Awards!

Did you hear? We are the best in the world!!! It feels great to be ranked #1 and we could not do it without our great students, staff, and faculty. Thank you all for the role you play making us great.

Dr. Rebecca Baldwin was the 2017 recipient of the ESA Southeastern Branch Distinguished Service To The Certification Program Award, for her work with the ESA Certified Entomologist programs.

Dr. James P. Cuda was the 2017 recipient of the ESA Southeastern Branch Award for Excellence in Integrated Pest Management at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Branch of the ESA held in Memphis, TN, 12-15 March. Dr. Cuda was presented with a plaque recognizing his contributions to IPM by ESA-SEB President David Riley at the awards luncheon.

Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman was the 2017 recipient of the ESA Southeastern Branch Distinguished Achievement Award in Extension for her work with olive growers in Florida.

Dr. Andrea Lucky has been selected to receive the 2017 Educator Award from the North American College Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA). The award will be presented at the NACTA annual conference, June 28th to July 2nd at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

ABOVE: Dr. Jiri Hulcr, our Forest Entomologist, visited the D.C. Offices of six US House and Senate representatives for Florida, including the office of Ted Yoho (the Gainesville district representative). Jiri educated the staffers and the representatives on the importance of forests to Florida'a economy and the environment, the threats they face from exotic organisms and climate change, and the work of UF/IFAS extension and research. The visit was a part of an extension conference Public Issues Leadership Development, kindly sponsored by the Dean for Extension's office.

Dr. Christine W. Miller, Dr. Michael Forthman (Postdoctoral Researcher), and Lauren Cirino (Ph.D. student) presented "Fusing Research and Education through Classroom Undergraduate Research Experiences" at the The University of Florida Fusing Research and Teaching Conference on March 31, 2017 at the Harn Museum.

To coincide with the Graduate School's Graduate Student Appreciation week, Entomology & Nematology faculty, staff and post-doctoral scientists enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate our graduate students and honor them for the day with a chili feast in the Steinmetz Hall courtyard. 

ABOVE: Everyone was well-fed with nine different chilies (from vegan to venison!), homemade sides, and mouth-watering desserts. The weather cooperated for a wonderful time of conversation, fellowship, and food. While we only take the opportunity to celebrate our students once a year, Department Chair Dr. Blair Siegfried made it clear that we appreciate everything our students do for the department and our research, teaching, and Extension programs every day. Many thanks to chili-makers extraordinaire (Dr. Peter DiGennaro, Dr. Blair Siegfried, Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, Dr. Adam Dale, Dr. Heather McAuslane, Dr. Billy Crow, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, Dr. Josh Campbell, and Jenny Carr), Paul Ruppert, and all of the set-up and clean-up crews, for a wonderful event! Photograph by Juan Carlos Tafur-Mejia.

Heather McAuslane, Graduate Coordinator.

The Forest Entomology lab has scored a success in the South Pacific – after a three-year engagement and training of Papua New Guinean government entomologists and coffee agronomists, we have demonstrated that the collaboration is working. The local authorities are now able to find, identify and hopefully eradicate incipient infestations by the Coffee berry borer, a potential disaster for the local economy.

The Bloomquist lab would like to welcome four new postdoctoral associates! Dr. Liu Yang (Leona) Ph.D. from Auburn University to work on mosquito antennal electrophysiology. Dr. Gary Richoux, Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, to work on synthetic organic chemistry and will be making new insecticides and repellents. Dr. Jun-hyung Tak, Ph.D. University of British Columbia, investigating essential oils for mosquito control. Dr. Fabien Demeres, Ph.D. from Paul Sabatier University, France, will do neurophysiological testing of new compounds on insect nerves and in channels.

Four of our great leaders completed LEAD IFAS training in March! Congrats to Glinda Burnett, Dr. Jorge Ray, Dr. Jennifer Gillett-Kaufman, and Dr. Blair Siegfried. 

Dr. Gary R. Buckingham, Retired USDA-ARS Research Entomologist and a world-renowned expert in biological control of weeds passed away on January 16, 2017 at Richmond, CA. Learn more about his life and how he impacted UF scientists.

Michael Vickers, the Supervisory Teaching Assistant for the Principles of Entomology Labs in the department, won a UF Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award for 2016-2017. This award identifies the University of Florida’s graduate teaching assistants for being the “best, brightest, and most industrious” for their effort within classrooms and laboratories. He will receive his award during an awards ceremony held in late April. Michael’s faculty supervisor for the Principles Labs is Dr. Christine Miller.

