CAHNRS News, Feburary 2016
Awards and Grants
Entomology’s Zinna wins top award for exploring genetics of beetle horns
Entomology graduate student Robert Zinna won the prestigious Aubrey Gorbman Award for best student presentation at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology‘s 2016 annual meeting in Portland, Ore.
Zinna’s research looks at how the growth of beetle horns is influenced by nutrition. For his presentation in the Division of Comparative Endocrinology, he explored how endocrine genes respond to different levels of nutrition, contributing to horn growth.
Society vice-chair role for Entomology’s Whitener
Alix Whitener, doctoral student with the Department of Entomology, was elected Vice Chair of the Student Affairs Committee for the Entomological Society of America.
“This opportunity is expanding my thesis, progressing my professional development, and teaching me about a facet of entomology I might not have had such deep exposure to, otherwise,” says Whitener. “I’m looking forward to representing WSU and helping provide students with opportunities.”
Awards help entomologists study insect controls, relationships
Five members of the Department of Entomology recently picked up nearly $90,000 in awards and grants.
Professor and entomologist Elizabeth Beers received a $10,000 award from Nichino AM and $4,000 from Syngenta for tree-fruit insect controls.
Entomologists David Crowder and Paul Chisholm received a $65,509 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture/Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Fellowship to look at relationships between bugs, plant pathogens and nitrogen fixation in legume crops.
Professor John Stark and research associate Tanyalee Erwin received $6,500 from HERRERA for a low-impact development code update. Stark, who is director of the Washington Stormwater Center, also received a $2,000 grant from the Washington Department of Ecology to study toxicity of alternative bumper materials.