Awards!

The University has created a “Term Professorship Award.”  These awards recognize faculty excellence in recent contributions along with potential for future accomplishment. The term of this professorship is 2017-2020.  During each of the three years, the awardees will receive a salary supplement of $5,000. Seven of the 45 awards came to our faculty! Congratulations to Dr. Jamie Ellis, Dr. Dan Hahn, Dr. Phil Kaufman, Dr. Oscar Liburd, Dr. Christine Miller, Dr. Kirsten Pelz-Stelinski, and Dr. Rudi Scheffrahn.

Dr. Daniel Carrillo was the 2017 recipient of UF's Excellence Award for Assistant Professors.   Daniel was the CALS nominee and was chosen by Dr. Glover, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, as a recipient  the this award that recognizes quality and innovativeness of research.

Dr. Daniel Carrillo also received the  President’s Volunteer Service Award in recognition of his volunteer service on an international assignment for Winrock’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Myanmar. This national honor is issued by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation to recognize valuable contributions of volunteers in USIAD funded programs. Dr. Carrillo contributed two weeks of volunteer service in Myanmar helping tropical food growers improve their pest management practices. 

ABOVE: Dr. Roxanne Connelly was recently honored with the Superior Accomplishment Award at the division level (IFAS) and the University level. She was recognized last month with the division level award and went on to be selected for one of eight university level awards. The University of Florida Superior Accomplishment Awards recognize staff and faculty members that contribute outstanding and meritorious service, efficiency, and/ or economy, or to the quality of life provided to students and employees. Letters of support for Dr. Connelly praised her response and efforts during the Zika crisis and praised the training she has provided to public health, mosquito control, and UF personnel.

Dr. Faith Oi was invited to give three presentations at PestWorld East in Dubai, April 10-11, to >200 PMPs from Bahrain, Canada, China, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Dr. Marc Branham presented a Key Note talk titled “The Function and Evolution and Bioluminescence in Beetles” at the 2017 International Firefly Symposium in Taipei, Taiwan (April 24-28). Undergraduate student Able Chow (Branham Lab) attended the same conference and contributed the presentation “Developing a Data Pipeline to Digitally Record and Analyze Firefly Flash Patterns."

ABOVE: Personnel in the Insect Pathology and Biotechnology lab, including new arrivals. L to R: Dr. Pavan Kumar, Dr. Biviana Flores-Escobar, Dr. Ruchir Mishra, Ms. Mariah Kemmerer, Dr. Bryony Bonning, Dr. Suyog Kuwar, Dr. Emiliano Canton.

Dr. Lisa Taylor’s lab is welcoming two new international post docs! Dr. Malika Ihle and Dr. Calum Ninnes will be working on the evolution of coloration in jumping spiders. They will both be in office 2209, please stop by and say hello!

Dr. James P. Cuda’s research on biological control of cogongrass, an invasive weed of pastures, roadsides and natural areas, was featured in the online North Escambia Daily News onApril 13th. 

Oliver Keller, doctoral student in the Branham Lab, received a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund grant from the American Museum of Natural History for his proposal “Systematic revision of the firefly genus Robopus Motschulsky 1853 (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)”. Oliver will use this funding to conduct field research in the Dominican Republic during the month of June.

ABOVE: The UF Linnean Team won the Linnean games at SEB-ESA. In the picture is Lindsy Iglesias, David Plotkin, Dr. Blair Siegfried, Cory Penca, Evan Waite, and Dr. Amanda Hodges.

ABOVE: We congratulate our spring, 2017 graduates! We are proud of them all!

Students who earned a Ph.D. degree this semester are: Dr. Alex Arp, Dr. Xulin Chen, Dr. Heather Koppenhofer, Dr. Dara Stockton, and Dr. Weimin (Sherry) Yuan.

MS students who received their M.S. degrees are:  Jeremiah Foley, Isaiah Hoyer, Octavio Menocal Sandoval, Sai Qiu, Charles Robertson, Kristen Stevens, and Iris Strzyewski.

Those who earned their BS degrees are: Jeff Coco, Don Foster, Nicholas Goltz, Andrew Nisip, Kaitlynn Peters, Mason Russo, Sage Thompson, and Evan Waite.

ABOVE: Congratulations to Dr. Dara Stockton and Dr. Alex Arp, who graduated April 28, 2017. Dr. Lukasz Stelinski was advisor to Dr. Dara Stockton and Dr. Kirsten Pelz-Stelinski was advisor to Dr. Alex Arp. Dr. Stockton is off to pursue a post-doc in the department of entomology at Cornell University. Dr. Arp. is off to pursue a post-doc with the USDA in Panama. 

ABOVE: Mason Russo (left), won the Undergraduate Student Oral Presentation competition at the SEB ESA meeting for his presentation titled "Life history and description of Arvelius albopunctatus in laboratory conditions." Morgan Pinkerton (right) won the Extension, Outreach and Teaching Student Oral Presentation competition for her presentation titled "Plant biosecurity outreach in Florida's youth." Both students work with Dr. Amanda Hodges.

This summer, we are welcoming six new M.S. students. In Gainesville, Erick Rodriguez, Sage Thompson and Jessica Awad will begin their studies. In Belle Glade, Erik Roldan will enter the program. In Quincy, Edward Traczyk will be joining us. Grace McMackin and Mary Nordgulen will be studying via distance education.  

ABOVE: Valent U.S.A. LLC announced that University of Florida Doctor of Plant Medicine student Morgan Byron has received a $1,500 research scholarship for the development of organic training materials for growers, Pest Control Advisors (PCAs), consultants and retailers. Valent is committed to supporting the next generation of growers and researchers, and this scholarship is the latest the company has awarded to students studying agricultural and horticultural sciences. Morgan was presented the scholarship as a part of Graduate Student Appreciation Week at the University of Florida by her academic advisor Dr. Jennifer L. Gillett-Kaufman, her organic project supervisor Dr. Danielle Treadwell, Valent sales representative Sarah Markle, and Dr. Blair Siegfried.

From the Outreach Coordinator

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

• April 7th – Bug Zoo at Gator Encounter
• April 13th – Family First High School Biology – Lettie Cronin and Laurel Lietzenmayer
• April 18th  - Jordan Glen School – Laurel Lietzenmayer
• April 27th – Science Night with Mrs. Bugg – Michael Gonzalez
• April 27th – Queen of Peace Catholic Academy – Michael Gonzalez
• April 28th – Archer Elementary PTA Carvinal – Rachel Atchison and Laurel Lietzenmayer
• April 29th – Migratory Bird Day – Lettie Cronin and Laurel Lietzenmayer

Upcoming Events

• May 11th – Joseph Williams Elementary – 5:30pm-7pm
• May 12th – Destiny Leadership Academy – 10:30am-12:30pm
• May 12th – Star Christian Academy – 1pm-3pm
• May 20th – Bug Week Bug Zoo
• June 7th – Cub Scout Day Camp – 2pm-3:30pm
• June 26th – Kimball Wiles Elementary – 1:30pm-3:30pm
• June 30th - Flagler County Public Library – 9am-12pm

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.