal  has been particularly impressive.  His research has improved our knowledge of mosquito behavior in the presence of these two compounds, both of which are central in the efforts to understand and control mosquito-borne illness."

Holden and his wife Joann Wilfert sponsor the award along with the entire Woodworth/Holden/Detrich family.  

Charles W. Woodworth reading. (Photo courtesy of Brian Holden)

James Carey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, praised Leal “for his stellar work on chemical communication and olfaction of insects of agricultural and medical importance.”

Carey, who chairs the department's awards committee, described Leal as “an innovative and creative researcher, a collaborative scientist, and an outstanding teacher.”

Leal has identified and synthesized complex pheromones from many insects, including scarab beetles, true bugs, longhorn beetles and the citrus leafminer. In one of his major contributions to California agriculture, he identified a complex sex pheromone system from the naval orangeworm, an insect pest that costs California agriculture millions of dollars annually. The sex pheromone compounds he discovered are now being deployed in the agricultural field to disrupt chemical communication and control navel orangeworm population.

“Dr. Leal has a remarkable ability to tackle and solve intricate problems,” Carey said. In groundbreaking research published August 18, 2008 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Leal's lab uncovered the mode of action of the insect repellent DEET, combining state-of-the-art analytical techniques with sensory physiology and behavioral studies.

Other work has included identifying a common chemical, nonanal, that explains the easy host shift of Culex mosquitoes from birds to humans. Culex mosquitoes transmit West Nile virus and other diseases. The study was published Oct. 26 in PNAS.

Widely sought as a keynote speaker, Leal “often shares the podium with Nobel Laureates and members of the National Academy of Sciences,” Carey said. “Yet every summer you can find Walter in California's agricultural fields chasing beetles for pheromone identification, trapping moths with sex pheromones, and testing mosquito attractants in urban and agricultural settings.”

An active member of ESA, Leal was elected a Fellow in 2009, one of 10 so honored by the 6000-member organization that year. He has organized a number of symposia at the national meetings, and served as secretary, president and past president of the Integrative Physiological and Molecular Insect Systems Section. As a pay-it-forward entomologist, he encourages his graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to be professionally engaged.

Leal has authored 148 research publications in the general field of insect pheromones, insect chemical communication, and insect olfaction, many widely cited by his peers.

His honors include the 2008 ESA Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology, and the 2007 Silverstein-Simeone Award from the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE). His native Brazil awarded him its Medal of the Entomological Society of Brazil, and the Medal of Science (equivalent of ESA Fellow). The Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology granted him its highest honor, Gakkaisho.

Educated in Brazil and Japan, Leal holds a doctorate in applied biochemistry from Tsukuba University, Japan, with other degrees in chemical engineering and agricultural chemistry. He is a past president of ISCE, and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. Under his tenure, the department was ranked No. 1 in the country by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Woodworth Award, first presented in 1969, recognizes a PBSA member for outstanding accomplishments in entomology. Leal is the seventh scientist from the UC Davis Department of Entomology to receive the award: Other recipients: William Harry Lange, 1978; Harry Hyde Laidlaw Jr. 1981; Robert Washino, 1987; Thomas Leigh, 1991; Harry Kaya, 1999; and Charles Summers, 2009.

The Pacific Branch of ESA encompasses 11 U.S. states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming); several U.S. territories, including American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands; and  parts of Canada and Mexico.

More information:
Charles W. Woodworth

Entomologist Charles "Charlie" Summers. (Photo by Edwin Remsberg, USDA)

Charles “Charlie” Summers, stationed at the UC Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier, since 1970, and a member of UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty since 1992, will receive the award at the branch's 93rd annual meeting, set March 29-April 1 in San Diego.

“This is the major award of the Pacific Branch to professionals and is very prestigious,” said Pacific Branch president Walt Bentley, an integrated pest management specialist at  Kearney Agricultural Center. “The award recognizes his contributions to entomology over the last 10 years but in reality it is for a career of meaningful work.”

Throughout his career, Summers has worked to solve pest problems impacting California agriculture. He has conducted field studies in the Central Valley from Chico to Bakersfield, working with 15 different field and vegetable crops, more than 20 different insect pests and their natural enemies, and at least 10 insect-vectored diseases.

