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Posts Tagged: Vernard Lewis
Celebration Corner
Zalom receives DPR Lifetime IPM Achievement Award
Frank Zalom, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus and former director of the UC Statewide IPM Program, recently received the Lifetime IPM Achievement Award from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
At CDPR's IPM Achievement Awards virtual ceremony on Feb. 29, Zalom, who retired in 2018 from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, was praised for “advancing IPM practices in California specialty crops as a preeminent researcher, practitioner and champion of sustainable pest management.”
“Dr. Zalom's work has contributed greatly to advancing safe, effective, and sustainable IPM practices in specialty crops such as almonds, strawberries, tomatoes and olives,” a CDPR spokesman said. “Through hundreds of presentations and publications, Dr. Zalom has contributed to broad adoption of IPM practices for numerous agricultural pests, resulting in less insecticide use and reduced run-off impacts and high-risk pesticide exposures.”
State Sen. Bill Dodd issued a proclamation stating, “Dr. Zalom's distinguished 40-plus year career as a leading researcher, practitioner and advocate for integrated pest management has significantly propelled advancements in this crucial field. The state formally recognizes this remarkable accomplishment and extends gratitude to Dr. Zalom for his exceptional contributions to the welfare of both California and the global community.”
- Full Ceremony: https://youtu.be/XEMKD04bDT4
- Video honoring Frank Zalom: https://youtu.be/oXc8OcQivLI
- Remarks from Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry: https://youtu.be/o4xnXyPn7e8
Read more at https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/frank-zalom-lifetime-ipm-achievement-award-california-department-pesticide-regulation.
Long, Mueller and Smith honored for career achievements
On Feb. 6, the California Chapter of the America Society of Agronomy recognized the career achievements of three emeritus farm advisors: Rachael Long, Shannon Mueller, and Richard Smith.
“It is incredibly rare for the Chapter to honor three UC members in one year, let alone three Cooperative Extension advisors,” said Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, California ASA past president and UCCE Delta crops resource management advisor for San Joaquin, Sacramento, Yolo, Solano and Contra Costa counties.
Long retired as a UCCE farm advisor in 2023, after 37 years of doing research on crop production, pollination and pest control in collaboration with farmers, starting in Sonoma County, then San Joaquin County and the last 32 years in Solano, Sacramento and Yolo counties.
Mueller, who retired from her 31-year career in 2019, was a UCCE advisor in Fresno County and director of the UCCE Fresno/Madera Multi-County Partnership. Her work with alfalfa seed and pollination resulted in current practices.
Smith, who retired in 2023 from his 36-year career as a UCCE farm advisor, mostly for San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, continues to contribute his vegetable crops and weed science expertise.
Read more at https://ucanr.edu/News/?routeName=newsstory&postnum=59008
Alameda County thanks Blackburn for partnering on nutrition and health
Mary Blackburn, UC Cooperative Extension health and nutrition advisor for Alameda County, received a certificate of recognition from Alameda County
“The certificate award is to recognize you as a partner for having done so much to support the work of Nutrition Services and the Alameda County Nutrition Action Partnership (CNAP),” Annette Laverty, interim associate director of Alameda County Nutrition Services, said to Blackburn.
“Your name was raised up to the AC Public Health Department's Community Health Services' Division Director and staff as someone who has maintained high standards of service, in partnership, to the community,” Laverty continued. “You have been so instrumental in collaborating with the ACPHD and AC Area on Aging over the years to develop actionable, integrated work plans and helping to put the plans into action. Your talents in writing and editing have been an incredible help, especially when deadlines have loomed.”
Laverty credited the prestigious awards the CNAP has received to Blackburn's attention to grant and award opportunities.
“You were instrumental in applying for these awards, which made it possible for our collaborative to be recognized,” Laverty said. “You're an inspiration to me and many other professionals in our field!”
UC ANR recruits UC Davis students
The Human Resources and Business Operations Center teams partnered to table at the UC Davis Internship and Career Center Winter Career Fair on Feb. 21. They engaged more than 100 students as they promoted job opportunities offered by UC ANR.
