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December 19, 2016

Posted by entomology.office | January 27, 2017

Everyone in the Entomology Office wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Just a reminder that the Entomology Office (and all other non-essential WSU offices) will be closed from December 25, 2016 – January 2, 2017.

 White Polo Red Polo

The prices on our Entomology Apparel have been reduced.

See the attachment for available items with the new prices.

 

The United States Postal Service has announced a rate change for first-class and non-profit mail categories effective January 22, 2017. Non-profit mail will be reduced from $.192 to $.184 and first class will increase from $.47 to $.49 per piece for a letter sized item.  Departments are encouraged to consider these new rates when budgeting for projects that will be mailed around January 22, 2017. Any questions regarding these rate changes can be directed to Joy Rich, Mailing Services supervisor at joyr@wsu.edu,  335-2365.

Effective January 1, 2017, sales tax rates for several areas are changing. This may affect many departments of the University who sell items across the State. The rate table can be found  in the A – Z index of the WSU home page under Sales Tax-Charged or https://genreceivables.wsu.edu/sales-tax-based-on-destination/.  If you have any questions regarding Sales Tax changes please contact Karen Breese in General Accounting at 335-2056.

If you are wanting to ship anything on dry ice via FedEx you will need to have them to me at the Food Science Office (room 106) no later than 9:30 AM so that I can do my paperwork, and Hazardous Shipping can pick it up by 10:00 AM to do their paperwork, finish packaging the containers and get them to the pick-up point.  This is in effect until sometime the first week of January 2017.

 

DougAmber V. Walsh visited with his former student Dr. Amber Vinchesi (PhD 2014) in Colusa, CA on December 8. Amber is enjoying her new job with the University of California Cooperative Extension as the Regional Farm Advisor for vegetable crops the Sacramento Valley. Amber is pictured with a can of Bianco Dinapoli organic tomatoes. These tomatoes grown by Amber’s grower cooperators are marketed by Whole Foods and the cans include a bio of the certified organic tomato grower that grew the tomatoes.

 

 

The EGSA desk calendars are here and are available for sale.   The calendar features graduate student and professor’s photographs, in a clean, informative way, and is acceptable for both academic audiences and the broader community. The cost will be $10, and anyone that is interested can contact Abigail Cohen at:  abigail.cohen@wsu.edu. These will make nice gifts for anyone looking for a small present for friends or family, or a nice treat for yourself if you’d like an interesting display of beneficial insects and spiders year-round! Please, let Eli know if you have any questions at (402) 676-0138  or  elias.bloom@wsu.edu.

 

Eli Bloom is asking our help in collecting approximately 200 half-gallon waxed “milk” cartons. Since last year, he’s been using these cartons to make trap-nests for cavity-nesting bees. These nests are sent out with citizen scientists in the Seattle-area, who then install them in their urban gardens. He hopes to use these data for a paper on the efficacy of citizen science to monitor cavity-nesting bees, and having this second year of data should help to accomplish that goal. Attached is an image of the type of carton I’m looking for, and what the eventual nest box looks like. If you would like to help, please, collect these your cartons over the next few weeks. As you likely know, many types of beverages come in these cartons, including milk, orange juice, and eggnog!  If possible I’d like to have the cartons in-hand by January 16th, however, I will continue to need cartons up until the first week in February 2017. Cartons can be dropped by the Crowder Lab, FSHN building, room 360, at your convenience, and no number is too small (every carton makes a difference)! Moreover, if you would prefer that I come pick them up from you, please, write me directly at elias.bloom@wsu.edu.

 

Several hard-to-award scholarships are available for academic year 2017-18If you fit the criteria please apply by filling out the general WSU Scholarship application by January 31 at http://admission.wsu.edu/scholarships/ and also e-mail Britta Nitcy at nitcy@wsu.edu with your name and the scholarship(s) you fit and she’ll watch for your name in the applications.

  • The de Weerd Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Potato Research is for a graduate student who will be studying potatoes in the areas of plant science, plant pathology, economics, or marketing.
  • Lindahl Memorial Scholarship: For those full-time undergraduate and graduate students who will be working in a course of study relating to wheat research/grains.
  • R. C. McCroskey Scholarship: For a graduate student studying some problem connected with agriculture in the Palouse.
  • Rockie Family Scholarship: For students studying appropriate, nutritious and appealing food for hospitals and convalescent/nursing homes.
  • John and Maggie McDougell Scholarship: For a junior or senior studying agriculture who is planning to return to farming as a career.
  • Everett and Helen Kreizinger Scholarship: For graduate students planning to go into agricultural extension education

 

Inclement Weather Reminder:  Winter is here!  Faculty and staff are encouraged to be aware of personnel processes during times of inclement weather and/or periods of suspended operations.  Information is available on the Human Resource Services website providing links to policies, procedures, and resources: http://hrs.wsu.edu/resources/inclement-weather/     Other useful websites include:

Inclement Weather FAQs: http://hrs.wsu.edu/resources/inclement-weather/inclement-weather-faq/

Suspended Operations FAQs: http://hrs.wsu.edu/resources/inclement-weather/suspended-operations-faq/

Campus Alert information (including links for each campus): https://alert.wsu.edu/

Facilities Services winter snow removal information: http://facilitiesservices.wsu.edu/SnowRemoval.aspx

Please contact Human Resource Services at 509-335-4521 or hrs@wsu.edu for additional information or if you have further questions.

