Faculty and Staff News

Student and Alumni News

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New on Featured Creatures:

black salt marsh mosquito, Aedes taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann) Authors: Natasha Marie Agramonte and C. Roxanne Connelly, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida

hydrilla leaf mining flies, Hydrellia spp. Authors: Emma Weeks, Jim Cuda, and Jennifer Russell, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida

dog flea, Ctenocephalides canis (Curtis) Authors: Krista R. Seraydar and Phillip E. Kaufman, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida

leaf-gall thrips of Ficus, Gynaikothrips ficorum (Marchal) and Gynaikothrips uzeli (Zimmerman) Authors: Joseph E. Funderburk, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida; H.A. Denmark, FDACS DPI; Laurence Mound, CSIRO Ecosystem Services, Canberra, Australia; Tom Skarlinsky,USDA, APHIS, PPQ; and Catharine Mannion, University of Florida

Do you have a favorite creature? Learn how to make it into a Featured Creature!

Meetings and Presentations

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Dr. Billy Crow presented "Nematodes in Florida Landscapes" at the Landscape U Pest Management Update event at the Orange County Extension office on 8 April.

Dr. Billy Crow presented "Nematodes on Zoysia" at the Turfgrass Producers of Florida field day in Howie-In-The-Hills on 24 April.

Representing The Entomological Society of America’s Education and Outreach Program, Rebecca Baldwin attended the National Science Teacher’s Association meeting in Boston, MA, April 2-4 to distribute information about the Bed Bugs and Book Bags curriculum. 

Rebecca Baldwin and Erin Harlow led a teacher workshop on March 22 at the Mississippi Museum of Science in Jackson, MS.  Twenty-two teachers and Dr. Jeffry Brown from the Mississippi Department of Health participated in the hands-on workshop.  If you know teachers who would be interested in hosting a workshop, please contact Rebecca Baldwin. The BBBB curriculum is designed for third through fifth grade students, although it can be adapted to any age group.

Dr. Christine W. Miller presented an invited seminar on April 30th at the University of Minnesota as part of the 2014 Colloquium Series in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior.

Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman and Dr. Faith Oi were invited to present their findings on school air sampling and the Good Neighbor Project (GNPs) at the Western Region Pesticide Meeting in Seattle, WA on May 8th.

Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman was invited to present two talks at Cornell University in Ithaca NY on April 25th. The two presentations were sent by Polycom to Geneva NY. The two talks were titled "Going the Distance: Transitioning to a distance learning environment for graduate and undergraduate courses" and "#UFBugs outreach and Extension, using Twitter, Pintrest, YouTube and Facebook." While in Ithaca she also gave a presentation to the Landscape Inspectors Association of Florida for their monthly meeting in Broward County. She used GoToMeeting  from Ithaca, NY on April 24th for her talk "Social media can improve your professionalism!"

Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker for the 2014 Florida Vegetation Management Association Conference held in Daytona Beach, 23-25 April. Cuda gave a presentation titled "Hydrilla IPM- the role of biocontrol agents." The presentation was co-authored by Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, Dr. Raymond Hix, Dr. Verena-Ulrike Lietze, and Dr. Emma Weeks.

Dr. James P. Cuda participated in the joint 2014 Spring Conference of the Florida Chapter of the Wildlife Society and the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council held in Safety Harbor, 28 April-1 May. Cuda attended the Board of Directors meeting and submitted annual reports for the Brazilian Peppertree Task Force and Research Grant Committee. He was the author or co-author of the following presentations:

• Does plant sex affect the performance of the stem boring weevil Apocnemidophorus pipitzi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on its host plant Brazilian peppertree?
• Host specificity reveals that the gall-forming psyllid, Calophya latiforceps (Hemiptera: Calophyidae), is safe to release for biological control of Brazilian peppertree (Anacardiaceae).
• Hydrilla IPM- Starting a statewide extension project.
• An update of the search for biological control agents of cogongrass.

Finally, Cuda won the 2014 FTWS-FLEPPC Fishing Tournament. The winning fish was a 14” Spanish mackerel.

Dr. James P. Cuda was an invited speaker for the UF/IFAS Certified Crop Advisor Polycom Workshop and Training Session held on 16 April.  Cuda delivered a presentation titled "Integrating biological control and herbicides for invasive plant management." The training session was broadcast to participants at  Lake Alfred, Balm, Gainesville, Ft. Pierce, Tavares, and Immokalee.    

Outreach

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The live critters are always a hit with children and adults alike. The critters are available for you to check out should you be leading an outreach event. We have doubles of our most popular critters, as well as various native insect species depending on the time of year. We have large wood and Plexiglas cages for viewing our native orb weaving spiders. There is one travel cage and one larger static cage. Please be sure to contact us and review the protocol on transporting and handling the critters if you are not already familiar with it. If you lead an outreach, be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter and we can log all outreach events.

