Entomological Society Announces 2006 Award Winners
 

Lanham, MD; November 6, 2006—The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2006 awards program. Professional awards will be presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis on December 10, 2006, and student awards will be presented on December 12. The Society’s professional and student awards are listed alphabetically below with professional awards listed first.

Professional Awards

Distinguished Achievement Award in Extension — Presented annually, this award recognizes outstanding contributions in extension entomology. This year’s winner, Dr. G. Keith Douce, is a professor of Entomology at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus. He has a 100% extension appointment and his outreach and public service programs focus on forest entomology and forest health, exotic and invasive species survey and educational programs, and IPM information systems. In 1995, Dr. Douce and Dr. David Moorhead, UGA School of Forestry and Natural Resources, began to develop means to use electronic technologies to support extension and outreach programs. The resulting Bugwood Network (www.bugwood.org) now comprises 15 websites receiving over 9 million hits from more than 1 million users each month. The Network information systems and image archives, including ForestryImages.org and Invasive.org, are now global in scope and use and contain over 30,000 photographs.
 

Distinguished Achievement Award in Horticultural Entomology (Sponsored by the American Nursery & Landscape Association) — Originally meant to honor regulatory entomologists, this award has been redefined to honor any entomologist who has contributed to the American horticulture industry. This year’s awardee, Dr. Daniel A. Potter, is a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky who has studied and taught about turf and landscape insects and IPM since 1979. He received his B.S. from Cornell University, and his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. Dr. Potter has authored over 150 refereed papers, 19 invited book chapters, dozens of trade journal articles and a widely used textbook on turf entomology. Among the 36 graduate students he has supervised are three winners of ESA’s J.H. Comstock Award, eight university faculty members, and leaders in extension, regulatory entomology, and industry. Dr. Potter has been keynote speaker at scientific and Green Industry conferences throughout the world. He has received ESA’s distinguished achievement awards in teaching, and in urban entomology, as well as university awards for research, teaching, and service to graduate students.

Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching — This award is presented to the ESA member deemed to be the Society’s outstanding teacher of the year. The 2006 recipient, Dr. May R. Berenbaum, has been on the faculty of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1980, and has served as head since 1992. She is well-known for her contributions to chemical ecology, elucidating coevolutionary interactions between phytophagous insects and their host plants in natural and agricultural communities. Berenbaum has received numerous accolades for her work, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Devoted to teaching and fostering scientific literacy, she has authored numerous magazine articles and four books about insects for the general public. She also founded the UIUC Insect Fear Film Festival, a celebration of Hollywood’s entomological excesses, now entering its 24th year. Berenbaum graduated with a B.S. in biology from Yale University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University in 1980.

 

Distinguished Service Award to the Certification Program — The purpose of this award is to encourage and reward outstanding contributions to the ESA Certification Program and the professionalism of entomology. This year’s recipient, Dr. Marvin K. Harris, has studied and taught entomology at Texas A&M University since 1972 and has been an ESA member since 1969. His research includes IPM and plant-insect interaction, and he teaches Hort-Flor Entomology, Insects of Row Crops, Host Plant Resistance and a science writing course for majors. He has produced over 40 refereed publications in ESA and other journals, a CD-ROM and three book chapters. Dr. Harris advises students, particularly undergrads, to join professional societies and to “transition their educations into careers” as preparation for life after graduation.

Recognition Award in Entomology (Sponsored by Syngenta Crop Protection ) — This award recognizes entomologists who have made or are making significant contributions to agriculture. This year’s recipient, Dr. Nilsa Bosque-Pérez, is a professor of entomology at the University of Idaho where she conducts research on host plant resistance, plant-virus vectors, and influence of agricultural practices and landscape elements on arthropod biodiversity. Her research elucidated for the first time the effects of transgenic resistance to barley yellow dwarf virus in wheat on aphid vector biology. Dr. Bosque-Perez leads an NSF-IGERT interdisciplinary project on biodiversity conservation and sustainable production in Idaho and Costa Rica, and she has been the recipient of $3.8 million in funding with her colleagues in the last five years. During this period, she co-authored 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and 25 proceeding papers, and she presented 15 invited talks and 96 contributed presentations with colleagues and students. An ESA member since 1980, she served on the Journal of Medical Entomology’s editorial board and the international affairs committee, and is presently on the Pacific branch’s executive committee. 

Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, & Toxicology (Sponsored by Bayer CropScience) — This award recognizes and encourages innovative research in insect physiology, biochemistry and toxicology. The 2006 awardee, Dr. Michael E. Adams, received his Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of California, Riverside, and did postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology and University of Chicago. After working in industry (Zoecon Corp.), he moved back to UC Riverside, where he is a professor of entomology and neuroscience. Fundamental contributions that have been made by Professor Adams and his collaborators include demonstration of peptidergic synaptic transmission in insects, discovery and characterization of ion channel-specific toxins in spider venoms, including the calcium channel antagonist omega-Aga-IVA, and the discovery of ecdysis-triggering hormones (ETHs) and their receptors. Recent work describes how ETHs recruit peptidergic ensembles in the CNS to regulate innate behavior in moths and flies. Dr. Adams has combined his research in insect physiology with studies in toxicology and neurobiology, and has published papers in Nature, Science, Neuron, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and other high-profile journals.
 