“Students expressed interest in several facets of UC ANR's work, from business and IT in agriculture, to economic development, to soil and water science,” said Elizabeth Bezark, customer service and projects analyst.
To entice students to talk with them, ANR staff brought a prize wheel that students could spin to win ANR logo items.
“An economics and agriculture double-major in her second year of a bachelor's program won an ANR drawstring bag and took a BOC flyer,” said Bezark. “'An environmental science major won an Environmental Stewards Program patch for their denim jacket and grabbed an ANR Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program brochure.”
Serena Rae Brady, Anna Lee and David White from Human Resources worked the table along with BOC's Kathy Hanke, Alexa Ocegueda and Bezark. Katie Kilbane worked with them to prepare for the event.
Vernard Lewis featured on KTVU's Voices for Change
For Black History Month, Vernard Lewis, UC Cooperative Extension urban entomology specialist emeritus based at UC Berkeley, spoke with Greg Lee on KTVU's Voices for Change on Feb. 25. His fascination with insects began while playing outdoors during the seven years he lived with his grandparents in Fresno.
Lewis recalled that his high school counselor in Minnesota told him he wasn't college material. Lewis took the insult and used it to fuel his ambition. He asked the counselor which was the best university in the country. “UC Berkeley,” the counselor replied. Lewis set his sights on UC Berkeley, where he earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.
Lewis, who retired in 2017, became the first African American entomologist hired at UC Berkeley. The last 26 years of his 35-year career he was a UC Cooperative Extension specialist and he continues to work with UCCE specialists and advisors.
Throughout his career, Lewis promoted diversity in science, giving presentations at Oakland public schools to pique students' interest in science. He and his wife Lisa Kala continue to strive to create a more diverse and inclusive university environment by supporting the HBCU Environmental Scholars for Change Program, which provides visiting undergraduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities an opportunity to conduct research with Rausser College faculty.
Lewis' interview on Voices for Change starts around 18:30 at https://www.ktvu.com/video/1416404.
‘It’s okay to be different,’ Lewis advises Black environmental scholars
Undergraduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities visit UC for summer session
Na'Zyia Dowdy-Arnold and Destinee S. Whitaker, both of Spelman College, Christopher Bass of Morehouse College, and Carlos Jackson of Tuskegee University spent the summer getting research experience with UC Berkeley scientists. The four undergraduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities were participating in the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management HBCU Environmental Scholars Program.
“The program aims to facilitate two-way learning while fostering preparedness and belonging for HBCU students interested in graduate school at UC Berkeley,” said co-founder Rosalie Zdzienicka Fanshel, UC Berkeley doctoral candidate.
Now in its second year, the program, was co-founded by UC Berkeley professor Tim Bowles who also co-directs the program with Fanshel in cooperation with Tuskegee University and Spelman College faculty members.
“After two years as a mentor in the ESPM/UCB HBCU summer research immersion program, I was thrilled to witness the transformation of students,” said Vernard Lewis, emeritus UC Cooperative Extension entomology specialist. “This transformation included doing high-level science and increasing the feeling of belonging. The current cohort of four HBCU students have immersed themselves in lab and field sciences that include campus and ANR units. The hope is to expand the program and to increase the talent pool of HBCU students for graduate programs and careers at UC and ANR.”
During their two-month program, the students toured the San Joaquin Valley with Fanshel and Kristin Dobbin, UCCE water justice policy and planning specialist at UC Berkeley. They visited Allensworth, a utopian agricultural community focused on self-reliance in Tulare County founded in 1908 by African Americans, and UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, where they met Houston Wilson, UCCE entomology specialist.
Near the end of their stay, Lewis and his wife, Lisa Kala, who held administrative, research and teaching positions in UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education for over 40 years, hosted a backyard barbecue at their Hayward home for the students to meet Black UC faculty, administrators and alumni.
