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September 21, 2015

Posted by entomology.office | September 25, 2015

ENTOMOLOGY NEWS SEPTEMBER 21-25, 2015

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Congratulations to Alix Whitener who is the recipient of the ESA Larry Larson Graduate Student Award for Leadership in Applied Entomology.  Click the link below to see the announcement of all the ESA awards for this year:  http://www.entsoc.org/press-releases/esa-names-winners-2015-awards.  See the attachment for more info.

Congratulations to Lizz D’Auria who won the $200 Entomology Grad Survey Raffle held this past summer.

Congratulations to recent Entomology Department grant awardees:

  • Carol Black is the recipient of a $137,095 grant from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe (8/25/2015)
  • Jay Brunner is the recipient of a $179,713 grant for the USDA/FAS/TASC (8/28/2015)
  • Brandon Hopkins is the recipient of a $12,000 grant from USDA/APHIS (9/1/2015)
  • John Stark is the recipient of a $52,070 grant from WA DOH/EPA (8/31/2015)
  • Doug Walsh is the recipient of a $5,000 grant from DOW (9/8/2015)

 

Rich Zack was selected to serve on the WSU Presidential Search Committee. 

 

Important Entomology Travel Awards Application Deadline.  October 1 is the deadline for this fall’s endowment-funded travel award applications.  There are four travel awards, each tied to one of our endowments where the donor asked that their money be used to support student travel. Generally, the student that wins each award receives the entire yield of that endowment, which typically ranges from $200-600 depending on market conditions and the size of the original donation. The goal is to highlight the generous gifts made by each donor by tying each award to a specific endowment. Two endowments, Hastings and Telford, fund travel for “Early Career” students. This would include exceptional undergraduates, MS students, or students on a “straight to PhD” track that are early in their training. Two endowments, Getzin and Tamaki, fund travel for “Later Career” students. The faculty review committee will judge whether students qualify as early or later career, based on each year’s applicant pool. So, students don’t have to specify which type of award they are applying for.

Travel scholarship applications must have the below three components:

1)      A 500 word (or less) essay from the student concisely explaining why they deserve the award. For Travel Award consideration, you might describe the significance of your presentation (is it an invited talk? is this a major national meeting? have you recently submitted or published particularly significant findings?).  Are there specific plans to build ties with possible postdoc advisors or other collaborators, etc.?  Travel awards can also be used to meet with collaborators outside of a national meeting; the need for this form of travel award funding should be justified.  For Research Award consideration, In the case of the Deck research fellowship, the student should describe specifically what component the funds will add to their research program. In the case of the Hargarth “Paper of the Year” award, the student should provide a narrative of why the work is an important contribution to the literature.

2)      The student’s updated CV.

3)      A 250 word (or less) memo from the major advisor describing why they feel their student is deserving of the award.

Your applications must be emailed to Adam (adam.williams@wsu.edu) before the October 1 deadline.

The Student Awards Committee, Vince H, Rich, and Paul

 

The BGSA is hosting a free, open-house, science education event in Abelson Hall on the WSU campus on Saturday, September 26th from 10 AM to 1 PM. We’ll be providing tours of the Conner Museum and the Botanical Greenhouse as well as showcasing kid-friendly activities in microscopy, plant anatomy, animal behavior, microbial life, games, crafts, and more! The event has a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/events/1110335258994169/).   Please contact Sarah Wanamaker (sarah.wanamaker@wsu.edu) with any questions.

Our next Entomology Department Colloquium will be on Wednesday Sept. 30. The presenter will be Dr. Seemay Chou, Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbiology with the Mougous Lab at the University of Washington.  The topic of her presentation is: Insect Physiology and Adaptation.   For more info about Dr. Chou go to:  http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Seemay_Chou, https://www.linkedin.com/pub/seemay-chou/12/a8/4b3. Colloquium presentations are each Wednesday at noon in FSHN 354 and the AMS dial # is 5709215.

The Entomological Society of America has put forward their request for student volunteers for the ESA national meeting in Minneapolis in November.  If a student volunteers for 6 hours they get $195 off their registration fee for the meeting. Info on how to volunteer can be viewed at http://www.entsoc.org/entomology2015/volunteer.  This program fills up quickly, so if students are interested they need to volunteer ASAP.

Students: Be sure to check out the WSU Grad School Scholarship page for a list of scholarships.  Most have a submittal date of Dec 15, 2015.  The link is:  http://gradschool.wsu.edu/Scholarships-2016/#Richard

Everyone is invited to the 16th Annual BioResearch Product Faire coming to Washington State University,

On Wednesday, October 14th, 2015 at 10:00 am   2:30 pm at the Compton Union, 2nd Floor Jr. Ballroom. They give away lots of free stuff (included is a lunch buffet).

