A note from Dr. Siegfried

It is hard to believe that winter break is almost here but a good time to reflect on all that has happened in the last 12 months. It has been a busy year! We have added seven new faculty to our ranks including: Dr. Tolulope Agunbiade, Mr. Cameron Jack, and Dr. Dorota Porazinska who have joined us in Gainesville; Dr. Eva Buckner, Dr. Lary Reeves and Dr. Lindsay Campbell at FMEL; Dr. Lauren Diepenbrock at CREC and Dr. Sriyanka Lahiri who starts at GCREC in January. We are also in the midst of recruiting three new positions here in Gainesville including a Lecturer in Insect Biology, and two Assistant Professors in Quantitative Insect Ecology and Invertebrate Vectors and Public Health.

Our physical presence has grown in the last year with completion of the Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab. The completion of the lab is the culmination of many years of effort on the part of Dr. Jamie Ellis and the commitment of the Florida Beekeeping community, UF/IFAS, and the state legislature, and represents an important model for future collaborations. The process of celebrating the opening of the lab was exhausting (and I did not do that much) and I am sure those in the bee lab are glad to be in their new facility and to continue their important work without the distraction of ribbon cutting and open houses.

We have wished congratulations to Dr. Joe Noeling and Dr. Jim Maruniak (ABOVE) who have retired from UF in 2018, but whose contributions to students and clientele provide an enduring legacy of their time as members of our faculty. We mourned the loss of Dr. Phil Stansly whose sudden passing has left a big hole in our department and the community of south Florida growers that Phil tirelessly served for more than 25 years.

An important milestone for us in 2018 is the establishment of UF as the lead university partner for the Center of Arthropod Management Technology (CAMTech). Dr. Bryony Bonning successfully obtained a 5-year renewal of this NSF sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. This program partners industry membership fees with federal money to develop novel technologies for managing arthropod and nematode pests. In addition to providing our faculty with an important funding opportunity, it allows the industry partners to become familiar with the breadth our programs and potential partnerships in research, education and extension. We are fortunate to have CAMTech in our department and I am grateful to Bryony for her efforts to bring the program to UF.

I guess it should not have been a surprise that our department has been ranked as the number one entomology program in the world in 2018. I do not often bring it up, but I am always happy when one of our senior leaders recognizes the distinction. I am grateful to Dr. John Capinera for leaving the department in such good shape and allowing me to take some of the credit for this distinction. This is not to diminish the standing of our nematology program, which I am confident would have also been ranked number one if nematology programs had been ranked. The ranking reflects the success of our faculty, staff, post-docs and students who are moving on to important positions and are being recognized for the quality of their work.

It was especially gratifying that UF received the most awards for student presentations of any other department at the recent ESA meeting. This speaks to both the quality of our students and to their advisors who guide them through their graduate programs.

I think it has been a good year, and I am extremely grateful to our faculty, staff and students that contributed to our sucess. 

Best wishes for a safe and restful break with friends and family.

~Dr. Blair Siegfried

Give Back 
Want to support the UF Entomology & Nematology Department? Consider making an online gift today! Questions can be directed to Christy Chiarelli at (352) 392-1975 or ccw@ufl.edu.

Dr. Derrick Mathias was selected as a 2019 Global Fellow by the Office for Global Research Engagement, University of Florida International Center and received a seed grant of $5,000 to advance his research abroad.

During the awards ceremony at the 90th Annual Meeting of the Florida Mosquito Control Association (FMCA) in St. Petersburg, FL on November 4th to the 7th, Dr. Jonathan Day was awarded the prestigious Maurice W. Provost Memorial Award. The award honors persons who have made outstanding contributions to mosquito control and/or biting fly biology in Florida and have made significant contributions to the FMCA.

Dr. Eva Buckner, Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena, Dr. Lary Reeves, Dr. Dongyong Shin, and Dr. Liming Zhoa gave presentations at the FMCA meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida, November 4th to the 7th.

The North American Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects is proud to announce that Jayshree Patel, of the University of Florida, is the recipient of the 2018 Jeffery P. La Fage Award. Jayshree is now completing her Ph.D. research under the direction of Dr. Nan-Yao Su. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium.

Dr. Omotola Olaniyi had a healthy baby boy that weighed 9 pounds and 9 ounces on the morning of December 5th. We’re happy for Omotola’s family and the new addition to the Liburd lab.

Hannah Talton presented a poster titled “Assessing cultural practices, injury, and susceptibility of selected strawberry cultivars to the seed bug (Neopamera bilobata) in organic strawberry production” during the 2018 ESA joint meeting in Vancouver, Canada (November 11th to the 14th). Co-author: Dr. Oscar Liburd.

MSc Marice Lopez gave a presentation titled “The use of cultural and biological control strategies for management of key pests in organic squash” in the student competition during the 2018 ESA joint meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Co-author: Dr. Oscar Liburd.

Gabrielle Latora presented “Evaluation of SPLAT for SWD (Drosophila suzukii) management in blueberries” in the 3-minute student competition during the 2018 ESA joint meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Co-author: Dr. Oscar Liburd.

Sang-Bin Lee received travel grant from the ESA MUVE section ESA at the 2018 meeting in Vancouver, Canada. He also won the 1st place oral presentation from the Korean Young Entomologist at the meeting.

Bethany McGregor, Casey Parker, Kristen Sloyer, and Richard West were the winners of the First Annual John Beidler FMEL Graduate Student Research Symposium on November 1st and received $500 each.

Our graduate students stationed at FMEL, Robert Aldridge, Catherine Prusynski, Casey Parker, and Richard West, gave presentations on their research at the FMCA annual meeting.

During the awards ceremony at the FMCA meeting, Ph.D. student Casey Parker was awarded the Cyrus Lesser Memorial Scholarship for her research related to mosquito control.

Our graduate students stationed at FMEL, Ph.D. students, Bethany McGregor, Casey Parker, Kristen Sloyer, and Rebecca Zimler presented on their dissertation research projects at the 2018 ESA, ESC and ESBC Joint Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Matthew Borden and Rebecca Perry, graduate students in the Dale Lab, each won first place in their respective student presentation competitions at the ESA annual meeting in Vancouver, BC.

Dr. Adam Dale and members of his lab, Matthew Borden, Rebecca Perry, Grace Cope, and Nicole Benda, each gave oral presentations at the ESA annual meeting in Vancouver, BC.​

Dr. Adam Dale gave a two hour seminar on integrated pest management for landscape pest control industry professionals on November 7th at the Florida A&M University Annual Field Day in Tallahassee, FL.

Dr. Eva Buckner, Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena, Dr. Lary Reeves, Dr. Dongyong Shin, and Dr. Liming Zhoa gave presentations at the Florida Mosquito Control Association Annual Fall Meeting (FMCA) in St. Petersburg, FL on November 4th to the 7th. Dr. Reeves gave a talk titled "Molecular Identification of Mosquitoes in Florida."

From the Outreach Coordinator