Lewis assembled African American friends Mary Blackburn, Gloria Burkhalter, Bill Stevens, Bilal Shabazz and his daughter Amani, Fred Logan, Ben Tucker, Elize Brown, Gregory Bradley, Vincent Duncan, Maria Shalita, Carol Chambers-Blockton, Jariel Arvin, Frank McPherson and Charles Clary – some retired and others still enjoying long careers – to meet the young scholars on July 24. Harry LeGrande, emeritus UC Berkeley vice chancellor of student affairs who served in higher education for 45 years, joined the group by Zoom.
McPherson, who retired from UC ANR as UCCE director for the Bay Area in February, cooked up hot links, seafood gumbo and black-eyed peas, served with salad and fresh fruit for the occasion.
“It's okay to be different,” Lewis, the first Black entomologist hired at UC Berkeley, told the students. “You're not alone. We're all with you,” he added, gesturing to the older guests, who had described their professional journeys and how they navigated sometimes unfriendly environments. Some had graduated from college amid the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Blackburn recalled being offered one of four coveted spots in UC Berkeley's new Master of Public Health Nutrition – Dietetic Internship program after graduating from Tuskegee University in 1963. It didn't seem feasible to move since her husband owned his business in Atlanta and they had four young children. But when the Tuskegee University president said she had to go, Blackburn understood that opportunity was not just about her and three days later she boarded a plane to California. In 1968, Blackburn became one of the first Registered Dietitians in the U.S. and completed her Ph.D. in human nutrition and health planning and administration at UC Berkeley in 1974.
“Find your allies; find your advocates,” Blackburn, UC Cooperative Extension's community nutrition and health advisor for Alameda County for the past 33 years, advised the students.
After the barbecue, the students began collecting email addresses and making connections with their new allies on LinkedIn.
“During our feedback sessions with the students, they expressed their appreciation to all those in attendance, especially Vernard Lewis, who orchestrated the event,” said McPherson. “One of the most important takeaways from the event was their desire to have this type of event with accomplished Black administrators and professionals continue to be part of the programming while at Berkeley.
“They also suggest that these events take place earlier, so that they might take advantage of the knowledge and experience these Black professionals bring to the table, not only as they return to their individual institutions and career paths, but also have access to this network while in the Bay Area.”
A week earlier, during a lunch with Blackburn and Lewis, the students had said they appreciated meeting the two accomplished Black scientists and wished they could meet more. That comment spurred Lewis and Blackburn to organize the barbecue. Despite the short notice, several of their Black colleagues attended. “They showed up because they care,” Lewis said.
They will continue to modify the program based on feedback from the students.
The first year of the program was funded by UC Berkeley's Berkeley Food Institute and Spelman College. The second year was funded by the UC Berkeley Office of Graduate Diversity; Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; and donations from other campus programs and individuals. Each student receives a $5,000 stipend, room and board and travel.
Bowles and Fanshel have applied for a UC-HBCU initiative grant from UC Office of the President to continue the program for another three years.
Names in the News
Richards named ag land acquisitions academic coordinator
Chandra Mercedes Richards joined UC Cooperative Extension as agricultural land acquisitions academic coordinator II for San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties on May 10.
As an agricultural lands acquisition academic coordinator II, Richards aims to better support San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties through the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) grant program.
“More specifically, I will be identifying and addressing regional barriers to land use planning, connecting producers with ANR services and climate-smart technical assistance providers, supporting grant applications and agricultural assessments, and ultimately protecting agricultural systems in perpetuity,” she said.
The East Coast native has lived in California for 11 years and is rooted in San Diego. Prior to joining UC ANR, Richards was a conservation ecologist at the greater San Diego Resource Conservation District, where she led the agriculture, forest health, and habitat restoration programs and supported climate-smart agriculture through planning, education, and technical assistance. She also was a key grant writer and project implementation leader.
She earned a Ph.D. in soil biogeochemistry from UC Berkeley and double B.S. degrees in chemistry and mathematics from Pennsylvania State University.
