April 2010
Faculty News
Dr. James P. Cuda attended the University of Florida Inventors’ Reception: A Celebration of Innovation 2010 held at the UF Hilton Conference Center on 25 March. Cuda was recognized for co-developing a pest control technology, methionine amino acid for the control of nematodes, licensed during the past year.
All four candidates for the open teaching position were interviewed over the last month. Faculty will discuss the candidates at the next faculty meeting on April 22nd.
Staff News
Judy Gillmore, Senior Laboratory Technician for Dr. James Cuda, will retire at the end of this month.
Student News
Ben Anderson, undergraduate entomology major and president of our entomology club, was selected as the CALS student commencement speaker for the Spring 2010 graduation. This is an honor of the highest level. Congratulations! - Dr. Carl Barfield, Undergraduate Coordinator
Ph.D. candidates Gaurav Goyal, Rosie Gill and Teresia Nyoike attended the Gamma Sigma Delta reception and award ceremony in the Reitz Union on 1 April. They were selected from our department for this membership in this fraternity. According to its charter, "Graduate students of outstanding ability ... who have, by virtue of outstanding achievement, demonstrated worthiness of the honor, are eligible for membership."
On 19 February, the Dade County Agricultural Council awarded Ph.D. candidate Rosie Gill the L. Russell Norton Memorial Fellowship ($500), and awarded Ph.D. candidate Gaurav Goyal the Warren Wood, Sr. Memorial Fellowship ($1000). These made nice wedding presents, as Rosie and Gaurav were married on 6 February in India.
Alumni News
Dr. Jason Byrd (Ph.D. '98) participated in relief efforts for the earthquake in Haiti. As a forensic entomologist, he helped in the creation of an identification system for the dead. Dr. Byrd works for the National Disaster Medical System and is a member of the UF faculty.
Publications
Miller CW, Emlen DJ. 2010. Across- and within-population differences in the size and scaling relationship of a sexually selected trait in Leptoscelis tricolor (Hemiptera: Coreidae). Annals of the Entomological Society America 103: 209-215.
Boina DR, Rogers ME, Wang N, Stelinski LL. 2010. Effect of pyriproxyfen, a juvenile hormone mimic, on egg hatch, nymph development, adult emergence, and reproduction of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. Pest Management Science 66: 349-357.
Halbert SE, Manjunath KL, Ramadugu C, Brodie MW, Webb SE, Lee RF. 2010. Trailers transporting oranges to processing plants move Asian citrus psyllids. Florida Entomologist 93: 33-38.
Ellis JD, Zettel Nalen CM. (March 2010). Bee louse, Braula coeca Nitzsch. Featured Creatures. EENY-472. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/bee_louse.htm
Eger Jr JE, Ames LM, Suiter DR, Jenkins TM, Rider DA, Halbert SE. 2010. Occurrence of the Old World bug, Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae) in Georgia: a serious home invader and potential legume pest. Insecta Mundi 121: 1-11.
Medal J, Bustamante N, Overholt W, Diaz R, Stansly P, Roda A, Amalin D, Hibbard K, Gaskalla R, Sellars B, Hight S, Cuda J. 2010. Biological control of tropical soda apple (Solanaceae) in Florida: post-release evaluation. Florida Entomologist 93: 130-132.
Meetings and Presentations
Dr. Marc Branham gave an invited seminar on "The Evolution of fireflies and their courtship signals" at the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University.
Dr. James P. Cuda attended the 84th Annual Meeting of the ESA-Southeastern Branch held in Atlanta, GA, 7-10 March. Cuda gave a presentation on "Biology and host range of Episimus unguiculus (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a precedented biological control agent of Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolius (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae), for release in Florida." The paper was co-authored by Drs. J.C. Medal, J.H. Pedrosa-Macedo (Brazil), V. Manrique, P. Conant (Hawaii), and W.A. Overholt. Cuda also represented the department at the annual meeting of the S-1034 Multi-state Regional Project on Biological Control of Arthropod Pests and Weeds at the same venue.
Dr. James P. Cuda gave an invited seminar on the "Potential distribution and prospects for biological control of the Federal Noxious Weed Hygrophila polysperma" for the Plant Pests of Regulatory Significance Colloquium (ALS 6921) on 17 March.
Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker for the department’s graduate course on Biological Control (ENY 5241) on 23 March. Cuda spoke on biological control of terrestrial weeds.
Dr. James P. Cuda participated in the polycom in-service training on "Aquatics and Invasive Plants" held on 30 March. The in-service program was held at McCarty Hall and streamed to over 50 counties. Cuda gave a presentation on "Integrating biological controls and herbicides."
Spring 2010 Entomology and Nematology Seminars
The seminar series is held on Thursday afternoons in room 1031. Refreshments are served at 3:45 pm, and the seminar begins at 4:00 pm. For a listing of the speakers and their presentations for Spring 2010, see the department's seminar Web site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/seminar/.
Florida Entomological Society Meeting
The 93rd Annual Meeting of the Florida Entomological Society takes place 25-28 July 2010. See the Society's meeting site for pre-registration form and other meeting information.
All submitted papers, except student competition papers, should be 8 minutes long with 2 minutes for questions. Student competition papers are 10 minutes long with 2 minutes for questions. Posters should be no larger than 48"x48". The deadline for submission of titles and abstracts is 14 June 2010. Send titles and abstracts to Dr. Wayne Hunter at Wayne.Huter@ars.usda.gov.
The meeting site is the Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa, in Jupiter Beach, Florida. The meeting's hotel room registration deadline is 12 July 2010. Room rates are $129/day, or junior suites at $179/day. Contact the hotel at either 800-228-8810 or http://www.jupiterbeachresort.com/ .
- Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman
Bee College and Master Beekeeper Program
The third annual Bee College was held 12-13 March in St. Augustine, Florida. This year was our biggest yet with over 250 people! We brought 24 speakers from as far away as Brazil, and certified nearly 20 pest control operators in African bee removal, and several first responders in African bee response. Along with over 30 educational lectures and workshops, we held African bee identification training, our annual honey show, EpiPen medical certification training, and Welsh Honey Judge training. This year was a huge success, and we are already starting to plan for 2011!
The Master Beekeeper Program training and exams were held on 11 March in St. Augustine, Florida. We certified our very first group of Master level beekeepers this round. We had 26 new beekeepers enter the program, and a total of 51 beekeepers participate, which brings our total to 131 Master Beekeeper students! - Catherine Zettel Nalen, Honey Bee Research & Extension Laboratory
Entomology Field Camp
Registration is now open for our department's 1st annual Entomology Field Camp. The camp is for students in 6th-8th grades and will be held during 21-25 June. Additional details and registration forms are available on our Bug Club site at http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/bug_club/camp.htm.
Newsletter Minutiae
Thomas Fasulo is the newsletter editor. Departmental faculty, staff, students and alumni can submit news anytime to fasulo@ufl.edu. Issues usually are published by early mid-month. Submit items for an issue by the 7th of that month.
UF-Bugnews-L listserv subscribers receive notices when issues are posted on the newsletter Web site at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/news, which has instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing. Pam Howell and Nancy Sanders review the newsletter for errors. Thomas Fasulo does the HTML coding.
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April 2010.