A Celebration of ESA Award Winners

Tuesday, Nov. 2 will be a special day of celebration at the annual Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting, being held in the Colorado Convention Center, Denver.  

Tuesday is when ESA will honor scores of award winners at its Founders' Memorial Lecture breakfast meeting. The theme of the Oct. 31-Nov. 3 meeting focuses on "Adapt. Advance. Transform."

The special recognitions will take place prior to the Founders' Memorial Lecture, an honor awarded to Vernard Lewis, emeritus Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley. He will discuss the life of Margaret Collins (1922-1996) a legendary Black entomologist and civil rights advocate whose five-decade career earned her the nickname "Termite Lady," for her foundational contributions to scientific understanding of termite desiccation resistance, according to the ESA program. Collins will be "the fourth woman and second Black entomologist to be the subject of the Founders' Memorial lecture in the award's 64-year history," according to an ESA news release. Collins' "pioneering studies on the mechanism and evolution of termite desiccation resistance across various habitats provided foundational knowledge for generations of entomologists, field biologists, and ecologists," said Lewis, who wrote about her in a piece published June 1, 2016 in BioOne journal. (See Bug Squad blog)

A tip of the insect net to our UC Davis-affiliated award winners who will be honored Tuesday:

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  Frank Zalom
  Honorary Member: Distinguished professor and entomological giant Frank Zalom, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will receive the prestigious Honorary Member award, the highest ESA honor. A past president of ESA (2014) and a 47-year ESA member, he directed the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Program for 16 years, from 1986 to 2002. He is currently the Journal of Economic Entomology editor-in-chief, a position held since 2018. Zalom  is the fifth UC Davis scientist to be selected ESA Honorary Member. W. Harry Lange (1912-2004) received the award in 1990; Donald MacLean (1928-2014), the 1984 ESA president, won the award in 1993; Bruce Eldridge in 1996, and John Edman in 2001. “Honorary membership acknowledges those who have served ESA for at least 20 years through significant involvement in the affairs of the society that has reached an extraordinary level,” an ESA spokesperson said. “Candidates for this honor are selected by the ESA Governing Board and then voted on by the ESA membership." (See more on Bug Squad blog)
  
  
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  Kelli Hoover
  Fellow Award: UC Davis alumnus Kelli Hoover, a professor in the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), is internationally recognized for her research on invasive species biology and ecology, especially for the discovery of mechanisms underlying multitrophic interactions between host plants, insects, and insect pathogens or symbionts, ESA announced. She is a member of the Centers for Chemical Ecology and Pollinator Research as well as the Insect Biodiversity Center. Hoover received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1997. Fellows of ESA are individuals who have made outstanding contributions to entomology— via research, teaching, extension, administration, military service, and public engagement and science policy —and whose career accomplishments serve to inspire all entomologists, according to the ESA. (See more on Bug Squad blog.)
  
  
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  Thomas Sparks
  Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology: UC Davis affiliate Thomas C. Sparks, a retired research fellow at Corteva Agriscience, was the first graduate student of then UC Riverside faculty member Bruce Hammock, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1980. Hammock is now a distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. Sparks holds a doctorate in entomology (1978) from UC Riverside, focusing on insect physiology and toxicology.  He is the first scientist from the crop protection industry to receive the Nan-Yao Su Award and the second Hammock lab alumnus to do so.ESA selected Bryony Bonning, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Hammock lab and now a professor at Iowa State University, for the award in 2013. Walter Leal, former chair of the entomology department and now a UC Davis distinguished professor with the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, won the award  in 2011.(See more on Bug Squad blog)

Another UC Davis-affiliated honor, presented separately, is The Editors' Choice Award from the Journal of Economic Entomology. It will be presented to four authors of the paper, Drones: Innovative Technology for Use in Precision Pest Management. They include UC Davis entomologist Elvira deLange, who assembled the project team. The paper is the work of first author Fernando lost Filho, a doctoral student in entomology at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and a former UC Davis exchange student; remote sensing expert Wieke Heldens of the German Aerospace Center, Wessling, Germany;  engineer and drone communication expert Zhaodan Kong, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and deLange, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Christian Nansen laboratory at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and now of The Netherlands. (See more on Bug Squad blog.)

In other news, 12 UC Davis entomology graduate students presented either a speech or a poster in student competitions today (Monday). Winners will be announced soon. A shout-out to the students: Jill Oberski, Zachary Griebenow, Lacie Newton. Lindsey Mack, Danielle Rutkowski, Maureen Page, Xavier Zahnle, Erin Taylor. Kelly, Jasmin Ramirez Bonila, Madison Hendrick, Mia Lippey and Gabe Foote (See news story--and read their abstracts--at https://bit.ly/3CAOh22.)

The 7000-member ESA, founded in 1889, is the world's largest organization serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and those in related disciplines. Its members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, pest management professionals, and hobbyists. They represent educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government.