Richards is based in San Diego and can be reached at cmrichards@ucanr.edu.
Bayless named Master Gardener Program coordinator
Aliya Bayless has been named the UC Master Gardener Program coordinator for Tulare and Kings counties. She joined the UC Master Gardener Program in 2016 when she decided to start her own garden and, in her words, “didn't know anything about gardening.”
Bayless is originally from Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, located along the Caspian Sea, but has been a resident of Visalia since 2006. Although she grew up in the city, she learned to love plants (mostly house plants) from family members including her grandmother, father and aunt. When she was an adult, her dad finally bought a piece of land that he had dreamt of for many years. It was on this new property that he started his own garden with a lot of fruit trees and berries. Bayless helped him as much as she could, but like many gardeners, her main job was pulling weeds.
“Since then, I've learned a lot about gardening, met amazing people and enjoyed every minute of volunteering. I'm very excited to start my new journey as a program coordinator and hope that I will be able to help with the program and future projects,” she said.
Bayless is based in Tulare and can be reached at ambayless@ucanr.edu. – By Melissa Womack
Lewis selected to deliver ESA Founders' Memorial Lecture
Vernard Lewis, emeritus UC Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley, has been selected to deliver the Founders' Memorial Lecture at the 2021 annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, set Oct. 31-Nov. 3 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.
Lewis is a national and international authority on drywood termites and is known for his pioneering research on detection innovations and nonchemical methods of control. A nationally recognized urban entomologist, Lewis's research encompasses a variety of urban pests including ants, bed bugs, cockroaches and wood-boring beetles. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 refereed and trade magazine articles and book chapters on termites and household insect pests.
The Founders' Memorial Award was established in 1958 to honor the memory of scientists who made outstanding contributions to entomology. On Nov. 2, Lewis will give a presentation on the life and legacy of African-American entomologist and civil rights advocate Margaret Collins.
To read more about Lewis' career, see https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=24625 and to learn more about Margaret Collins see Bug Squad https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=47649.
Tompkins recognized for fire safety
The Plumas County Fire Safe Council announced Ryan Tompkins, UC Cooperative Extension forestry and natural resource advisor, as one of two new recipients in its Fire Safe Recognition Program on May 13.
Mike Flanigan of Flanigan-Leavitt Insurance nominated Tompkins for the award for playing a significant role in improving the community's fire safety and emergency preparedness.
“Ryan Tompkins has been a huge part of the progress made with the Quincy Firewise USA initiative,” Flanigan said in his nomination letter. “He is currently the UC Cooperative Extension Forester for Plumas, Sierra, and Lassen counties where his research focuses on forest restoration and post-fire restoration. He successfully received certification in his own neighborhood – Galleppi Ranch. He is thorough and keeps the committee focused. We on the Quincy Firewise Committee are very grateful for Ryan's professional input and support.”
Tompkins started his own firewise community four years ago. “Just my little neighborhood HOA of 36 residences,” Tompkins said, “but when I joined UC ANR, I really felt that I needed to focus on making the entire town of Quincy (over 2,000 residences) a Firewise USA Site to serve all the facets of our community and we did it this May!”
“Also, last December, we helped the Sierra Brooks community outside of Loyalton become the first NFPA Firewise USA Site in Sierra County! I'm now working with Sierra City (another community in Sierra County) on their assessment. I see value in the NFPA Firewise USA site program because it focuses on empowering residents to educate, outreach, and work together as a community in wildfire preparedness. It certainly isn't a panacea, but it's a start and a good way to engage folks.”
South Coast REC honored as community service partner
Since October 2019, the Saddleback Valley Adult Transition Program and the South Coast Research and Extension Center have been developing a vocational training program for adult transition program students. As a result of this partnership, South Coast REC was recognized as Community Service Partner of the Year.