The Entomology Field Camp will be held June 23-27.  Dale Halbritter and Dr. Rebecca Baldwin will direct the camp.  The camp has reached its capacity at 27 campers, but we are still in need of camp staff.  If you are interested, please contact Dale or Dr. Baldwin.  The activities run from 8:00-5:00 each day in room 2218 and will include field trips. Information about the camp is available on the Florida 4-H Bug Club page.

We had many outreaches this semester and many volunteers who helped to make them a wonderful success. In February, as you may remember, we had the state fair for 12 days.

• The Nematode Assay Lab was there on day 1 represented by David Sekora and Lindsey Wheeler while Rebecca Baldwin and Bryan Ertley manned the critter table. 
• Dr. Amanda Hodges and Carla Burkle manned the DPM table on day 2 while Alex Arp and Jeff Cluever manned the critter table. 
• On day 3, we had Dr. Buss’s lab represented by Navneet Kaur and Juliana Xu with Alex Arp, Teddy Cogley, Catherine White, Jennifer Serviss, and Jeff Cluever manning the critter table. 
• On day 4, the Nematode Assay Lab was there again represented by David Sekora and Lindsey Wheeler while Bryan Ertley, Teddy Cogley, Stephanie Harrison, and Andre Szejner manned the critter table. 
• On day 5, Dr. Ellis’s lab was there represented by Emily Helton and Tomas Bustamante and the critter table was manned by Ryan Huether and Stephanie Stocks. 
• Dr. Cuda’s lab was there on day 6 represented by Emma Weeks, Julie Baniszewski, and Eutychus Kariuki along with Dr. Hahn’s lab represented by Bo Idsardi, Vanessa Simoes Dias de Castro, Chao Chen, and Qinwen Xia. 
• Day 7 featured Dr. Crow’s lab represented by Mengyi Gu, Richard Baidoo, Sudarshan Aryal and Dr. Crow along with Dale Halbritter, Tamika Garrick, and Lorena Lopez who manned the critter table. 
• Day 8 had featured just the critter table which was manned by Nina Zagvazdina, Chris Johns, and Ephraim Ragasa. 
• Day 9 featured the Koehler lab represented by Ben Hottel, Holly Beard, Sam Pass, Mason Russo, and  Roberto Pereira as well as Catherine White and Ashley Mortensen who manned the critter table. 
• Zachary Kaplan and Stephanie Stocks manned the critter table on day 10 along with Heather Erskine, Sierra Abjullaj, Zachary Nolen, and Natalie Bois who represented Dr. Miller’s lab.
• Day 11 featured Dr. Dickson’s lab represented by Dr. Dickson, Janete Brito, Sherry Yuan, Silvia Vau, and  Maria Mendes while Heather Erskine and Sara Orsorio manned the critter table.
• On the last day, Dr. Lucky’s lab was featured represented by Sedonia Steininger and Tyler Vitone while Janine Razze, Chris Crockett, and Lindsey Iglesias manned the critter table. 

We also had an outreach at Littlewood Elementary in February that was mentioned in the Gainesville Newspaper. Catherine White, Jennifer Serviss, and Stefani Harrison volunteered to help with that outreach. 

In March, we had outreaches at High Springs Library (led by Dr. Rebecca Baldwin), Norton Elementary (twice), and Queen of Peace Catholic Academy. 

On March 11, members of the Entomology Club, Gabby Milanes, Jennifer Servis, Mia Holt, Richie Konowal, Heather Erskine, Kristen Donovan, and Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, participated in an FDACS bee hive inspection and honey extraction. Thanks to Ryan Willingham of FDACS for a great workshop.

The Entomology Education and Outreach program, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin and Sherri Kraeft with Entomology Club volunteer Cat White, joined forces with the Honey Bee Research Lab to hold the 2014 Jr. Bee College for 16 campers on Saturday, March 8th. Campers created bee eyes, learned the waggle dance, worked the pollination station, explored a hive with Dr. Schmehl and worked through the bee-keeping materials.

Thank you to everyone who participated in BugFest on April 1.  We had 316 visitors to our department including 168 high school and college students. More than 30 members of the Entomology Club volunteered to make this event a success.  Visitors were able to speak with students, faculty and staff about the entomology major and minor, the DPM program, the Entomology Club and the Beekeeping Club. 

