ABOVE: Welcome new postdoctoral researcher, Benjamin Jarrett! Ben is working with Dr. Christine Miller on a project exploring how host plant use influences male-male competition, and how the change in sexual selection dynamics might shift resource use. Ben will be using the leaf-footed bug Acanthocephala femorata to understand this process. He is funded by the Human Frontiers Science Program and is based at Lund University in Sweden.

Rebecca Perry, a recent M.S. graduate from Dr. Adam Dale's Lab, received the John A. Mulrennan, Sr. Outstanding M.S. Student Award for best thesis in Entomology & Nematology in 2020. Her thesis was titled, “Investigating the effects of plant diversity and nutrients on drivers of monarch fitness and abundance.” Congratulations, Rebecca!

Casey Parker, a recent Ph.D. graduate working with Dr. Connelly, received the John A. Mulrennan, Sr. Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award for best dissertation in Entomology & Nematology in 2020. Her dissertation was titled “Dynamics of insecticide susceptibility status in Florida Aedes Aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) populations and evaluation of mosquito education campaigns.” Congratulations, Casey!

Clebson Tavares, a Ph.D. student in Dr. Bryony Bonning’s lab, was awarded the 2020 Pauline O. Lawrence Scholarship in Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology. This award honors exceptional creativity in research, problem solving, and leadership. Clebson is researching pathogen interactions with the Asian citrus psyllid gut, combining biochemical, microbiological, physiological, toxicological, and molecular techniques. Congratulations, Clebson!

ABOVE: During the winter break Jayshree Patel visited the main campus with family and close friends to take pictures at the Bull Gator and ran into UF faculty and distinguished professor Dr. Mary T. Brownell (Special Education, Director, CEEDAR Center, President, Teacher Education Division of CEC), who offered to hood her.

“Although I missed the normal ceremony with my advisor, family from India, and friends, I was deeply honored and grateful to professor Dr. Mary T. Brownell who hooded me and shared my accomplishment. I will remember this moment for my life and will have a sweet memory in 2020 about my graduation during pandemic at University of Florida.”

- Jayshree Patel

From the outreach coordinator

“Hi everyone! So far, the new year has picked up for outreach and we had quite a lot of cool events. Our biggest event was Insectathon; a virtual competition put on for the 4-H youth that was collaborated with 4-H, Dr. Rebecca Baldwin, Courtney Quirie (4-H state event coordinator), and Jennifer Standley. We had a total of 54 participants (youth throughout the state) that competed by testing their knowledge of insects (through online quizzes), submitting collections, and submitting art. I was so impressed how many volunteers we had. We had 24 volunteers in total and without each one of them the event would not have been possible. Special thank you to volunteers: Brett Labella, Jordyn Ranfone, Sarah Tafel, Brynn Johnson, Clebson Tavares, Daniel Min, Savannah France, Remy Powell, Sarah Maestas, Kelly Carruthers, William Piwowarek, Lillie Rooney, Jasleen Kaur, Cameron Zuck, James Pinkney, Joey Gonsiorek, Daniel Rhodes, Cameryn Lein, Noah Barguez-Arias, Kristen Gaines, Joanna Jaramillo, Yuexun Tian, Emilie Demard, and Dr. Sue Gruner.

Reminder: The Entomology and Nematology Education and Outreach Program is available to accommodate both virtual and approved in person presentations!”

-Cheers Jennifer Standley, Outreach Coordinator

January 15 – iDigTRIO Conference: The goal of this event is to expose underrepresented, first generation, low-income or disabled students to career and graduate school opportunities in the biological sciences. Jennifer Standley and Dr. Rebecca Baldwin put together an informative video for the event on the Entomology & Nematology Department.

January 20 – Entomology Undergraduate Club: Jennifer Standley brought the petting zoo to kick off the first meeting of the year.

January 21 – Texas School: Dr. Baldwin, Jennifer Standley, and Sarah Tafel gave a virtual presentation to two first grade classes.

January 22 – Entomology Recruitment Day: Dr. Baldwin and Jennifer Standley presented about Outreach to prospective graduate students. Jennifer in addition made a video about life at the University as a graduate student for the participants.

January 22 – Bugs and People Class (two classes): Jennifer Standley, Brett Labella, Jordyn Ranfone, and Sarah Tafel presented the Arthropod zoo to Dr. Baldwin’s classes.

January 30 – Insectathon: What a great event this one was. Read more about this event at the top of our section. Slide show of the winning artist from Insectathon.

What’s better than a live show and tell of some really cool arthropods?! Our live petting zoo consists of tarantulas, scorpions, vinegaroons, bess beetles, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and native insects when in season. With a short training program, they are available for you to check out should you be leading an outreach event, even if it is virtual. The critters are always popular with both youth and adults and are used as a tool to expose the public to STEM disciplines. 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. We also have activity kits and lesson plans that are available as well. Please be sure to contact us and review the protocol on transportation and handling of the animals. If you lead an outreach event, be sure to fill out a documentation form so your event can be included in the newsletter and we can log all outreach events. Also note, that volunteering to assist with outreach events will count as departmental service for ENSO travel grants. (Please note that some venues require background checks or additional screening.) If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please email us.