- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Eight of the 10 seminars are both in-person and virtual, while two will be virtual only. The in-person seminars will take place from 4:10 to 5 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Wednesdays in Room 122 of Briggs Hall, located off Kleiber Drive. All seminars will live-streamed on Zoom and recorded for future viewing. The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
The topics range from bark beetles and meat-eating bees to exit seminars by two UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology doctoral candidates.
Wednesday, Jan. 11--Virtual Only
Clément Vinauger, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
Virginia Tech Department of Biochemistry
Title: "Neural and Molecular Basis of Mosquito Behavior"
Host: Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Jan. 18
Quinn McFredrick, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
UC Riverside Department of Entomology
Title: "The Weird World of Pathogens, Microbes, and Meat-Eating Bees"
Wednesday, Jan. 25
Lisa Chamberland, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral fellow, Jason Bond Lab
UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: Pending
Host: Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Wednesday, Feb. 1
Chris Fettig, Ph.D.
Research entomologist
U. S. Forest Service
Title: "Bark Beetles: How Tiny Insects Are Transforming Western Forests with a Little Help from Climate Change'
Wednesday, Feb. 8
Lauren Ponisio, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
University of Oregon Department of Biology
Title: "Disease in Plant-Pollinator Communities"
Host: Rachel Vannette, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 15
Christine Tabuloc, doctoral candidate
Molecular geneticist, Joanna Chiu lab
UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: (Title pending; this is her exit seminar)
Host: Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 22
Kyle Lewald, doctoral candidate
Molecular geneticist, Joanna Chiu lab
UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: "Using Genomic Data to Understand and Prevent the Spread of Tuta absoluta" (exit seminar)
Host: Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, March 1
Dana Nayduch, Ph.D.
Research entomologist
USDA-ARS Center for Grain and Animal Health Research
Title: "Can Surveying Microbial Communities of House Flies Help Us Understand Emerging Threats to Animal and Human Health?"
Wednesday, March 8
Amy Worthington, Ph.D.
Assistant professor
Creighton University Department of Biology
Title: "A Host of Hardships: The Costs of Harboring a Long-Lived Parasite"
Host: Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, March 15 -- Virtual Only
Sylvain Pincebourde, Ph.D.
Researcher
University of Tours, Insect Biology Research Institute
Title: "The Key Role of Microclimates in Modulating the Response of Ectotherms to Climate Change"
Host: Emily Meineke, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
The Department of Entomology and Nematology, ranked among the top entomology departments in the United States, is chaired by nematologist and professor Steve Nadler. Vice chair is molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu.
For further information on the seminars or technical difficulties with Zoom, contact Meineke at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
All will take place from 4:10 to 5 p.m., Wednesdays in 122 Briggs Hall.
The seminars:
Wednesday, Jan. 9
Brian Gress, postdoctoral fellow in the Frank Zalom lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: "Host Selection and Resistance Evolution in Drosophila suzukii"
Host: Frank Zalom, distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Jan. 16
No seminar today. (Seminar by Sarah Stellwagen, postdoctoral researcher, University of Maryland
will present her previously scheduled seminar on “Toward Spider Glue: From Material Properties to Sequencing the Longest Silk Family Gene” on April 24.)
Wednesday, Jan. 23
Jenita Thinakaran, UC Davis postdoctoral researcher based at the Shafter Agricultural Research Station
Title: "A Systems Approach to Managing Potato Psyllid in Relation to Its Alternate Hosts"
Host: Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Jan. 30:
Laura Burkle, assistant professor of ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman
Topic: Wild bees, interactions with flowers
Hosts: Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor of entomology, and Maureen Page, doctoral student in the Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 6
Alan Hastings, theoretical ecologist and distinguished professor, UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy
Title: "Stochasticity and Spatial Population Dynamics"
Host: Hanna Kahl, doctoral student in the Jay Rosenheim lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 13
Antoine Abrieux, postdoctoral fellow, Joanna Chiu lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: "Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms underlying Photoperiodic Time Measurement in Drosophila melanogaster"
Host: Joanna Chiu, associate professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 20:
Alexander Raikhel, distinguished professor, UC Riverside
Title: "The Role of Hormone Receptors and MicroRNAs in Mosquito Reproduction and Metabolism"
Host: Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematolgoy
Wednesday, Feb. 27:
Lauren Esposito, faculty member, San Francisco State University, and assistant curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences
Title: "Evolution of New World Scorpions and Their Venom"
Host: Jason Bond, Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, March 6:
Monika Gulia-Nuss, assistant professor, biochemistry and molecular biology, University of Nevada, Reno
Topic: DNA Methylation in Ticks
Host: Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, March 13:
Stephen "Fringy" Richards, associate professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Human Genome Sequencing Center.
Topic: "Evolutionary Genomic Innovation Within the Phylum Arthropoda"
Host: Steve Nadler, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Spring Break: March 20-27
For further information on the seminars, contact Geoffrey Attardo at gmattardo@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminars begin Jan. 10 and will continue through March 14. All will take place on Wednesdays from 4:10 to 5 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall, Kleiber Hall Drive.
Coordinators are assistant professor Rachel Vannette; Extension apiculturist Elina Niño; and Ph.D student Brendon Boudinot of the Phil Ward lab.
