2013 Eastern Branch Meeting News
The 84th Annual Meeting of the ESA Eastern Branch was held in Lancaster, PA from March 16-19, 2013. There were 192 attendees, including 77 students. The meeting included 117 oral presentations and 33 posters across nine symposia, submitted presentations, and the student competition.
Other events included the very popular public outreach program, “It’s a Bug’s World,” a highly successful workshop on “Jobs in Entomology” for students, and the Linnaean Games competition, which included student teams from four institutions and was won by the University of Delaware team (Scott Berg, David Gardner, Ashley Kennedy, and Kaitlin Handley), who defeated Penn State University (Ian Grettenberger, Peter Meng, Mario Padilla, and Salvatore Anzaldo) in the finals. Both teams will compete in the national Linnaean Games at Entomology 2013 in Austin, TX this November.
Dr. Dan Janzen (University of Pennsylvania) delivered an outstanding Banquet Presentation on the biodiversity and ecological research that he and his wife, Winnie Hallwachs, have done in northern Costa Rica, titled “What do you find in a detailed caterpillar and parasitoid inventory of a large tropical place?”
A record number of submissions (43) were received for the student competitions, which for the first time were divided among separate sessions for masters/Undergraduate and PhD students. First and second place winners of the student competitions were, respectively: MS/Undergrad oral – Wendy Leuenberger (Indiana U. of PA) and Scott Berg (U. of DE), PhD oral – Anjel Helms (Penn State) and Alina Avanesyan (U. of Cincinnati), MS/Undergrad poster – Alicia Miggins (Long Island U.) and Salvatore Anzaldo (Penn State), PhD poster – Sudan Gyawaly (Virginia Tech) and Sunghoon Baek (West Virginia U.).
Dr. Charles Vincent (left) receives the L.O. Howard Distinguished Achievement Award.
Dr. Charles Vincent (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) received the L.O. Howard Distinguished Achievement Award, while Elina Niño (Penn State) and Elaine Fok (Cornell) received the John Henry Comstock and Asa Fitch Awards, respectively. Eastern Branch nominees for the ESA Distinguished Achievement Awards in Teaching and Extension were, respectively, Laura Harrington (Cornell) and Rod Youngman (Virginia Tech). Elson Shields (Cornell) was nominated for the Entomological Foundation Award for Excellence in IPM.
Pictured here are 5th grade students from Millstone River School, in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District in Plainsboro, New Jersey. The students presented their research project on trapping silphid beetles using different baits. From left to right, Dr. Sven Strnad, Liam Riley, Dr. Vickie Gurzau, Isabelle Bannon, Tara Gideon, Matthew Barranco, and ESA President Dr. Rob Wiedenmann.
The Eastern Branch’s public outreach program, “It’s a Bug’s World,” was held on Sunday, March 17. Attendance was estimated to be at least 450-500 adults and kids. Displays included Museum Marauders, about insects that pose a threat to historic structures and archive materials, a live bumblebee colony presented by the Penn State Master Gardeners, Spider Folklore, Buzz Worthy, an art display by PA College of Art and Design students, and information about insect problems facing our troops in Afghanistan and Kuwait. The Lancaster County 4-H Entomology Club members talked about their collections and assisted with Build-a-Bug. A 5th-grade class in the Millstone River School of the West Windsor-Plainsboro, NJ School District had an impressive display of their carrion beetle and mark-recapture projects. This display included the diorama “Carrion Café,” featuring small animal skeletons and the beetles that cleaned them.
One of the balloon artists took the challenge. He is holding his balloon interpretation, next to the girl who challenged him with a carrion beetle specimen.