Starting on April 16, students began assisting with propagating vegetables in the South Coast REC greenhouse, harvesting, postharvest processing, maintaining vegetable crops, pruning, irrigating, and detecting and identifying insects. This unique partnership allows students to learn skills that can be applied in various settings vocationally, at home and on campus. UC Master Gardener volunteers helped them develop a more robust school garden.
“As the community starts to reopen, we look for further integration of the fruits and vegetables produced within our micro businesses for all students,” wrote Principal Raymund Bueche. “This includes the processing of produce and vegetables in the Educafe and Esperanza kitchens for student consumption and the addition of fresh items including smoothies and juices in Hope Café, a student-run coffee cart, and The Cutie Pie Café, a student-run restaurant.”
This project has also been embraced by Orange County Local Partnership Agreement, a group spearheaded by Chapman University to bring together organizations serving special needs and at-risk youth with training and on-the-job experiences as they transition from school to the workforce.
Vernard Lewis, UC Berkeley’s first African American entomologist, retires from 35-year career terminating termites, bed bugs and cockroaches
In the early 1990s, the UC Cooperative Extension specialist needed a place to test drywood termite detection and control methods. The College of Natural Resources wasn't keen on infesting a building with destructive pests near UC Berkeley's historic buildings, but ultimately allowed Lewis to construct the Villa Termiti in Richmond, about six miles north of campus.
“Babysitting my brothers and sisters sure helped develop my negotiating skills,” said Lewis, the oldest of 10 children.
Built at the UC Richmond Field Station in 1993, the 400-square-foot, wooden structure has been fumigated, x-rayed and featured on the cover of Popular Mechanics. It nearly burned when six test boards were scorched by a microwave device that was supposed to kill termites; Lewis observed termites living in the wood despite the microwaves and fire. Fortunately, the damage was minor.
Villa Termiti has since hosted ants, subterranean termites, wood-boring beetles and bed bugs for subsequent research projects.
The Minnesota native's interest in insects was piqued as a kindergartner, after Lewis moved from Minnesota to live with his grandparents in Fresno for six years. “California has a lot more bugs because Minnesota is frozen six months out of the year,” he said wryly. “During recess, while other kids were kicking balls, I was catching grasshoppers and feeding them to harvester ants.”
For many years, pest control operators relied on fumigation. As claims were made without scientific basis that microwave, freezing, heating, electricity, orange oil and modified fumigation were effective, Lewis tested the methods.
“If it didn't work in a lab set-up, it's not going to work where conditions are more complex in homes and buildings,” said Haverty, who published a paper with Lewis in 1996 comparing six techniques. “Nothing was as effective as fumigation.”
Lewis showed how best to do spot treatments for termites rather than tenting a whole house for fumigation, which can be expensive for homeowners.
University of Georgia entomology professor Brian Forschler said Lewis is trusted for his integrity.
“Urban entomology programs across the country are essentially funded by donations from industry so you have to walk a tightrope in that funding scenario,” Forschler explained. “You don't want to fall prey to telling your sugar daddy what they want to hear. Vernard is clearly not in that league, he has garnered respect and remained an objective scientist.”
Lewis has found mentoring young scientists at UC Berkeley and stimulating children's interest in science rewarding. In 2000, he joined the City Bugs project with Oakland Unified School District, educating K-12 school teachers and students about insects, life sciences and biodiversity.
In 1993, for a presentation in front of 300 students at Claremont Middle School in Oakland, Lewis brought a Madagascar cockroach, which measured two to three inches long.
“A kid in the second row asked to see what was in the box. He asked to hold it so I put the cockroach in his hand and he dropped it on the floor. As the cockroach ran around, kids are flying out the door. We're trying to catch it and calm the kids down, calling ‘Come back.' It was wild,” Lewis said, adding, “The Madagascar cockroach is big, but it won't hurt anybody.”
“It's been fun,” said Lewis about his career, but he is quick to point out his academic success wasn't served up with a silver spoon. “I had no spoon,” he said, jokingly.