ABOVE: Volunteers included: Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, Dr. Amanda Hodges, Ruth Brumbaugh, Tyler Vitone, Sedonia Steininger, Chase Kimmel, Kristen Donovan, Stefani Harrison, Lauren Avila, Austin Stevens, Jennifer Serviss, Sam Pass, Mary Karcher, Zachary Kaplan, Richie Konowal, Sabrina White, Sara Osorio, Kiona Elliott, Mason Russo, Keith Gerber, Gabby Milanes, Emily Payne, Alex LoCastro, Lindsay Wheeler, Brian Ertley, Andre Szejner, Catherine White, Derrick Conover, Casey Parker, Heather Erskine, Morgan Weldon, Ana Heshmat, Teddy Cogley, Ryan Huether, Andrea Darmanjian, Natalie Grand'Bois, Sophie Nagle, Devin Franklin, Derek Yan, Kayla Afrin, and Kelly Dexter.

In April, we had outreaches at Archer Elementary (Mike Bentley, Matthew Moore, Aaron Pemerantz, and Deepak Shrestha all volunteered to help for that event),  Dr. N. H. Jones Elementary, Oakcrest Elementary (Ephraim Ragasa volunteered to help with that event), Baby Gator – Lake Alice (led by Ashley Mortensen), Legacy Elementary, High Springs Community School (led by Erika Machtinger), and South Ocala Elementary.

In addition, in April, we had an outreach opportunity with visitors from Cornell University and working with Charlotte Emerson in the CALS Dean’s Office, we hosted 30 middle and high school visitors during their campus tour.

On Saturday, April 12th, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin and Entomology Club members Teddy Cogley, Jennifer Servis, Gabby Milanes, Stefani Harrison, Andre Szejner, Sabrina White, Casey Parker, and Christian Fleming represented the Entomology and Nematology Department at CALS Gator Encounter from 9:00-1:00 at the Reitz Union.  More than 600 middle school and high school students in the AVID program from around the state visited campus to learn more about majors in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.  The campus visitors were able to learn about the various Entomology and Nematology undergraduate specializations while interacting with the live arthropods from the Arthropod Petting Zoo.

On Monday, April 14th, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, Entomology Club members Stefani Harrison and Kristen Donovan, and CALS Ambassadors Casey Parker and Sabrina Lesinger were featured guests and speakers at the CALS Gator Gathering in Citra. Dr. Baldwin spoke on the advantages of a found major such as Entomology and Nematology. The department was represented with displays featuring the Bed Bugs and Book Bags program, the Arthropod Petting Zoo, and Microlivestock: Insects as a Sustainable Food Source. The 115 attendees included CALS graduates, current students, prospective students, newly admitted students, deans and CALS representatives. Two former graduate students, Crystal Atkinson and Eddie Atkinson, were in attendance.

Two tours on Friday, April 18th. Innovation Academy entomology tour - 1 family. Dr. Rebecca Baldwin with volunteers Casey Parker and Catherine White and a CALS middle/high school tour - Dr. Rebecca Baldwin with volunteers.

If you would like to schedule an event or have any outreach questions, go to the Outreach pages on our Bug Club Website and contact us.

- Stephanie Stocks, Outreach Coordinator 
- Office number  352-273-3958

Getting social!

We have several social media sites for the Entomology & Nematology Department. To make them easily searchable, all three (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) have the same page name: UFEntomology. Please share these links with past students or colleagues who may have an interest in departmental activities.

Grants

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Virni Mattson, our grants specialist, reports that from March 1st to April 30th, 2014, we have had 14 new grants or contracts awarded for a total of $489,053.12 in external funding for all Entomology & Nematology faculty (in Gainesville and at RECs).

Steven Arthurs was awarded a $44,906 grant by the USDA-IR-4 program to conduct research on biopesticide control for armored scales.

Announcements

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August 3rd to the 6th, 2014, at the Jupiter Beach Resort and Spa in Jupiter, Florida.

Exhibitors/Vendors are welcome and for a fee can set up a booth for all three days of the meeting. Two lunch tickets are included.

Call for Paper/Poster Submissions is open, the deadline is May 31 - see our website for the Abstract Submission Form.

Pre-registration deadline for the meeting is Friday, June 18th. Payment may be made at the meeting, but the pre-registration form must be submitted no later than the deadline to get the discount. Both registration and paper submission forms can be found on the website under the Annual Meeting tab. 

Please send all submissions to:

Cindy McKenzie, Ph.D.
Research Entomologist
US Horticultural Research Laboratory / ARS-USDA
2001 South Rock Road
Fort Pierce, FL 34945
772.462.5917 office
772.462.5911 lab
772.462.5986 fax
Cindy.mckenzie@ars.usda.gov

Call for nominations for FES Vice President and Member At Large 

Please forward your nominations to Clark Lovelady, Past President, clark.lovelady@syngenta.com. Self nominations are also accepted. The responsibilities of the two offices can be found in the Operating Guidelines in the 2010 Revisions to Guidelines/Awards Lists.