ESA Student Awards

Student Activity Award (Sponsored by Monsanto Company) — This award recognizes an ESA student member for outstanding contributions to the Society, his/her academic department, and the community, while simultaneously achieving academic excellence. Floyd W. Shockley, the 2006 awardee, is a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia. He has published 11 peer reviewed journal articles and a book chapter, has held several leadership positions in the ESA and other organizations, and has received praise from students and faculty members for his enthusiasm and teaching abilities. In addition, he has participated in more than 47 events, speaking at schools, to children’s groups and to adult special interest groups. Floyd’s dissertation research involves the systematics of the beetle family Endomychidae (handsome fungus beetles).

Student Certification Award (Sponsored by Springer Pest Solutions) — This award recognizes and encourages outstanding entomology graduate students with interest in the mission of the ESA certification program. This year’s winner, Nicola T. Gallagher, is a Ph.D. student in entomology at Ohio State University, where she also received her M.S. degree in entomology. She received her B.S. degree in biology from the College of Mount St. Joseph. Her Ph.D. research focuses on the foraging behavior of the eastern subterranean termite and its implications for termite control. In addition to her research, Nicola is a full-time research associate in the Entomology Department where she conducts laboratory and field research on termite baits and soil termiticides.

John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Awards — These awards promote interest in entomology at the graduate level and stimulate interest in attending the ESA Annual Meeting. The following 2006 winners were selected by each of the five ESA Branches.
 

Torsten Dikow (Eastern Branch) studied zoology, entomology, and botany at the University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany and the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. He received his diploma in biology from the University of Rostock in January 2002 with a thesis on the taxonomic revision and phylogenetic analysis of the robber-fly genus Euscelidia (Diptera: Asilidae: Leptogastrinae). In 2002, he started his Ph.D. dissertation in the joint Cornell University-American Museum of Natural History program in insect systematics. After finishing his course work in Ithaca he is now based at the AMNH where he works on the phylogeny, classification, and biodiversity of Asilidae with particular reference to the Leptogastrinae, using both morphological and molecular data for phylogenetic questions. Additionally, he is interested in the phylogenetic relationships within Asiloidea (Diptera), systematic theory, and photography.

Hojun Song (North Central Branch) will receive his Ph.D. in 2006 for work that centers on plague locusts. His cladistic analysis of the Schistocerca species suggests that African plague locusts may have crossed the Pacific Ocean while on their way to the New World. His research regarding the changes in the concealed genitalia of Orthoptera will require serious modification of grasshopper classifications. His contributions to Orthoptera taxonomy has been recognized with an associate editor position to Metaleptea, the newsletter of the Orthopterists Society. He has held eight professional meetings, organized three symposia at ESA annual meetings, received funding from over a dozen grants, has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and has written 7 peer-reviewed publications. His research excellence helped the Mexican government select him as a scientific advisor to address the ecological impact of Schistocerca piceiforons, which was devastating Socorro Island. He currently serves as a consultant to CONABIO (Comisin Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad) of Mexico.

Jeremy D. Allison (Pacific Branch) entered the Master of Pest Management program at Simon Fraser University after completing his undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Guelph. Under the direction of Dr. J.H. Borden, he examined semiochemical-based interactions between bark and woodboring beetles with the aim of developing a commercially operational bait. In the fall of 2001, he began studying for a Ph.D. in entomology at UC-Riverside with Dr. R.T. Carde. His dissertation research focuses on the genetic basis of variation in the sex pheromone of the stored products pest Cadra cautella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and the consequences of the variation within and among generations. The results of his research will document how directional selection can modify sex pheromones, and suggest the consequences, type and strength of selection acting on variation in sex pheromones.

Floyd W. Shockley (Southeastern Branch) is currently in the final year of his Ph.D. program in entomology at the University of Georgia, where he is working on the systematics of the mycophagous beetle family Endomychidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea), under the advisement of Dr. Joseph V. McHugh. Floyd received his B.A. in biology from Westminster College in Fulton, MO and his M.S. in entomology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. During the course of his M.S. and Ph.D. programs, he has won numerous awards for his teaching and research, has been awarded over $11,000 in grant funding to conduct his research, has 25 publications, and has presented his research 30 times at national and international meetings.

 

Dr. Kenneth S. Brown (Southwestern Branch) completed his Ph.D. in entomology, with a dissertation entitled “Biology and Behavior of Oklahoma Subterranean Termites” (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK. His research emphasis was in structural/urban entomology, including development and evaluation of unique control strategies, completion of a state-wide termite survey, species identification using both morphological and molecular techniques, termite foraging characterization involving territory and population estimation, caste ratio determination, foraging depth determination, soil movement capabilities, and determination of termite foraging effects on surface vegetation and carbon sequestration. He has been an active advocate for entomology as a member of the Linnaean team, student affairs committees and numerous outreach programs.

Founded in 1889, ESA is a non-profit organization committed to serving the scientific and professional needs of more than 5,700 entomologists and individuals in related disciplines. ESA's membership includes representatives from educational institutions, government, health agencies, and private industry.

Contact: Richard Levine, ESA Society Relations Officer, phone 301-731-4535, ext. 3009, rlevine@entsoc.org.