NEWSLETTER
09/15/95 Entomology and Nematology News - Vol. 1, No. 1
A University of Florida Publication

AWARDS

Erik Hewlett (Tom Hewlett's son) won first place in the Student Competition in the 1995 International Science Fair in Ontario, Canada. His work was: Tannic Acids: Mode of Action in the control of Root-knot Nematodes. Erik is a senior at Buchholz High School in Gainesville. He conducted his work in Dr. Dickson's lab.

Jane Medley, our department's extension art/publication production specialist, received a scholarship from the UF Overseas Teaching office to study in England this past summer. Jane took courses in literature and history for one month at the University of Bath.

Shannon A. Gibbs, senior in the department of Entomology and Nematology received the Rhone-Poulenc Citrus Scholarship for the 1995-1996 year.

The 34th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nematologists was held on August 4-9, 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Congratulations to Georgina Sydenham, who received 2nd place in the Student Paper Competition. The title of her presentation was: Effects of Temperature and Resistance in Phaseolus vulgaris on Development of Meloidogyne arenaria race 1.

The 28th Annual Meeting of the Society of Invertebrate Pathology was held on July 16-21, 1995 in Ithaca, New York. Congratulations to the following UF students for their awards in the Student Competition: Bettina Moser - Honorary Mention on the Student Oral Presentation, Rejane Moraes - Honorary Mention on the Poster Presentation, and Peggy Johnson - First Place in the Poster Presentation.

The Third International Caribbean Conference of the Florida Entomological Society was held August 6-10, 1995 at the Cariari Hotel and Country Club in San Jose, Costa Rica. Every year the Florida Entomological Society hosts a student paper competition in which students are judged on the originality of their research and presentation ability. Congratulations to the following UF students for their success in the Student Paper Competition. Third Place - Eliane Quintela: Effect of imidacloprid on conidia germination, growth, sporulation and virulence of Metarhizium anisophae. Second Place - Kevina Vulinec: Dung beetles and deforestation on the Osa peninsula in Costa Rica. First Place - Dini Miller: Trail following behavior in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica. Also to be congratulated are the winners of the 1995 FES scholarships: Robin Goodson and Dini Miller.

Dr. Jim Lloyd received the 1995 Achievement Award for Teaching from the Florida Entomological Society for accomplishments as an educator in the areas of insect behavior and ecology.

PRESENTATIONS

Thomas R. Fasulo attended the XIII International Plant Protection Congress in The Hague, The Netherlands, 2-7 July, and presented an invited paper. His assigned topic was, "Targeting Your Software to Your Audience". Fasulo develops computerized knowledgebases and computer-verified training tutorials for the urban pest, turfgrass and ornamental, and vegetable industries that are distributed internationally.

FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS NEWS

Congratulations to Myrna Litchfield. Myrna was promoted to office assistant to work directly with department chair Dr. Capinera and to manage the administrative office. Her always helpful presence in the office of the graduate student coordinator will be missed by all the graduate students.

Drs. Don Dickson, Renato Inserra, and Jim Rich will attend the meeting of the planning committee for the 3rd International Congress of Nematologists in Guadeloupe the first week of October.

Marjorie Hoy returned on August 14th from a trip to Thailand and Taiwan to collect parasites of the citrus leafminer as part of a classical biological control project. While there, she visited the Department of Agriculture in Bangkok and collected parasites from pummelo groves near Chai Nat and Pichit. In Taiwan, she visited the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute and several TARI field experiment stations to collect parasites. She met two former UF graduate students -- C. C. Ho and T. Shih. Both Gators extended warm hospitality!

Drs. Robert McSorley and Don Dickson received recognition from the Society of Nematologists for services as former editors of Annals of Applied Nematology

Congratulations to Elke and Michael Weibelzhal-Fulton for their baby daughter Ira Adina born in Germany on July 13.

ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES

Dr. Regina Carnerio Gomez, Pelotas, Brazil has joined the nematology faculty as a visiting scientist for 6-12 months. She pans to study the development stages of Pasturia in root-knot nematodes. Dr. Carnerio is employed by EMBRAPA.

