NEWSLETTER
AWARDS
Rejane Moraes' husband, Dr. Michael T. Smith garnered the 1995 ARS Early Career Scientist for the Mid-South area. He and Rejane will attend the award ceremony in Beltsville, Md on the 28th and 29th of November.
Dr. Don Hall was recognized at the Florida Blue Key Distinguished Faculty Award. The award is given to professors who have distinguished themselves through their programs and service to the students of the University. Don was the guest of Blue Key and rode in the Homecoming Parade as part of the recognition.
During the same week Don was notified that he had been named recipient of the Southeastern Branch ESA Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching. The award will be presented at the Branch meeting and Don's nomination will go forward as the SE nominee for the national achievement award. A well deserved honor and congratulations to Don for bringing the recognition to Entomology and Nematology!
NPCA MEETING IN ORLANDO
Over 2,600 attendees from around the world were at the week-long National Pest Control Association meetings in Orlando earlier this month. Most of them stopped by the department's booth and made favorable comments about the professional floor-standing display the department now has. If you're attending a regional, national, or even international meeting you might want to consider incorporating this display into the exhibits. See Jane Medley for more information. In addition, dozens of representatives from pest control companies, pesticide formulators, and other organizations mentioned how impressed they were with the department's home page (http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/) and the information they found there. Many asked for permission to link into or use the publications, graphics, and photographs the page contains.
MAGGOTS AND MURDER
Jason Byrd, Forensic Entomology Ph.D. student under the direction of Dr. Habeck/Dr. Allen, was an instructor/invited speaker at the 3rd Annual Robbery and Homicide Conference hosted by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. This conference provides certification to Florida's law enforcement officers, and entomology has been officially recognized by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as an area in which officers can receive educational certification. Jason was also a guest speaker at the 26th Annual Education and Training Conference for the International Association for Human Identification, hosted by the Florida Division of the IAHI. This conference provided training to Medical Examiners, Crime Scene Technicians, and Forensic Pathologists with the knowledge required to process entomological evidence at the crime scene, and on how to maintain the chain of evidence with living organisms.
BRINGING SCIENCE TO THE SCIENTISTS OF TOMORROW
Every year the Dept. of Entomology and Nematology receives numerous requests from Alachua Co. area schools and youth organizations for entomological programs. ENSO is pleased to announce that Wayne Grush (master's student, urban entomology) has graciously volunteered to coordinate these programs and assist us with individual requests. ENSO asks that those seeking Wayne's assistance be willing to participate in the program to be presented. Also requests may at times be too numerous for the personnel resources available so make sure to get tentative dates and other pertinent information before committing. This will hopefully streamline our efforts in bringing entomology to the scientists of tomorrow. Thank you Wayne!
PRESENTATIONS
Rejane de Moraes will present a poster at the ESA meeting in Las Vegas entitled "Organ culture of salivary glands of male Anastrepha suspensa (Diptera: Tephritidae) " by R.R. de Moraes, James L. Nation and James E. Maruniak.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Dr. Daniel Sosa Gomez is going back to Brazil after a year and four months as a visiting scientist. He worked in Dr. Boucias lab on Biological control of the southern green stink bug (Nezara viridula). His work was focused on the mechanism of resistance of the stink bug to the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. He discovered compounds in the cuticle and hemolymph that inhibit germination and development of the fungus. Dr. Sosa Gomez returns to Brazil to continue his work at EMBRAPA where he is in charge of the microbial control project. He thanks Drs. Boucias and Nation for their professional help and the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Dr. Jim Maruniak is going to Brazil December 3 to participate in Alejandra Garcia-Canedo's Ph.D. defense at the University of Campinas. He will also be giving a presentation on Baculovirus molecular biology and expression vectors at the University of Campinas.
PUBLICATIONS
A manuscript by A. Garcia-Canedo, O.H.O. Pavan, and J.E. Maruniak, entitled "A variable region of Anticarsia gemmatalis nuclear polyhedrosis virus contains tandemly repeated DNA sequences" was accepted for publication in Virus Research.
GATOR EXPO
Our department's display at Gator Expo on November 2 and 3 was varied and colorful and attracted many visitors (and a video camera or two). Julieta Coulliette, who was in charge of the display, considered the project a success although the department did not recruit any students. The live insects (a jumping spider, a green lynx spider, Drosophila flies, oleander caterpillars, and an assortment of cockroaches) attracted most of the attention. She thanks Dini Miller, Kathy Durbin, Carol Shelley, and Corey Lewis for their helpful assistance during the Expo.
MINIGRANT RECIPIENTS
The competition for the teaching minigrants of the College of Agriculture was very strong this year. Thirty-two minigrant proposals totaling $85,279 were received. The 1995-96 teaching minigrant recipients from the Department of Entomology and Nematology were: Robert Dunn/Donald Short ($3,000), Thomas Walker ($889), John Foltz ($ 2,900).
DEPARTMENT CLASSES ON THE WEB
The world wide web has been all the rage this year. Lots of activity is apparent around the Department of Entomology and Nematology, including a brand new departmental web page. Education is also being turned on its head; teachers are wondering where it will all lead to. The old paradigm of the know-it-all teacher providing scarce information is perceived by many to be changing to the role of "coach." This has been described as teaching students how to learn, by sifting through the inevitable information overload. The bits and pieces relevant to the student then become part of a whole that contributes to their potential careers and lives. The world wide web can provide an almost seamless route to unlimited information. Examples of this are available from the department's home page.