“My high school counselor said I wasn't bright enough to go to college. I took offense to that,” said Lewis, recalling that he had scored well on the IQ tests that were administered liberally in schools in the 1950s and 1960s. “I asked him what was the best university in the country. He said, ‘UC Berkeley,' so I decided to go there.”
In 1979, Lewis earned an M.S. in entomology at UC Berkeley and started his own pest management business, IPM Systems, Inc., in 1982. Prison trustees affectionately dubbed him “Killer” when he exterminated bed bugs and cockroaches as San Quentin State Prison's vector control coordinator from 1986 through 1988. He earned his Ph.D. in entomology at UC Berkeley in 1989 and continued his entomological research on campus as a postdoctoral fellow.
In 1991, Lewis was hired as a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in entomology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM) at UC Berkeley.
An advocate for diversity, Lewis is one of 20 entomologists featured in the book “Memoirs of Black Entomologists,” published by the Entomological Society of America in 2015 to encourage black students to pursue careers in the life sciences and providing practical advice on how to become successful in science. Of ESA's 7,000 members, only about 100 are African or African American.
Lewis's research and extension has been honored by several institutions and organizations, including his induction into the Pest Management Professionals' Hall of Fame in 2016, an Urban Entomology award from the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 2002 and the Orkin Outstanding Research Award in 1998. The Florida Entomological Society recognized his efforts to promote diversity in the field of entomology by presenting him with its Pioneer Lecture Award in 2015. Lewis delivered a lecture on Margaret James Strickland Collins, the first African American woman entomology professor, whom he knew and admired.
While Lewis's work has focused on California, his career has also taken him out of the country. Lewis was a visiting professor at Kyoto University in Japan in 2011. In 2000, the United Nations selected him as the leader and founding member of its Global Termite Expert Group. He chaired the 20-member group, which worked together on projects from 2000 to 2008. Internationally, mosquitoes are the No. 1 pest and termites are No. 2.
“We couldn't stop the use of DDT on mosquitoes, but we can stop its use on termites,” Lewis said. The UN group presented lower-risk alternatives for termite management and negotiated with pest control professionals in different countries to change their practices. “That was one of the most rewarding projects,” he said, noting that China significantly reduced its use of the insecticide.
In retirement, Lewis looks forward to taking a few months to “clear my mind,” before considering offers from private companies and international contacts. While his wife, Lisa Kala, continues her work in the School of Education at UC Berkeley, Lewis intends to spend more time with their daughter, Aikane, and young grandson, Tahir. He has been granted emeritus status and will continue leading efforts to promote diversity and equity for the College of Natural Resources.
Names in the News
Tara Batista joined UCCE as an area 4-H youth development advisor for Kings, Fresno and Tulare counties on Oct. 3.
Prior to joining UCCE, Batista was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Management, Entrepreneurship and International Business at Stetson University in Florida from 2013 to May 2016. Batista has 15 years of experience in nonprofit management and positive youth development. She has worked for the Southeastern Network for Youth and Family Services, Girl Scouts, the U.S. Dream Academy and the Boys and Girls Clubs. Batista has also designed, implemented and evaluated youth development programs in Chimaltenango, Guatemala; Vieques, Puerto Rico; Oxford, U.K.; Bogota and Barranquilla, Colombia; Pinellas Park and DeLand, Fla.; New York City and Providence, R.I. She is currently president of Run 4 a Cause Foundation, which helps youth in central Florida to participate in sports outside of school time.
Batista earned a Ph.D. in social enterprise administration and an M.Phil. in social work from Columbia University. She completed a M.Sc. in evidence-based social intervention at the University of Oxford. She also earned a B.B.A in international business and a B.A. in Spanish from Stetson University.
Batista is based in Hanford and can be reached at (559) 852-2739 and tabatista@ucanr.edu.
Catherine Mae Culumber joined UCCE on June 30 as a nut crops advisor for Fresno County.