Summers developed economic thresholds, determining at what point the cost of pest damage exceeds the cost of pest control.  He pioneered economic thresholds for seven pests in four crops, and developed management strategies for a combination of 28 crops, insect and disease pests.  His credits include publications in more than 200 journals and more than 800 presentations.

Summers is known for his research on the interactions among insects, diseases and weeds on alfalfa hay and how they individually and as a whole, influence yield and quality. His work has led to improved best management decisions and decreased pesticide use.

He is also known for his research on reflective mulches, used  to delay and reduce aphid and whitefly infestations on squash, pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes and other crops. He teams with plant pathologist Jim Stapleton and vegetable crop specialist Jeff Mitchell, both based at Kearney.

“In the mid-1990s, Dr. Stapleton and I embarked on a series of studies to determine if aphids, aphid-transmitted viruses, and silverleaf whitefly could be managed using plastic reflective mulches,” Summers said ”Dr. Jeff Mitchell later joined our team. We evaluated a wide variety of crops as well as different types of mulches. We were able to manage all three of these pests without the need to rely on the use of insecticides.”

“Our studies have clearly demonstrated that the use of these mulches are effective in delaying the onset of silverleaf whitefly colonization and the incidence of aphid-borne virus diseases,” Summers said.  “The data shows that marketable yields with summer squash, cucumber, and pumpkins grown over reflective mulch are higher than those in plants grown over bare soil, both with and without insecticide. We also determined that the use of reflective mulch, without insecticides, leads to significantly increased yields of fall planted cantaloupes.”

Another highlight of his career: his work on the biology of corn leafhopper and corn stunt spiroplasma. He proved that the corn leafhopper can overwinter in the San Joaquin Valley and that the pathogen, Spiroplasma kunkelii overwinters in it.

“Before this research, it was assumed that tropical insects such as corn leafhopper could not overwinter in our temperate climate, but were reintroduced each year from Mexico,” Summers said. The findings led to better strategies for managing the pest and the pathogen.

His research showed that corn leafhopper can live up to 172 days on triticale, wheat, and barley and as long as 150 days on oats. “This length of survival,” Summers said, “is sufficient time to bridge the corn-free period from the last volunteer corn in the fall to the first planted and emerged corn in the spring. We found that the corn stunt spiroplasma, Spiroplasma kunkelii, is seed-borne in cobs left in the field overwinter. This provides a ready source of inoculums in the spring when these seeds germinate. This is especially important where corn follows corn.”

His research also found that corn leafhopper completes its development from egg to adult on triticale, thus providing another host in the San Joaquin Valley.

A native of Ogden, Utah, Summers received two degrees from Utah State University; his bachelor of science degree in zoology in 1964 and his master's degree in entomology in 1966. He earned his doctorate in entomology in 1970 from Cornell University. That same year, he joined the Kearney Agricultural Center.

Summers is the 40th recipient of the award since 1969. Five other UC Davis entomologists received the award: William Harry Lange Jr. in 1978; Harry Laidlaw in 1981; Robert Washino in 1987; Thomas Leigh in 1991; and Harry Kaya in 1998.

The award memorializes noted American entomologist Charles W. Woodworth, (1865-1940), credited with founding the UC Berkeley Department of Entomology and helping to develop the Agricultural Experiment Station, which later became the UC Davis Department of Entomology. Born and educated in Illinois, Woodworth was a charter member (1889) of the American Association of Economic Entomologists, which later  merged with the Entomological Society of America..

The Pacific Branch of ESA encompasses 11 U.S. states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming); several U.S. territories, including American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands; and  parts of Canada and Mexico.

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Award to Be Presented Monday, March 30

The Charles W. Woodworth Award will be presented to Charles Summers during the opening session of the 93rd annual meeting of the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (ESA). The March 29-April 1 meeting takes place in the Bahia Resort Hotel, San Diego. The opening session is from 8:30 to 11 a.m., Monday, March 30.

This year's meeting is themed "Fifty Years of the Integrated Control Concept." President is integrated pest management specialist Walt Bentley, Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier, who succeeded past president Larry Godfrey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

Michael Parrella, associate dean of the Division of Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and professor of entomology, serves as the Pacific Branch representative to the ESA governing board. Both he and Frank Zalom were named ESA Fellows last year.
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