Kelly Kulhanek, Ph.D. student & Nathalie Steinhauer, Postdoc, work with NASA to look at pollinator health from space!  NASA uses satellite data to reveal the environmental factors that affect honeybee populations.  "This large-scale satellite data that NASA developed is really going to enable us to make large-scale correlations about the factors we’re seeing in honeybees and the physical interactions they are having with their landscape." , said  Kulhanek. NASA summarizes the project: 

​Congratulations to UMD graduate student Veronica Johnson who successfully defended her thesis, "Understanding the effects of post-harvest litter management practices on the degradation of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) proteins in genetically modified field corn debris"

The Department of Entomology at the University of Maryland, invites applications for a Post Doctoral Associate in Community Ecology of Forest Arthropods.

The incumbent will work with Dr. Daniel Gruner on several projects with theoretical and applied foci:
(1) Community-level biological control by natural enemies of the emerald ash borer in mid-Atlantic states, and
(2) Spatio-temporal drivers of arthropod diversity on a chronosequence of forested sites in the Hawaiian Islands.

​The interdisciplinary nature of this research will provide opportunities for the postdoc to work with collaborators from the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the US Forest Service, and the University of California-Berkeley, among others.

Click here for the complete Job Announcement. 

​Congratulations to Brian Lovett (ENTM PhD student, St. Leger Lab) for winning a student presentation award at the European Congress of Entomology in Naples, Italy. Brian’s award-winning talk: Transgenic fungi prevent mosquitoes from transmitting malaria parasites. 

Congratulations to Maile C. Neel, whose paper, “Predictability of demographic rates based on phylogeny and biological similarity” was recently published in Conservation Biology.

​This study examines the efficacy of using data from biologically similar or closely related species to inform conservation status assessments.
​
Check out the full article at ​https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13135

​We are excited to announce the launch of UMD Entomology's latest website- Insect Drawings! Most illustrations are by Dr. Francis Eugene (Gene) Wood and Dr. John A. Davidson. Additional images were contributed by Dr. Michael J. Raupp, colleagues Elaine R. Hodges and Arthur D. Cushman (SEL, ARS, USDA), and by students Amy K. Bartlett, Manya B. Stoetzel, and Warren E. Steiner, Jr.

Visit http://insectdrawings.umd.edu/ to start viewing these amazing drawings.
​

​Entomology faculty member Dennis vanEngelsdorp has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure effective August 2018!
 
Since joining the UMD Department of Entomology in 2014, Dr. vanEngelsdorp has developed a nationally and internationally recognized research program focusing broadly on pollinator health. His epidemiological approach includes both broad-based field assessments and laboratory investigations of mechanisms underlying declines in pollinator health. Dennis has received numerous competitive research grants from USDA-NIFA, among other agencies to fund this important work.
 
His extension program - also nationally and internationally recognized - has at its heart the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP), which allows beekeepers and other stakeholders to interact with millions of data points related to honey bee health, making it the largest such database in the world. Dr. vanEngelsdorp’s research and extension work has resulted in dozens of publications in research and extension journals, and it has brought the state of honey bee health to the public through radio, TV, and print media.
 
In addition to research and extension, Dennis has made significant contributions to teaching through his “Insects” and highly popular “Introductory Beekeeping” courses, and through advising numerous undergraduate research, graduate students, and postdoctoral associates.
 
In recognition of these and many other achievements, Dr. vanEngelsdorp received the 2017 CMNS Board of Visitors Junior Faculty Award, which you can read more about here.
 
Congratulations on reaching this important, well-deserved milestone!
 
Learn more about the vanEngelsdorp Lab’s work here.   

Congratulations to ENSP student Max O'Grady and BSCI students Megan Wickless and Lily Durkee who successfully presented their entomology honors theses.

Max O'Grady, "Factors that Influence Wax Production in Honey Bees",  van Englesdorp/Hamby Labs

Lily Durkee, "Does goose exclusion impact the benthic macroinvertebrate community of a restored freshwater marsh?",  Gruner Lab

Meg Wickless, "Time and Dosage Effects of Fluvalinate on Apis mellifera Olfactory Associative Learning",  van Englesdorp/Hamby Labs​

Congratulations to UMD Biological Sciences student Chloe Garfinkel who successfully defended her entomology honors thesis, "Habitat influence on food resources available for male Calopteryx maculata reproductive potential." Her research looks into the effects of habitat on adult damselfly size and nutritional content. It has been great having Chloe in Entomology's Lamp Lab these last few years. We wish her all the best in future endeavors!

Dr. Marcia Shofner and BSCI students welcomed 55 sixth graders from Carole Highlands Elementary School (CHES) to Principles of Biology II lecture on Tuesday, April 17, 2018.