The schedule (subject to change):
Jan. 10: Amy Morrison, UC Davis epidemiologist, project scientist and scientific director of the Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 (NAMRU-6) Iquitos Laboratory. Topic: "Targeting Aedes Aegypti Adults for Dengue Control: Infection Experiments and Vector Control in Iquitos."
Jan. 17: Fiona Goggin, professor of entomology, University of Arkansas and a UC Davis alumnus. Topic: “Molecular and Phenomic Approaches to Study Plant Defenses against Insects and Nematodes."
Jan. 24: David Gonthier, postdoctoral fellow, Clare Kremen lab, UC Berkeley. Topic: to be announced. His primary research objective is to understand the importance of biodiversity across natural and managed ecosystems.
Jan. 31: Amanda Hodson, UC Davis postdoctoral fellow and assistant professional researcher with Louise Jackson's Soil Ecology Lab, UC Davis. Topic: "Molecular Detection and Integrated Management of Plant Parasitic Nematodes." Her research interests include soil ecology, integrated pest management and ecological intensification of agricultural systems.
Feb. 7: Marm Kilpatrick, assistant professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UC Santa Cruz. Topic: to be announced. He studies ecology of infectious diseases and population biology. His research "unites theory and empirical work to address basic and applied questions on the ecology of infectious diseases as well as population biology, evolution, climate, behavior, genetics, and conservation."
Feb. 14: Maj Rundlöf of Lund University, Sweden, a visiting International Career Grant (INCA) fellow in the Neal Williams lab, will speak on “Pesticide Exposure and Flower Resources as Drivers of Bumble Bee Diversity in Agricultural Landscapes"
Feb. 21: Kerry Mauck, assistant professor of entomology, UC Riverside, will speak on “How Plant Viruses Use Chemistry to Manipulate Hosts and Vectors." She studies insect vector behavior, plant-pathogen interactions, chemical ecology, and integrated disease management.
Feb. 28: Brendon Boudinot, Ph.D candidate in the Phil Ward lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will speak on "Phylogenetic Morphology of the Big-Eyed Tree Ants and Kin (Formicidae: Pseudomyrmecinae)."
March 7: John Tooker, associate professor of entomology and Extension specialist, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State. Topic: to be announced. His areas of expertise include insect ecology, plant-insect interactions, conservation biological control, chemical ecology and gall insects.
March 14: Alvaro Acosta-Serrano, senior lecturer, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Topic: to be announced. His research focuses on fundamental aspects of the biology of kinetoplastid parasites and their vectors, and on developing molecular tools to control and prevent parasite transmission in disease-endemic areas.
For more information, contact Vannette at rlvannette@ucdavis.edu; Niño at elnino@ucdavis.edu or Boudinot at boudinotb@gmail.com.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
All seminars will take place on Wednesdays from 4:10 to 5 p.m. from Jan. 11 through March 15 in 122 Briggs Hall. The only exception is the Thursday, Feb. 9 seminar, which is the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award. (See below) The seminars are open to all interested persons.
The schedule:
Wednesday, Jan. 11
Marco Gebiola, postdoctoral fellow, University of Arizona, Tucson
Topic: "From Embroys to Hybrids: How the Symbiont Cardinium Shapes the Ecology and Evolution of Encarsia Parasitoids"
Wednesday, Jan. 18
Diane Ullman, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Topic: "Journey into the Microcosm: A Closer Look at the Western Flower Thrips"
Wednesday, Jan. 25
Sharon Lawler, professor of entomology, and Ph.D candidate Erin Donley, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Topic: "Effects of Aquatic Vegetation and Its Management on Aquatic Invertebrates"
Wednesday, Feb. 1
Greg Sword, professor and Charles R. Parencia Chair in Cotton Entomology, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M, College Station
Topic: "Fungal Endophytes Can Mediate Resistance to Insects, Nematodes and Drought in Cotton Agroecosytems"
Thursday, Feb. 9 (Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar)
Jennifer Thaler, professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
Topic: "Tritrophic Interactions and the Ecology of Fear"
Reception from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. in the International House, 10 College Park, Davis, CA.
Seminar from 4:15 to 5 p.m. at International House
Watch her Feb. 9 seminar on YouTube https://youtu.be/AM-mQZbpTro
Wednesday, Feb. 15
Pedro Miura, assistant professor, Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno
Topic: "Age Accumulation of CircRNAs"
Wednesday, Feb. 22
Jared Ali, assistant professor of entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Topic: "Multi-Trophic Interactions and the Chemical Ecology of Plant Defenses in Above and Below Ground Contexts"
Wednesday, March 1
Christian Nansen, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Topic: "Reflectance Profiling as a Tool to Study Insects and Other Objects"
Wednesday, March 8
Kelli Hoover, professor of entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Topic: "Mechanisms of Resistance in Poplar Against the Asian Longhorned Beetle and Its Gut Symbionts"
Wednesday, March 15
William Meikle, Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, Agricultural Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Topic: "Using Continuous Monitoring to Measure Colony-Level Behavior in Social Insects: A Case Study with Honey Bees"
Christian Nansen, seminar coordinator: chrnansen@ucdavis.edu
Jessica Padilla, graduate program coordinator: jespadilla@ucdavis.edu