SAY CHEESE!
Remember when IFAS took faculty photos this year? The department will use those photos on the faculty C.V. pages linked from the department's WWW page. If you are on the Federal Witness Protection Program or have another reason for not wanting your photo displayed, send a note to Skip Choate (IFAS 110620) or e-mail to his pmc@mail.ifas.ufl.edu.
GRADUATE STUDENT HOME PAGE
Graduate students who would like their C.V.s available on the department's home pages should contact Skip Choate for details. Check out Iowa State's home page to see how its graduate students list their C.V.s for prospective employers.
BUGGY SOFTWARE
Seventy-five percent of all insecticides used on golf courses in Florida are for mole cricket control. Entomologists Howard Frank, Don Short, and Tom Fasulo, in cooperation with extension agents Harold Jones (Duval) and LaRue Robinson (Pinellas), developed MCricket, a computerized knowledgebase of mole crickets and their management. The Pest Alert and Florida Insect Management Guide databases are also available, through the World Wide Web, on the home page (under Insect and Nematode Information) for the University of Florida's Department of Entomology and Nematology at: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu
Ken Pernezny and David Schuster have posted the first Vegetable IPM Newsletter for the 1995-96 season on Pest Alert, in the Vegetable category. It contains information on bacterial spot on pepper and tomato, and Phytophthora blight of young pepper plants.
ENSO TRAVEL GRANTS
Guidelines for application are as follows:
1. Travel grants of $100.00 are distributed to students who are presenting a paper or poster at a scientific meeting and their travel expenses are not covered by their advisor or other means.
2. Each student is eligible for one travel grant per academic year (Aug. 23 to Aug. 23) For example, if you apply for a travel grant any time after Aug. 23, 1995 you will not be eligible again until after Aug. 23, 1996.
3. Each travel grant application will be reviewed by the ENSO officers and must include: a copy of your abstract, a copy of the conference advertisement or registration form, a copy of the letter of acceptance for your paper or poster (from the conference) and a signed short statement of your financial need.
ENSO also suggests that those students who intend to apply for grants (at any time during their stay in this department) participate in some of the ENSO activities. Your participation contributes to our travel grant program, the spring picnic and other student driven activities.
GSC TRAVEL GRANTS
Students going to meetings and presenting papers are eligible for $100.00 from the Graduate Student Council.
ROOMMATE FOR ESA MEETING
Heather McAuslane is looking for one or two women to share a room at the ESA meeting in Las Vegas (December 16-20 inclusive). You can contact her at 392-1901 Ext. 129
DEPARTMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
The department of Entomology and Nematology is initiating an educational effort designed to assure that faculty are fully informed of the needs of Florida's populace, relative to the services the Department can provide. The Department is forming an advisory council consisting of knowledgeable Florida citizens who can assist with this effort. The first meeting of the department's new advisory council will occur on Tuesday, November 28. The advisory council representatives are: Joe Eger, Dow Elanco Dan Botts, Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association Charles Mellinger, Glades Crop Care John Dukes, Dr. Buggs Exterminators Dempsey Sapp Sr., Florida Pest Control Bill Bodnaruk, Jon's Nursery J. D. Alexander, Alico, Inc Dean Remick, A. Duda and Sons Jim Robinson, Pasco County Mosquito Control Richard Gaskalla, Florida Department of Agriculture Randy Martin, Biosys Jim Warneke, DisneyWorld Pest Management
READING ROOM
The Reading Room (room 2105) is open 24 hours/day for the use of all faculty, staff, and students. The department has no funds to assign anyone even a part-time job either to catalog materials or to check out materials. For this reason, the Reading Room has one major rule: NOTHING MAY BE BORROWED OR OTHERWISE CHECKED OUT. End of subject. No appeals or excuses will be accepted. It has been noticed that a book (American Insects), is missing form its shelf despite this rule posted by the door and despite the ownership label pasted in the book. Also several journal issues are missing. If disappearance of materials continues, we will have no option but to limit access: the first action to be taken will be to make materials available 8:00-5:00 only, by changing the lock on the door. Please be kind to others and don't remove any reading material and urge anyone who has material from the Reading Room to return it immediately.
LITTER ELIMINATION
ENSO in cooperation with Dr. Tom Walker will head up a litter removal effort in the newly established University of Florida Natural Area and Teaching Laboratory (NATL). Other student organizations and faculty, representing a number of life and agricultural science departments on campus, will join us in this effort. The majority of litter is concentrated in two vagrant camps located in the wooded areas along Archer and 34th Street. We hope to eliminate these camps and return the area to a more natural and useful state. ENSO would like to invite all of the students and faculty from the department of Entomology and Nematology to participate in the litter removal on Saturday, Dec. 2nd, at 10:00am. We will meet at the blue NATL sign across from the department greenhouses. Garbage bags, trucks, dumpsters and LUNCH will be provided. See you there!
A hard copy of this newsletter is given to department members in Building 970 only. All others can obtain an electronic subscription by joining the listserv.
The next newsletter will be published Friday, December 15. Deadline for contributions is Monday, December 11.
Editor: Enrique Perez
This version of the newsletter is published for the Web by Tim McCoy.
November 1995. Updated March 2003.