Monday, November 6
Women and Allies in Entomology Breakfast
6:45 AM – 8:00 AM
Price: $40 for the first 50 tickets sold, $48 after the discount is exhausted or purchased onsite.
*Complimentary for the first 200 student and early-career professional members who arrive to the breakfast event on Monday morning; sponsorsed by Corteva.
Each year since 1989, a growing group of entomologists (open to all) have met for breakfast to inspire and encourage more people who identify as women to enter and remain in entomology and science. The breakfast environment is designed to mix career stages and bridge disciplinary silos to encourage networking, mentoring, and collegiality among established entomologists and those who are students or beginning their careers. This year, our theme is Creating Networks in Entomology. The breakfast will focus on networking and building connects at the breakfast and the symposium this group has organized. We are also celebrating the eighth anniversary of student and early-career sponsorship at the breakfast by Corteva Agriscience™
D.C. Highlights Tour
12:00 - 4:00 PM
Cost: $82 per person
limited to 35 guests
Are you ready to create monumental memories? The quintessential D.C. experience, this excursion will guide you through some of our nation’s most treasured monuments and memorials. On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, take in the panoramic view of the National Mall, from the Smithsonian Museums to Washington Monument and more. Scale the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to revere the world-famous statue of America’s 16th president. Remember fallen heroes at the World War II, Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Memorials.
Roundtrip transportation from Gaylord National Resort with a private vehicle and dedicated guide, you will learn about the rich history of Washington, D.C. and our nation through its most popular sights.
Tuesday, November 7
Monuments by Moonlight
6:00 – 10:00 PM
Cost: $82 per person
limited to 35 guests
Experience the panoramic views of Washington, DC in a different light as you immerse yourself in illuminated granite and marble imbued with events from the past.
Tonight, you will see signs come to life under the stars. Abraham Lincoln stoically overlooks the National Mall, while the stainless-steel statues at the Korean War Memorial looking hauntingly alive as they appear in motion.
With the sights such as the White House, US Capitol Building, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veteran’s and Korean War Memorials, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, this tour captures every sparkling moment as the moonlight projects on our Nation’s Capital.
Roundtrip transportation from Gaylord National Resort with a private vehicle and dedicated guide, you will learn about the rich history of Washington, D.C. and our nation through its most popular sights.
Wednesday, November 8
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Tour
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Cost: $90 (lunch included)
limited to 15 attendees
Come join the USDA-ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory for a tour of the entomological collections and laboratories in the storied Beltsville Agricultural Research Center! Over the course of the day on November 8th, you will visit research laboratories on both the west and east BARC campuses, view off-site collections of the Smithsonian Institution, and tour the National Agriculture Library. The tour will begin at BARC-west with a visit to the collections, including thrips, whiteflies, aphids, and scales, as well as the world’s larges collection of mites. This will be followed by visits to research laboratories on the west (Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Lab., Microscopy Unit) and east (Bee Research Lab.) campuses. The tour will finish in the National Agriculture Library, with a viewing of the rare items collection and the desk of CV Riley. Lunch and transportation to all sites will be provided.
Behind the Scenes Tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
9:00 AM - 12: 30 PM
This tour is sold out.
12:30 – 4:30 PM
This tour is sold out.
Like many museums, only a tiny fraction of the NMNH holdings are on display at any one time, with the rest housed out of view of the public and primarily used for research by resident researchers, visiting scientists, and for loans to researchers globally. The National Entomology Collections, with 100,000+ type specimens and more than 35 million specimens is the largest and most comprehensive insect collection in the Western Hemisphere. The main museum, situated in downtown DC, holds the majority of the collections and will be the focus of the tour.
These tours, limited to 10 participants each and lasting about an hour, will give visitors the opportunity to learn more about the Department of Entomology and the Museum, as well as the historical partnerships with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense. Each tour will range through the pinned, alcohol, slide and envelope collections housed at the main museum with opportunities for guests to ask questions, see highlights of the collection, and take photos while experiencing the vastness of the research collections.