Dr. Owain Edwards has taken a new postdoctoral position with the USDA-ARS Beneficial Insects Res. Lab., 501 S. Chapel St., Newark, DE 19713.

Congratulations to Dr. Senyu Chen. Senyu joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota at the Waseca Experiment Station as an assistant professor. Senyu began his new job July 15. He will do research on biological control and resistance in soybean to the soybean cyst nematode.

CITY BEAUTIFICATION AWARD

The department received another award from the City of Gainesville Beautification Committee. Last year the department received a 2nd Place Award for the butterfly garden it planted in the atrium at the entrance of the building. This year, members of the department received a 1st Place Award for a redesigned courtyard. The courtyard includes another butterfly garden built and financed by the Entomology and Nematology Student Organization as a memorial for a Ph.D. student, Scott Yocom, who died from cancer days after receiving his degree. Graduate students from the University of Georgia traveled to Gainesville to assist in this project. Another major feature of the courtyard is a 17' x 25' pond designed and built by the Environmental Horticulture Club. The department is continuing to work with IFAS Facilities Operations and ornamental extension specialists to beautify its landscape while reducing maintenance. No state funds were used for the materials in either project.

COMPUTER COURSE

From Steve Lasley, Computer Support Services. If you would be interested in participating in computer workshops for departmental computer users, please let me know. I am considering holding informal hour-long workshops, once or twice a week. The topics covered and the meeting times would be up to you. One possibility is to use the time to view and discuss video training tapes covering some of the applications used in the lab. Let me know your interests and your ideas. You can see me in room 1013, email me at selasley@ifas.ufl.edu or leave me a note in my mailbox in room 1017. I will report back in a future newsletter with any arrangements which are made.

BUGGY SOFTWARE

The University of Florida's MCricket Knowledgebase, a computerized, hypertext database and tutorial on all 10 species of mole crickets in North America, is now available on the World Wide Web to users with browsers. Cost is $20. The PC-version was converted to a HTML-version, complete with all graphics, color photographs, ID keys, and tutorials on chemical and biological methods of control. The URL address for the HTML version of MCricket is http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/molecrickets/.

The USDA Whitefly Knowledgebase, developed at UF with the cooperation of many of the top whitefly experts in the country, is now available in an HTML version at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/fasulo/whiteflies

NEW GRADUATE STUDENTS

The Department welcomes the following new graduate students:

AKERS, Aliska (Peters/Koehler) BURKETT, Douglas (Kline) BYRD, Jason (Habeck) COOKSEY, John (Koehler) COULLIETTE, Julieta (Baranowski) GUY, Deborah (Strayer) KRUTOV, Vadim (Emmel) LEAHY, Robert (Dunn) MATVEEV, Dimitry (Emmel) MOREHOUSE, Jon (Koehler) SHERWOOD, Van (Butler) SMITH, Hugh (Funderburk) TOAPANTA, Marco (Lawrence) YAN, Xin-Hua (Annie) (Borovsky) YILDIRM, Ahmet (Smart)

T-SHIRTS

Our great looking Department of Entomology and Nematology T-Shirts are on sale. This is a great way to advertise your department and support your student organization (ENSO).

FUND RAISER

ENSO is currently working on a display insect collection for Sears Pest Control. ENSO has eight drawers to fill with insects found in Florida including certain exotic species. If you have any beautifully pinned (display quality) specimens that you would like to donate please call Dini Miller or Clay Scherer. No labels are required but ENSO does request that specimens are accompanied by their common and scientific names.

GRADUATE STUDENT HOME PAGE

Let your prospective employers get to know you before graduation by putting your CV on the net. ENSO is currently working on putting together a graduate student section of the Department of Entomology and Nematology Home Page. All you have to do is produce your CV in a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect file and save it on a 3.5" floppy disk. We ask that all grads put their CV in ESA Kirby L. Hays Award format for continuity (it's very simple).


The next newsletter will be published Monday, October 16. Deadline for contributions is Wednesday, October 11.

Editor: Enrique Perez

This version of the newsletter is published for the Web by Tim McCoy.


September 1995. Updated March 2003