Dr. Christine W. Miller is the recipient of a Learning Without Borders Curriculum Internationalization Award for the course ENY2890, Insect Research and Scientific Engagement.

ABOVE: The women in our Department were well represented at the Entomological Society of America’s program symposium titled “Grand Challenges: Tackling Invasive Species and Communication Strategies.” The session was co-organized and moderated by Dr. Faith Oi (left in photo) of the Medical, Veterinary, and Urban Entomology (MUVE) section. Dr. Oi also served on the opening panel led by ESA past-president Frank Zalom (UC Davis). Opening remarks were provided by ESA Executive Director Dr. David Gammel. UF Entomology was represented by two early career professionals who were nominated by their sections: Dr. Andrea Lucky (right in photo) who represented Systematics, Evolutionary, and Biodiversity (SysEB) section and spoke about “Pavement ants to population genomics: How citizen science can benefit invasion science” and Dr. Kirsten Pelz-Stelinski who represented Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology (PBT) section and spoke about “Microbial ecology of Asian citrus psyllid.”

The session was closed by NIFA Director Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy (center of photo) who delivered a rousing keynote: “A view from Washington DC” where he urged entomologists to continue engagement in the fight against nutritional insecurity. The Grand Challenges were initiated by several ESA presidents with the goal of improving the human condition through the science of entomology in the areas of invasive species, sustainable agriculture, and public health related to vector borne diseases.

Dr. Thomas Chouvenc attended the “Invasive conehead termite IPM working group” session, organized by FDACS, which took place in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 29th 2017. This invasive termite (Nasutitermes corniger), first detected in 2001 in Broward county is under an eradication program, but pockets of the population remain difficult to detect and control.

Dr. Thomas Chouvenc and Dr. Andrea Lucky were interviewed for an article on the Sun Sentinel about the discovery of the newest invasive ant species (Plagiolepis alluaudi) in south Florida.

A paper by Dr. Chouvenc and Dr. Nan-Yao Su on the efficacy of bait systems against invasive subterranean termites, recently published in Journal of Economic Entomology, was highlighted in Entomology Today.

Laura Harmon presented a virtual poster at the annual Entomological Society of America meeting in Denver, CO. This involved the preparation of a poster and a 3 minute video to be played alongside the poster at the venue. Her poster entitled Determining the lethal concentrations of permethrin for a laboratory reared colony of Culicoides sonorensis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) won second prize in the MUVE category. Her co authors were her advisor Dr. Emma Weeks, and her committee members Dr. Katherine Sayler (WEC) and Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena. The project was conducted at the USDA-ARS Arthropod-borne Animal Diseases Unit in Manhattan, KS with Dr. Elin Maki (a co-author on the presentation) in the laboratory of Dr. Lee Cohnstaedt.

DPM and MSc ENTstudent Matt Borden (Landscape Entomology Lab, Dr. Adam Dale) won 2nd place for his oral presentation (General Ecology) at the EntSoc meeting last month. He also received two acceptances to the Insect Photo Salon competition, and produced a winning video for the P-IE (Plant-Insect Ecosystems) section's Pollinator Video Contest. The video, "Driving Change: Pollinator Conservation in the Urban Landscape" showcases the research that Dr. Dale and undergraduate researchers Rebecca Perry and Grace Cope are conducting at golf courses in the area. The video can be viewed at https://dalelab.org/videos/. 

DPM and MSc ENT students Morgan Pinkerton, Eleanor Phillips, Matt Borden, and Dr. Lisbeth Espinoza (DPM and MSc ENT alumni) gave a seminar presentation on December 4th about the DPM study-abroad trip to Ecuador earlier this year. The class visited ESPOL University, agricultural research organizations, and production sites for key commodities in Ecuador, including banana, cacao, potatoes, sugarcane, and roses.

ABOVE: Ms. Casey Parker, a Ph.D. student of Dr. C. Roxanne Connelly, attended the Florida Mosquito Control Association meeting held in Kissimmee, FL where she gave an oral presentation titled “Distribution and insecticide susceptibility status of Florida populations of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus” and gave another presentation to Florida mosquito control commissioners on insecticide resistance. Casey was also awarded the T. Wainwright Miller Scholarship at this meeting.  (Photograph by P. H. Connelly)

Rebecca Perry and Grace Cope (undergraduate students in the Dale Lab) presented posters about their research at the UF CURBS Undergraduate Research Symposium on October 31st.

Dr. Pablo Allen, Matt Borden, Ethan Doherty, Brianna Whitman, Rebecca Perry, and Grace Cope each traveled to Denver, CO to represent the Dale Lab by each giving oral research presentations at the National Entomology Conference. 

Ethan Doherty (graduate student in the Dale Lab) received second place in the graduate student 10-minute oral presentation competitions at the National Entomology meeting in Denver, CO.

Casey Parker, one of our graduate students at FMEL recently won first prize in her category at the Entomological Society of America Student Competition, and was also awarded a T. Wayne Miller scholarship by the Florida Mosquito Control Association.

In November, three members of the Miller Lab (Dr. Michael Forthman, Dr. Pablo Allen, and Ebony Taylor) attended the Entomological Society of America conference in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Forthman co-organized the “Breaking into the Biobank: Promising Methods for Sequencing DNA from Museum Arthropod Specimens” symposium and Dr. Allen gave an oral presentation titled, “From conception to submission: Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience using insects.” Finally, Ebony Taylor, an undergraduate in the Miller Lab, attended her first scientific conference.

ABOVE: On November 30, Abigail Prohofsky (center), an undergraduate entomology major, was inducted into the honorary agriculture fraternity, Alpha Zeta. Abigail also received the Most Outstanding New Member award from the chapter for her diligence and hard work in achieving her volunteer hours and other activities required by pledges. Alpha Zeta is an honorary, professional society for students and industry professionals in the agriculture and natural resources fields. Any undergraduate majors or minors interested in learning more about the society can contact Dr. Phil Kaufman, the chapters Faculty Advisor. Also in the photo Virginia Propheter (on left, is President) and Kristen Doyle (on right, is Vice President), Kristen joined the Kaufman's for their 2017 study abroad course in Italy.

In addition to our student winners at ESA that were listed in last months and this months newsletters we would also like to recognize Cory Penca-who placed second in his group.

Sara Salgado, an intern in Dr. Carey Minteer’s lab, was recognized for “Best Thesis” by the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School. Work for Sara’s thesis “Respuesta de hipersensibilidad de la maleza invasora Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia) a Calophya spp.” was conducted during Sara’s internship in the Minteer Lab at the Hayslip Biological Control Research and Containment Laboratory in the spring of 2017.

From the Outreach Coordinator