The elementary school students visited the UMD campus to experience college life. CHES school counselor, Ms. Thomas puts a strong emphasis on what she calls “Kids to College.” 99% of CHES students who participated in the biology lecture would be 1st generation college attendees.  Dr. Shofner says “and that is what we wish to happen by making their visit fun and motivating.” BSCI student mentors greeted CHES students personally, sat with them during the college lecture, worked alongside them to complete activities based on lecture, and answered the youth's questions about STEM and college.

Dr. Shofner has been hosting CHES students since 2013. Shofner says, “I’m proud of how excited our UMD students are about being a positive influence to these kids!”

Congratulations to Joshua Kiner for receiving the Dean’s Outstanding Employee Award for his outstanding dedication and service to the college!

Josh is truly an outstanding Coordinator in all respects. He is nominated for his exemplary leadership, positive attitude, innovation, organization and rapport inside and outside of the department. Josh has consistently gone above and beyond expectations. In addition to his routine responsibilities, which he tackles with his tireless work ethic and creativity, he enthusiastically takes over additional responsibilities as they become available. 
​
Nominators mention “Josh has recenlty taken on responsibilities associated with the new KUALI Research System, and works closely with faculty and our business office to ensure timely, complete, and accurate submissions of grant proposals.” and "Josh  is a model of efficiency and has streamlined the flow of information into and out of our front office in a way that I have not experienced..." 

Congratulations to Dr. Tammatha O'Brien for receiving the 2018 Provost's Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty for her outstanding contributions and accomplishments in teaching!

Dr. O'Brien received this prestigious award for her "exemplary teaching performance, including course diversity and format, and how [she has] integrated basic and biological concepts with late-breaking research, real-life concerns, and perspectives from the humanities."

Dr. O'Brien, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Entomology, is also the director of the fully-online Applied Entomology Professional Masters and Graduate Certificate Program. You can learn more about this program here: Graduate Programs in Applied Entomology. 

Check out our Spring 2018 ​Entomology Department newsletter to see what we've been up to! Content includes news on publications, awards, defenses and much more. 

​Is there something you'd like to see in the Summer 2018 edition? Let us know by sending an e-mail to umdentomology@umd.edu. 

​Enjoy!

Mark your calendars for Samuel Ramsey's lecture, "What's Eating the Bees?" taking place April 25th at the MilkBoy ArtHouse. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. Ramsey's talk is part of the new CMNS lecture series, Science on Tap. RSVP at go.umd.edu/scienceontap3. Space is limited. 

​ABOUT THE TALK
There's a parasite on our honey bees—and researchers agree that it tops the list of stress factors for honey bee health. The parasite, called Varroa destructor, is similar in proportion to humans having a tick the size of their hand. This creature exists, to some extent, in virtually every honey bee colony. Scientists believed for more than half a century that the mite consumes small amounts of bee blood. Now, they know that the mite liquifies a bee's liver and sucks part of the liver out of the bee's body. Knowing how the mite feeds, researchers can develop more effective treatment methods and find ways to remediate the negative health effects associated with parasitic feeding.

Questions? Contact Abby Robinson at abbyr@umd.edu or 301-405-5845.

The Entomological Society of America Eastern Branch has awarded Dr. Paula Shrewsbury the top nomination for the Distinguished Achievement Award in Extension for outstanding contributions in the areas of entomology teaching and extension. This nomination was recognized at the Eastern Branch Meeting. Nominees are considered for the Society–level awards given at the Entomological Society of America’s Annual Meeting.  Congratulations to Dr. Paula Shrewsbury for being nominated!

​During her fellowship year, Gussie will be researching insect herbivory on fossil leaves from the Late Cretaceous (~75 million years ago) in North America. She will be using a paleobotanical collection from New Mexico to study the diversity and intensity of insect herbivory at the National Museum of Natural History. Gussie will also conduct fieldwork in Coahuila, Mexico to collect a new fossil flora and study its insect damage. These two projects will tie into her overall dissertation on the biogeography of plant-insect associations during the Late Cretaceous of western North America. 

Dr. Galen Dively and Dr. Dilip Venugopal, UMD Research Associate, look at 40 years of data to determine effectiveness of Bt corn as a pest management strategy. This study is the first to quantify benefits of Bt corn adoption across multiple offsite crops. Benefits include 90 percent suppression of pests, limited spraying and crop damage reduction.

"This is the first paper published showing offsite benefits to other host plants for a pest like the corn borer, which is a significant pest for many other crops like green beans and peppers," says Dively. "We are seeing really more than 90 percent suppression of the European corn borer population in our area for these crops, which is incredible."

Read the full release on the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources' news page.