Culumber has engaged in a broad range of research disciplines, investigating the impacts of land management on plants and soils in agricultural, forest and range ecosystems. Completed in 2016, her Ph.D. dissertation described the effects of novel orchard floor management approaches on soil health, water use, tree root distribution and tree growth in stone fruit orchards. Her graduate work, conducted in collaboration with the USDA-ARS Forage and Range Research Lab, characterized the phylogenetic structure of native grass populations used for grazing and range restoration in the western U.S.
She earned a Ph.D. in soil science and M.S. in ecology from Utah State University, and a B.S. in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Based in Fresno, Culumber can be reached at (559) 241-7526 and cmculumber@ucanr.edu.
Follow her on Twitter at @ucnutadvisor.
Joao Paulo Martins joined UCCE on Aug. 1 as a dairy advisor in Tulare and Kings counties.
Martins, who goes by the nickname JP, was a private veterinarian for a year in Brazil, then worked as a research assistant and laboratory manager in the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State University. His research relates to herd health, reproductive management, cattle breeding, synchronization of ovulation, in vitro fertilization, and superovulation in commercial beef and dairy cows. He has expertise in ultrasonography for ovarian morphology, pregnancy diagnoses, fetal sexing and oocyte pick-up.
During his youth, the Rio de Janeiro native worked on his family's dairy farm in the Brazilian dairy state of Minas Gerais.
Martins earned a DVM degree from Federal Fluminense University (UFF), Niterói, RJ, Brazil, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in animal science from Michigan State University.
Based in Tulare, Martins can be reached at (559) 684-3313 and jpmartins@ucanr.edu.
Putman named UCCE plant pathology specialist
Alex Putman joined UC ANR on April 1 as an assistant specialist in Cooperative Extension and assistant plant pathologist in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at UC Riverside.
Prior to joining ANR, Putman was a postdoctoral researcher based in Salinas for the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis from 2014 to 2016.
Putman focuses on diseases challenging vegetable and strawberry production, especially disease caused by soilborne fungi such as Athelia, Fusarium, Macrophomina, Sclerotinia, Stromatinia and Verticillium. To understand these diseases, his program will integrate various research approaches that could include cropping systems, epidemiology, host resistance, pathogen biology, remote sensing or soil ecology.
He earned a Ph.D. in plant pathology from North Carolina State University, an M.S. in agronomy from the University of Connecticut and a B.S. in natural resource sciences from the University of Maryland.
Putman is based in Riverside and can be reached at (951) 827-4212 and alexander.putman@ucr.edu. Follow him on Twitter @VeggiePathUCR.
Derrick Robinson joined ANR on Aug. 1 as an academic coordinator for the Money Talks project.
Prior to joining ANR, Robinson was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Economics and Geography at University of North Florida for a year. He developed and instructed courses in economics on principles of microeconomics, macroeconomics, intermediate microeconomics, conservation of natural resources, economic geography and business statistics. From 2014 to 2015, Robinson developed and taught a course in agribusiness, entrepreneurship and ag-policy analysis at Tuskegee University. At Auburn University, he worked on community-based research with local Sea Grant offices as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collegiate fellow from 2011 to 2015. From 2009 to 2011, he was a project manager for the University of North Florida Environmental Center, where he organized programs for the campus community and surrounding regional community.
Robinson earned a B.S. in communication: electronic media and a B.A. in economics from University of North Florida, and his Ph.D. in applied economics from Auburn University.
Based in San Diego, Robinson can be reached at (858) 822-7679 and dearobinson@ucanr.edu.
Liz Sizensky has joined the Strategic Communications team in Davis and the Nutrition Policy Institute in Berkeley as a communications strategist. She brings extensive experience managing digital and print projects. Prior to joining ANR, she served nine years at UC Berkeley, where she led web and print projects that increased awareness of the research and initiatives of the School of Public Health, SafeTREC, the Division of Student Affairs, the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Before UC Berkeley, she spent eight years overseeing websites and marketing communications for Silicon Valley technology companies including Netscape, HP and VeriSign. She is known for translating complex ideas into clear and engaging communications that educate, inform and inspire readers.