Tour groups will be bussed to the museum in with two groups transported at a time. So, while one group experiences the Entomology collections, the other will have an opportunity to briefly explore the public exhibits. While waiting to go behind-the-scenes, we encourage you to explore the O. Orkin Insect Zoo and live Butterfly Pavilion on the second floor. The Insect Zoo (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/o-orkin-insect-zoo) is free and can be visited any time the museum is open, while the Butterfly Pavilion is timed & ticketed entry (more info at https://naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/butterfly-pavilion). Transportation to and from the Convention Center will be provided by ESA.
Dr. Floyd Shockley, Collections Manager for the Department of Entomology at NMNH, will be your host for these Behind-the-Scenes tours. The Insect Zoo and Butterfly Pavilion are both self-guided for those interested.
Thursday, November 9
Behind the Scenes Tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
This tour is sold out.Like many museums, only a tiny fraction of the NMNH holdings are on display at any one time, with the rest housed out of view of the public and primarily used for research by resident researchers, visiting scientists, and for loans to researchers globally. The National Entomology Collections, with 100,000+ type specimens and more than 35 million specimens is the largest and most comprehensive insect collection in the Western Hemisphere. The main museum, situated in downtown DC, holds the majority of the collections and will be the focus of the tour.
These tours, limited to 10 participants each and lasting about an hour, will give visitors the opportunity to learn more about the Department of Entomology and the Museum, as well as the historical partnerships with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense. Each tour will range through the pinned, alcohol, slide and envelope collections housed at the main museum with opportunities for guests to ask questions, see highlights of the collection, and take photos while experiencing the vastness of the research collections.
Tour groups will be bussed to the museum in with two groups transported at a time. So, while one group experiences the Entomology collections, the other will have an opportunity to briefly explore the public exhibits. While waiting to go behind-the-scenes, we encourage you to explore the O. Orkin Insect Zoo and live Butterfly Pavilion on the second floor. The Insect Zoo (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/o-orkin-insect-zoo) is free and can be visited any time the museum is open, while the Butterfly Pavilion is timed & ticketed entry (more info at https://naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/butterfly-pavilion). Transportation to and from the Convention Center will be provided by ESA.
Dr. Floyd Shockley, Collections Manager for the Department of Entomology at NMNH, will be your host for these Behind-the-Scenes tours. The Insect Zoo and Butterfly Pavilion are both self-guided for those interested.
CV Riley’s DC History Tour
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Cost: $80 (lunch and book included)
limited to 15 attendees
This tour, limited to 15 lucky participants, will visit the haunts of one of the most influential entomologists in history, Charles Valentine Riley. British-born C.V. Riley found his life’s work in the United States, immigrating to Illinois in 1860. For ten years the self-made Missouri State Entomologist, he then spent the majority of his professional life (1878-1895) in Washington D.C., mostly in the employ of the then-new U.S. Department of Agriculture. Riley is known for his contributions to systematics (establishment of the US National Insect Collection), evolution (correspondent of Darwin and vocal advocate, showing insect-plant coevolution), crop plant resistance (savior of the French vineyards), biological control (major role in establishment of classical introductions), and chemical control technologies. He founded the Entomological Society of Washington and the American Association of Economic Entomologists, one of the two founding societies that merged to form the ESA.
We will visit the US National Insect Collection at the Smithsonian, the sites of Riley’s two residences in the District and his fatal bicycle accident, as well as the National Agricultural Library (NAL) in nearby Beltsville Maryland, which houses his desk, artwork, and life’s papers in its Special Collections. The tour will conclude at the NAL with a catered lunch and each participant will receive a personally inscribed copy of the definitive C.V. Riley biography, published in 2018 by University of Alabama Press.
Don Weber and Matt Buffington, both Research Entomologists with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, will be your hosts for the tour.