Dr. Robert C. Hemenway died on January 25th during an illness following a fall before Christmas. He was born on November 25th, 1941 in Carlsbad, NM. In September 1971 he was offered a permanent position at UF as laboratory technician II by Dr. Willard Whitcomb. His employment did not change when Dr. Whitcomb retired, because Dr. Howard Frank took the laboratory in June 1985 and was glad to take Bob.

ABOVE: One of many of Dr. Bob Hemenway's tasks was to rear insects. Because of an ongoing biological control program against pest mole crickets, they and their predators and parasitoids were needed in large numbers. The only insect Bob failed to rear was the native northern mole cricket. He operated traps routinely, every week for years on end to monitor the mole crickets and to detect changes in their population level.

Dr. Hemenway had no siblings and never married. He will be remembered as kind and pleasant and helpful, thus a joy, to many faculty, staff, and students over the course of his 40-year employment in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida.

ABOVE: Dr. Leigh Boardman, a postdoc in the Hahn lab, recently returned from McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica. She participated in the 2018 NSF Advanced Training Program in Antarctica for Early-Career Scientists: Biological Adaptations to Environmental Change. This course aims to introduce scientists to the diversity of biological organisms living in Antarctica, and how they have adapted to live in extreme environments. Together with 19 other participants from around the world, and eight instructors, she spent four weeks in Antarctica, attending lectures on Antarctic ecology and biological adaptation; and performing a small research project. A definite highlight was being interrupted by Adelié penguins while working on the ice! 

Dr. James P. Cuda’s research on the hydrilla midge Cricotopus lebetis was featured in the UF/IFAS March 1st edition of Morning Ag Clips and two online industry publications: Growing America and Southeast AgNet. 

Dr. Charles V. Covell Jr., Courtesy Professor in the Department and Curator at the McGuire Center, FLMNH, has been selected as the 2018 "Distinguished Alumnus in Entomology" by his alma mater. Charlie received his MS (1962) and Ph.D. (1965) in Entomology from Virginia Tech, spent 40 years in the Biology Department at the University of Louisville, and nears completion of 14 years at the McGuire Center.  He has taught Aquatic Entomology and served on four graduate committees in our Department since 2004.

On March 5th in Orlando, the UF Entomology and Nematology Linnean Team placed first in the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America games. They will compete at the national level in Vancouver in November. The team members were: David Plotkin (Captain), Lindsy Iglesias, Zach Kaplan, Ariane McCorquodale, Cory Penca, Sierra Short, and Jason Williams. The coaches were Dr. Rebecca Baldwin and Dr. Amanda Hodges.

Congratulations to Casey Parker, Ph.D. student at the UF/IFAS/Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, on winning the student competition at the Southeastern Branch meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Casey’s paper, Container mosquito community control: An inside-out approach, won the Extension, Teaching and Outreach section of the competition.

Edward Traczyk (Dr. Xavier Martini 's lab, NFREC) won the first place in the Master student poster competition at the last Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America meeting in Orlando!

ABOVE: We held our annual Undergraduate Scholarship Reception on February 21st. We were pleased to have several family members from our scholarship donors share this time with us. Dr. Blair Siegfried and Dr. Rebecca Baldwin announced this year’s awardees:

• The Leland A. Davis scholarship was received by Gabriella Steele.
• The Robert E. Dixon scholarship was received by Madison Goodwin, Kylie Lennon, and Rachel Watson.
• The Dr. Lawrence A. Hetrick scholarship was received by Katherine Carroll and Ebony Taylor.
• The J.L. Knapp scholarship was received by Katherine Arguez, Nathan Duerr, and Gabe Somarriba.
• The Everett R. Mitchell scholarship was received by Sara Alvarez and Ann Deaderick.
• The John A. Mulrennan, Sr. scholarship was received by Madison Cook, Tanner Felbinger, and Rebecca Perry.
• The Milledge Murphey scholarship was received by Abigail Prohofsky and Johanna Schwartz.
• The Carolyn D. Richardson scholarship was received by Richard Murphy.
• The Dempsey R. Sapp Sr. scholarship was received by Lettie Cronin and Britton Simkins.
• The David Williams scholarship was received by Trudi Durgee.
  

We are all very proud of our scholarship recipients!

Garett Miller, a research undergrad in Dr. Adam Wong's lab, was awarded with the University Scholars Program scholarship. ​

Benjamin Waldo and Brandon Jones (MS students with Dr. Billy Crow) presented “Turfgrass nematology research 2017” at Florida Turfgrass Association regional seminars in Tallahassee and Palmetto on February 14th and 28th, respectively.

Kristin Sloyer presented her final seminar March 13th in Vero Beach​. Her thesis title is Evaluating sampling strategies and ecological niche models for Florida no-see-ums (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae: Culicoides).

Recent graduate Dr. Lary Reeves is starting a postdoctoral fellowship in the Burkett-Cadena lab at FMEL in Vero Beach.

ABOVE: Elise Richardson (Undergraduate Intern of the Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases project) and Zachary Kaplan (Entomology and Nematology Dept. MS student) presenting their research at EPI Research Day. Both students work with Dr. Emma Weeks on acaricide resistance in lone star ticks.

From the Outreach Coordinator

Here are our events from February:

• February 8th-19th – Florida State Fair – Thank you to the 27 volunteers that attended the fair!
• February 15th – Gator Day in Tallahassee, Dr. Amanda Hodges and Ploy Kurdmongkoltham
• February 15th – Imagine Learning Center, Laurel Lietzenmayer and Dr. Lisa Taylor
• February 23rd – The Child’s Place, Laurel Lietzenmayer
• February 27th – East Marion Elementary, Laurel Lietzenmayer

Upcoming Events:

• March 15th – Belleview Public Library
• March 22nd – East Marion STEAM Showcase
• March 23rd – Homeschooling Group
• April 5th – Westwood Middle School Kids in the Woods Night
• April 16th – Classical Conversations
• April 20th – Cornerstone Academy

ABOVE: Dr. Jennifer Weeks, undergraduate Trudi Durgee, and Dr. Rebecca Baldwin showing off some of our live arthropods at the Florida State Fair. Thank you to all of the volunteers that attended the event!

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.