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Employment

See attachment for details on these positions.

  1. Research Scientist 2, St. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
  2. Asst. Professor, Vector-Borne Disease Ecologist, Virginia Tech., Blacksburg, VA
  3. Entomologist (Identifier) Customs and Border Protection, Atlanta, GA
  4. Assistant Entomologist, Dept Public Health, Atlanta, GA
  5. Agricultural Operations Specialist, Penn State Univ., Univ. Park, PA
  6. Assistant Professor Insect Toxicology & Physiology, Entomology Dept., Virginia Tech., Blacksburg, VA
  7. Research Assistant Professor in Entomology, Central State Univ., Wilberforce, OH
  8. Asst. Scientist-Lepidoptera, Entomology Dept., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL
  9. Museum Technician (Zoology), Smithsonian Inst., Washington, DC

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Important Dates and Deadlines

Effective January 2017, pesticide handlers and workers must be trained on an annual basis and training records must be kept. This is a big change from previous training intervals. For those who wish a copy of the new rules, you’ll find it here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-11-02/pdf/2015-25970.pdf  and the summary or new rules starts on page 67502.  Please make sure you review your training calendars, recordkeeping and content in order to be in compliance by January 1, 2017. For more info contact Catherine Daniels (cdaniels@wsu.edu)

The call for nominations for the 2017 Experiment Station Section Award for Excellence in Multistate Research is open.  The deadline is January 12 at 5 pm to lavine@wsu.edu. This is the ninth year of the award program and, as in past years, the intent of this award is to publicly recognize the high quality science being conducted through the Hatch Multistate Research Program and the impacts of that science on society.  In addition, it is intended to increase the visibility of the program within the higher education community with a formal presentation at the annual APLU meeting and notification of decision makers in Washington through news releases announcing the award winners. Nominations for the 2017 award will be made through the five regional SAES associations (NCRA, NERA, SAAESD, WAAESD, and ARD).  WSU is a member of the Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (WAAESD).  Any approved multistate project is eligible for the award.  Please submit your nominations to Laura Lavine, lavine@wsu.edu with a one page or less proposal detailing why this multistate project deserves the award by 5 pm on January 12, 2017.  Jim Moyer will review the proposals and submit only one from WSU to WAAESD. Each association will submit one nomination to be considered for the national award.  The regional nominations will be reviewed by the ESCOP Science and Technology Committee.  This Committee will make a recommendation for the national winner to the ESCOP Executive Committee who will make the final selection.  The winning project will receive $15,000 from the Hatch Multistate Research Funds. Do you think the project you are a member of deserves recognition and that will serve as an excellent example of the quality of research performed by the Land Grant system? Please submit a nomination!  The deadline is January 12 at 5 pm to lavine@wsu.edu.

USDA NIFA announces funding for Organic Ag Research, Education & Extension Projects: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced the availability of $17.6 million for research and outreach activities to support the organic agriculture sector. The grants are funded through NIFA’s Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.  “The organic industry is the fastest growing segment of U.S. agriculture, with sales growing by $4.2 billion last year to reach a record $43.3 billion,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “Over the past seven years, USDA has invested nearly $261 million in research to improve the productivity and success of organic agriculture, including seed-breeding. The Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative is one of the many ways USDA is helping this sector meet growing consumer demand.”  OREI funds high-priority research, education and extension projects that enhance the ability of producers and processors who have already adopted organic standards to grow and market high quality organic products. Eligible entities include Land-Grant and other research universities, federal agencies, national laboratories, state agricultural experiment stations, and research foundations and other private researches. Applications are due January 19, 2017.  See attachment for complete announcement.

GPSA Research Expo will be on Friday, March 13, 2017, 8:30 AM -12:00 PM in the Senior Ballroom in the CUB.  Abstracts for Showcase/WSU 2017 are due by 5:00 PM on Monday, January 23.  For more info go to: https://showcase.wsu.edu/gpsa-research-expo/.

Want to recruit excellent scholars to your program for Fall 2017? Consider nominating students for the Graduate School’s Research Assistantships for Diverse Scholars (RADS), which are intended to increase access and opportunities to graduate education for U.S. students from underrepresented/underserved communities and to increase graduate student diversity in our degree programs and Washington State University. Applications for RADS are due Monday, February 9th, 2017 at 5pm.  As an additional incentive, the Campus Visitation Program provides RADS nominees with a unique opportunity to visit WSU and meet with departments and communities on campus. The Campus Visitation Program has served as a powerful recruiting incentive for prospective WSU graduate students. Only students who are nominated for RADS or have been offered funding from the prospective department, will be eligible to participate in the Campus Visitation Program.  The campus visit will take place on the Pullman campus, March 5th– 8th, 2017.  For more information about guidelines and eligibility, and the RADS/ Campus Visitation Program nomination form, please visit our website: https://gradschool.wsu.edu/research-assistantship-for-diverse-scholars/ and feel free to send questions to gs.rads@wsu.edu.