In addition to the UF Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, Michael was awarded the CALS/IFAS Jack L. Fry Excellence in Teaching Award.  This award is presented annually to an outstanding graduate student who has excelled in the classroom or laboratory teaching in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Michael will be presented with a medal and monetary award at the CALS/IFAS awards banquet held on 04/18/2017. Michael is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Lisa Taylor’s lab.

The UF Entomology Club would like to announce their Executive Board for the 2017-2018 school year.  A big buggy congratulations to:

President: Becca Perry
Vice President: Johanna Schwartz
Treasurer: Rachel Watson
Secretary: Trudi Allyson Durgee
Communications Coordinator: Richard Murphy

Our Patricia Prade in the news! Doctorate candidate working on Florida's Brazilian Peppertree problem.

ABOVE: Rachel Atchison, Master’s student of Entomology and Nematology was selected to receive a 2017 National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. Rachel studies how disturbance shapes native vs. invasive ant interactions and influences the ecology of seed-dispersing ants in longleaf pine forest ecosystems. This research contributes to the scientific understanding of invasion biology and monitors the impacts of current longleaf pine restoration strategies. As a NSF GRFP fellow, she plans to be an ambassador for science education and increase public participation in scientific research.

The University of Florida Society for Viral Studies (Virology Club) took a trip during the Spring Break to Washington, D.C. and to the National Institutes of Health. Read more about their exciting trip!

ABOVE: Over spring break the Field Plant Nematology class went on a week-long field trip around southern Florida.  They visited: Dr. Joe Noling in Dover, Dr. Johan Deseager at the Gulf Coast REC, Sakata Seeds in Fort Myers, Syngenta Flowers in Alva, US Sugar in Clewiston, Everglades REC in Belle Glade, Dr. Robin Giblin-Davis and Dr. Shaddox at the Ft. Lauderdale REC, the USDA Invasive Plant Research lab in Ft. Lauderdale, Dr. Daniel Carrillo at the Tropical REC in Homestead, Syngenta Crop Protection in Vero Beach, and Dr. Kokalis-Burelle at the USDA Horticulture lab in Ft. Pierce. Photo 1: Dr. Joanh Desaeger supervises the class picking strawberries. Photo 2: Dr. Danial Carrillo at TREC teaches the class about Laurel wilt on avocado.

From the Outreach Coordinator

A big thank you to the students and faculty who volunteered for March’s outreach events!

• March 1st – Cornerstone Academy – Laurel Lietzenmayer
• March 13th – Buffalo Creek Middle School – Rebecca Baldwin, Laurel Lietzenmayer
• March 16th – Wiles Head Start, Laurel Lietzenmayer
• March 18th – Girl Scouts Animals are Amazing – Kyle Schnepp and Mac Arguez
• March 21st – Ambleside School of Ocala – Laurel Lietzenmayer
• March 23rd – FFA Westwood – Laurel Lietzenmayer
• March 24th – Valencia College – Rebecca Baldwin and Laurel Lietzenmayer
• March 28th – Alachua Homeschooling – Laurel Lietzenmayer and Abby Prohofsky
• March 29th – Littlewood Afterschool Program – Kristen Gaines
• March 30th – Magnolia Montessori Academy and Elementary School – Rebecca Baldwin, Lettie Cronin, and Heather Erskine
• March 30th – Westwood Middle School Science Night – Laurel Lietzenmayer

Upcoming Events

• April 13th – Family First High School Biology – 10am-12pm 
• April 27th – Science Night with Mrs. Bugg – 5:30pm-7:30pm 
• April 27th – Queen of Peace Catholic Academy – 12:30pm-2:30pm 
• April 28th – Archer Elementary PTA Carvinal – 4pm-7pm
• April 29th – Migratory Bird Day – 10am-3pm 
• May 6th – Learning Gate Community School BioBlitz 2.0 – 8am-12pm 
• May 11th – Joseph Williams Elementary – 5:30pm-7pm
• May 12th – Destiny Leadership Academy – 10:30am-12:30pm
• May 12th – Star Christian Academy – 1pm-3pm

ABOVE: Students from Ambleside School of Ocala try to find all of the life stages of the mealworm colony.

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.