She earned a B.A. with honors in English from Mills College in Oakland.
Sizensky can be reached at (530) 750-1272 in Davis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and at easizensky@ucanr.edu.
Janet Caprile, UCCE advisor for Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and the Contra Costa County Agriculture Department have been awarded a 2016 IPM Achievement Award by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation for their cherry buckskin project.
Cherry buckskin disease has wiped out cherry production in several areas of California since it was first reported in 1931. In the 1980s, the disease became established in San Joaquin County. To prevent the establishment of the disease in neighboring Contra Costa County, a collaborative effort among UC Cooperative Extension, the county agriculture department and local cherry growers began in 1987.
Caprile trained UC Master Gardener volunteers to identify cherry buckskin disease symptoms and organized them to help perform an annual survey during harvest. Mid Valley Ag Services covers the cost of lab testing each year. The Master Gardeners and former coordinator Emma Conner first detected infected trees during the 2002 survey.
Caprile informed growers of the disease detection and worked with them to develop an aggressive IPM treatment and eradication program to prevent the establishment of this devastating disease. As a result of these efforts, the disease has been eliminated in Contra Costa County.
The 2016 Achievement Awards will be presented at a ceremony at the California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters on Jan. 26 in Sacramento.
The Renewable Natural Resources Foundation honored Doug Parker, director of the California Institute for Water Resources, with its Chairman's Award for Professional Service to the foundation.
In announcing the award, Robert D. Day, RNRF executive director, wrote to Parker: “You received the award because of your essential volunteer assistance in developing the program and identifying eminently qualified prospective speakers for RNRF's 2015 Congress on sustaining Wester Water. Plus, you launched the congress with an excellent opening address. We would not have had the program that we did without you.”
Parker is president of the Universities Council on Water Resources, an association of universities and organizations leading in education, research and public service in water resources. As UCOWR president, he serves on the executive council for NIDIS, the National Integrated Drought Information System, which maintains the Drought.gov website at https://www.drought.gov/drought.
The Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF) is a nonprofit, public policy research organization based in North Bethesda, Md. It is a consortium of scientific, professional, educational, design and engineering organizations whose primary purpose is to advance science, the application of science, and public education in managing and conserving renewable natural resources.
The National Association of Extension 4-H Agents honored the work of 4-H youth development advisors Marianne Bird and Russell Hill on Oct. 13.
Bird, who serves Sacramento County, received the 2016 NAE4HA Meritorious Service Award. According to the association, Bird received the award because she “loves bringing new learning opportunities to young people, especially in STEM and environmental education.” It also noted that “She works extensively with camps and afterschool programs and enjoys empowering teens-as-teachers. Marianne served on the National 4-H Science in Urban Communities team and fashioned 4-H on the Wild Side, a National 4-H Program of Distinction.”
Hill recently celebrated 10 years of service with UC ANR. His prior roles include county 4-H program representative and the director of the 4-H Military Partnership. He is part of the team recently honored by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the Cooperative Extension system, and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) with the National Extension Diversity Award for systematically enhancing the intercultural competency of 4-H personnel and others in California.
Bird and Hill received the awards on Oct. 13 at the NAE4HA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
Vernard Lewis, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, was inducted into Pest Management Professional Magazine's 2016 Hall of Fame on Oct. 17 in honor of his 35-year career in pest management. The entomologist focuses on urban pests, including ants, cockroaches and wood-boring beetles, but is best known for his integrated pest management research and outreach on bed bugs and termites.
Saying that he's “had a blast,” Lewis, who joined UC ANR in 1990, told Pest Management Professional that he plans to retire in 2017. He reminisced about doing pest control at San Quentin Prison and building Villa Termiti at the Richmond Field Station to test termite detection and control measures. To read the article, visit http://www.mypmp.net/2016/09/22/pmp-hall-of-fame-2016-inductee-dr-vernard-lewis-reflects-on-career.
