A note from Dr. Siegfried

It is hard to believe that almost two years have gone by since beginning my position at UF. Just when I start to think that I have an understanding of the complexity of our University, something comes along to offer new challenges, such as the recently announced hiring freeze and budget cuts. Although the announced freeze and cuts will have minimal effect on us directly, we will see some significant cuts in operating budgets that are necessary to offset the costs of maintaining positions that were directly effected by the cuts. Hopefully these cuts are short-lived and their overall impact will be minimal. The efforts of our administration to identify solutions that minimize the impact on individuals by preserving positions is laudable, and I take pride in working for an institution that values its employees like IFAS does.

We are very fortunate to have been so well supported in the last two years. We have been able to replace some of our recent retirees as well as add several new positions to our department both here in Gainesville and at REC’s.  In all, 14 positions have been filled in the last two years. These new hires bring fresh ideas and perspectives, and I look forward to watching their growth and impact on the direction of our department and disciplines. 

On July 1st, two of our faculty have been promoted to Full Professor, Dr. Phillip Kaufman, and Dr. Michael Rodgers. Three faculty have been awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, Dr. Barry Alto, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, and Dr. Christine Miller.

Our facilities here in Gainesville are also about to go through significant changes. The addition of the Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab represents the culmination of significant fund raising, legislative interaction and administrative support and perseverance on the part of Dr. Jamie Ellis who has coordinated this effort.  After two unsuccessful attempts to achieve funding for the lab, we finally anticipate groundbreaking in September of this year. The lab will alleviate some real challenges in terms of space allocation as well as bring important recognition to the department.  Between the addition of the bee lab, the hiring of a pollination ecologist, and the existing efforts of the McGuire Center in pollinator conservation, our department should be well positioned to take leadership on issues related to insect pollinators.

Another important development has been the effort to initiate a self-examination of our teaching programs with the aim of better serving both our graduate and undergraduate students. I was especially gratified by the attendance at our teaching retreat in April where we had participation from most of our faculty and from around the state demonstrating a clear commitment to our students and our teaching mission. As a result of this retreat, we have identified a number of areas for further assessment. A number of teams are currently working hard to identify strengths and weaknesses of our current programs and to make suggestions to better serve the needs of our students.  I am looking forward to their suggestions and implementing their recommendations in the coming year.

I know the last two years have been demanding, and at times have stretched our human resources to their limit but we continue to excel. We have been ranked #1 in the world, seen a significant jump in our submissions for sponsored research, personnel hiring, and purchases as our new hires begin to establish their programs and others begin to mature. I am grateful for the dedication and commitment that our staff has shown and I urge everyone to thank and acknowledge their efforts whenever possible. 

So as my second year comes to a close, you should all know that I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve as chair for this department, and I look forward to the next year and the good things that I know we can achieve.

~Dr. Blair Siegfried

Dr. Nupur Sarkar is a visiting scientist in Dr. Oscar Liburd’s laboratory. Dr. Sarkar will spend the next 4 months researching blueberry plant volatiles and their role in Drosophila suzukii host plant selection.

The Bark Beetle Calligraphy, an art and science initiative developed by the UF ENY/SFRC faculty member Dr. Jiri Hulcr, is moving into its fourth exhibit venue: the Florida Museum of Natural History. The installation features original three-dimensional insect art collected from around the world accompanied by large-scale, high-resolution images of the tiny artists.

The turpentine industry may be coming back thanks to new technologies. And with it – turpentine beetles. The UF Forest Entomology lab is collaborating with Callisons, Inc., and the Florida Forest Service, on trial plots where we monitor whether the renewed pine tapping increases the incidence of pine pests.

ABOVE: Dr. Andrea Lucky was awarded the 2016-2017 Educator Award from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) at this year’s annual meeting, June 28st – July 1, 2017. UF was well represented at the conference, which was held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. Most of the attendees are pictured below; Dr. Lucky is in the center of the back row (with a scarf).

Simon Yeboah (Ph.D. student) gave a talk titled "Development of IPM program for managing Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa, in tropical fruit orchards" at the Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) Scholar Conference 2017 in Washington, D.C. (May 11, 2017). Co-authors: Dr. Oscar E. Liburd, Dr. Norman C. Leppla, Dr. Daniel Carrillo, and Dr. Nancy D. Epsky.

At the end of June, Pablo Allen, a Ph.D. student in the Miller Lab, headed to the 2017 Evolution conference to give two talks about sexual selection. His first talk was on the “Consequences of inbreeding and environmental stress on a species with sexually selected weaponry.” His second talk was part of the spotlight session on sexual selection via male competition and was titled “Phenotypic and genetic divergence in weaponry across a broad landscape in a cactus-feeding bug.”

ABOVE: This month Lauren Cirino (pictured on the left) and Ummat Somjee (pictured on the right), graduate students in the Miller lab, headed to Toronto, Canada to present their research at the 2017 Animal Behavior Society Conference. Lauren presented on the “effects of male quality and territory quality on female preference of vary condition” and Ummat presented on the “hidden costs of a sexually selected weapon.”

Lawrence Reeves, a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Akito Kawahara's lab  was awarded a Dolores Auzenne Dissertation Award by the University of Florida Graduate School. 

Dr. Chris Holderman (Ph.D. 2016, Kaufman Lab) has recently accepted a position with Central Life Sciences as a Product Development Specialist- Entomologist. Chris is located in Dallas, Texas. 

Dr. Sudarshan Aryal, a recent Ph.D. alumnus from Dr. Billy Crow's program, has accepted the position of Sr. Scientist (Nematology) with Marrone Bio Innovations in Davis CA.

Ms. Patricia Prade, a Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Dr. James P. Cuda, attended the 3rd Annual Hemipteran-Plant Interactions Symposium held in Madrid, Spain, 4-8 June. Patricia presented a poster titled “Calophya terebinthifolii and Calophya lutea:  Host specificity of two potential biological control agents of Brazilian peppertree in Florida, USA.”  The poster was co-authored by Dr. Cuda, Dr. Willam A. Overholt, and Dr. Carey R. Minteer.

Ms. Courtney Stachowiak, a biological researcher for Dr. James P. Cuda and Dr. Emma N.I. Weeks, won the poster competition at the 28th Annual Technical Symposium held at Captiva Island, 6-9 June. Courtney received $300 for her poster titled “Influence of competition and predation on success of Cricotopus lebetis as a biological control agent.” The poster was co-authored by Dr. Cuda, Dr. Weeks, and Ms. Julie Baniszewski, a former undergraduate honors student. 

From the Outreach Coordinator

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

• June 16th  - Ocala Discovery Science Center, Michael Gonzalez 
• June 26th –Kimball Wiles Elementary – Brandon Jones, Lesley Schumacher, Michael Vickers
• June 27th – Baby Gator Child Development and Research Center – Marice Lopez, Pritika Pandey, Morgan Pinkerton, Sage Thompson, Benjamin Waldo
• June 28th – Baby Gator Child Development and Research Center – Marice Lopez, Qinwen Xia, Mengyi Gu 
• June 30th – Flagler County Public Library – Laurel Lietzenmayer 

Upcoming Events

• July 18th – UF/CALS Florida Youth Institute
• July 22nd – Zookeeper Day at Santa Fe Zoo
• July 24th – Duval County IFAS Extension
• July 25th – Fear Facers Summer Camp

ABOVE: Graduate students Sage Thompson and Pritika Pandey show children the Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula at the Baby Gator Child Development and Research Center.

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.