Top-Notch Entomologists

Jul 28, 2010
Today was a day of recognition for three University of California entomology professors.

The Entomological Society of America this morning announced the 2010 Fellows. Each year the governing board can elect up to 10 members as Fellows of the 6000-member society.

The highly prestigious honor acknowledges outstanding contributions in one or more of the following: research, teaching, extension, or administration.

This year...drum roll...three UC professors were among the 10 selected: Bruce Hammock and Thomas Scott of UC Davis and Thomas Miller of UC Riverside.

They will be inducted as Fellows at the ESA’s annual meeting, to be held Dec. 12-15 in San Diego.

brucehammockesa
brucehammockesa
Hammock (top photo), a distinguished professor of entomology and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty in 1980 and holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Cancer Research Center.

Hammock and his laboratory are exploiting inhibitors of epoxide hydrolases as drugs to treat diabetes, inflammation, ischemia, and cardiovascular disease. Compounds from the UC Davis laboratory are in human trials.

Diabetes, arthritis and heart patients are closely following his research.

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tomscottesa
Thomas Scott (middle photo) joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology Department in 1996 and directs the UC Davis Mosquito Research Laboratory. A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Scott is a past president of the Society for Vector Ecology and  co-founder of the Center for Vector-Borne Research.

Scott’s research focuses on mosquito ecology, evolution of mosquito-virus interactions, epidemiology of mosquito-borne disease, and evaluation of novel products and strategies for mosquito control and disease prevention.

He's a noted authority on the mosquito-borne disease, dengue.

tommilleresa
tommilleresa
Thomas Miller (lower photo)  received his doctorate in entomology from UC Riverside in 1967. His research has included the structure and function of the insect circulatory system; mode of action of insecticides; insect neuromuscular physiology; physiology, toxicology and behavior of pink bollworm in cotton fields; transgenic insects; and applied symbiosis for crop protection and biopesticides for crop protection.

Current projects include control of bush cricket pests of oil palm trees in Papua New Guinea, oversight of field trials of transgenic grapevines with resistance to Pierce's disease, biotechnology for control of desert locust, and regulatory control of insect transgenic technologies.

These three entomologists have published widely--Hammock alone has 763 peer-reviewed publications.

Indeed, their accomplishments could fill several books.

Read more about Bruce Hammock and Thomas Scott on the UC Davis Department of Entomology website, and about Thomas Miller on the UC Riverside website.


By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Author - Communications specialist

Attached Images:

In KENYA--Professor Thomas Scott of the UC Davis Department of Entomology researches mosquito-borne diseases. Here he's shown in Kenya in 2004 with a group of young children.  The Entomological Society of America (ESA) announced today that Scott is one of the 10 newly elected ESA Fellows. Other UC entomology professors selected: Bruce Hammock of UC Davis and Thomas Miller of UC Riverside.

Thomas Scott in Kenya