Nominate faculty for Provost’s Leadership Academy:  The nomination period is now open for this year’s edition of the Provosts’ Leadership Academy (PLA). The PLA is an opportunity for Deans and Chancellors to recognize early and mid-career faculty who show promise as leaders and positive role models in their colleges or campuses. The PLA provides these faculty with a semester long training program that develops self-awareness, confidence and leadership skills, expands their networks within the University, brings them in touch with University leaders and builds knowledge of the University and its challenges.  Ninety of our faculty have participated in the first four cohorts of the PLA, and the reviews of the program have been very positive. For more information on the program, visit the website.  Please email nominations, or questions about the program, to Jerman Rose at rosej@wsu.edu by Friday, October 16. Thank you for your support of this important professional development program.

Call for Proposals for CAHNRS Undergraduate Internships for Spring and Summer 2016:   CAHNRS Academic Programs, the Agricultural Research Center, and Extension have pooled funding resources to create opportunities for CAHNRS undergraduate students to have an immersion-based teaching, research or extension internship experience with CAHNRS faculty located at the Pullman, Spokane, Vancouver, or Tri-Cities campus, at a Research and Extension (R&E) Center, or in a County Extension Office during the spring or summer of 2016. The goal of this program is to support students in gaining research or extension experience by having access to, and guidance from, a CAHNRS faculty mentor. This is an outstanding opportunity for students from communities in close proximity to one of the branch campuses, an R&E Center, or a WSU Extension office to become involved in research or extension activities, especially while living at home during the summer. Internships can also be executed on the Pullman, Spokane, Vancouver, or Tri-Cities campus during the semester. The college will provide up to $2500 in the spring or summer to each selected faculty mentor in partial support of these internship experiences. Summer interns will also receive additional funding for internship credits: $500 per credit, up to 3 credits, with CAHNRS reimbursing the student through their my.WSU tuition account. Faculty desiring to mentor interns are required to submit a compelling internship title and experience description that includes overall project objectives that the internship will be associated with as well as specific contributions to be made by the intern and the skills and experiences/proficiencies to be acquired by the intern.  How should the proposal be formatted? This semester, to ensure consistency, please complete the attached CAHNRS Internship Proposal Application, for examples please see the CAHNRS Internship Faculty Proposals page.  See the attachments for complete details and the proposal application.    

Call for 3rd Quarter 2015 Lobbying Activity Report:  Quarterly lobbying reports must be filed online by October 9, 2015, covering WSU employee activities between July 1, 2015, and September 30, 2015. For your convenience, you can report your lobbying activities through an online submission form found at governmentrelations.wsu.edu/Lobbying.html. The reports will be reviewed and forwarded to the state Public Disclosure Commission and proper federal agencies. Note that you do not need to file a ‘no activity’ report online if you did not lobby this quarter. Not every meeting, event, and interaction you have with elected officials is considered lobbying. Visit our lobbying page for points of clarification on what you should and should not necessarily report. In the future, to help you facilitate interaction with elected officials, it is best that WSU employees consult with Government Relations staff in advance of any lobbying activity to ensure that we send a coordinated message from our institution. Meetings of this nature can be multi-layered and touch many parts of the WSU community; therefore communicating with Government Relations can provide for a more organized legislative outcome. Additionally, Annie and Michele on our Government Relations staff are available to help you determine appropriate and legal ways to communicate with public officials and external stakeholders on political issues: Federal Relations  Michele McCarver: 509-335-5756;  State Relations  Annie Manning: 360-534-2332.  Thank you for taking the time to ensure that we give an accurate report of time and money spent on lobbying.   Colleen Kerr, VP for External Affairs and Government Relations

 

 

EMPLOYMENT:  See attachment for details on these positions.

  1. Assistant Professor, Insect Pollination & Apiculture, Auburn Univ. Auburn AL.
  2. Assistant Professor of Biology (Entomology), Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA
  3. Assistant Professor (Parasitologist) Georgia Southern Univ., Statesboro, GA
  4. Field Crop Entomologist/Assistant Prof, Plant Sci, South Dakota Univ., Brookings, SD
  5. Assistant Professor:  Fruit Arthropod Pest Mgt, Entomology Dept., Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA
  6. Research Ecologist/Forester, USDA Forest Service., Davis, CA
  7. Research Entomologist/Geneticist, USDA/ARS, Newark, DE

 

IMPORTANT DATES TO KNOW:

2016 International Congress of Entomology, Sept. 25-30, 2016, Orlando, FL.  Website: http://ice2016orlando.org/

Registration is now open for the Fall Pullman Graduate Grant Writing Workshop on Saturday, October 3rd from 9:00-5:00PM. Registration fees are due by September 25th before 3:00PM. Anybody interested in applying to one of the New Graduate Student Prestigious Fellowships should sign up for the New Graduate Student Prestigious Fellowship Workshop on Saturday, September 12th from 9:00-1:00PM. Contact Hannah.merley@wsu.edu with any questions.

Alix Whitener’s PhD Preliminary Exam is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13th at 9:00 AM in FSHN 164 (Entomology Conference Room).  The AMS dial # is:  5701602.

The Entomological Society of Washington (D.C.) student competition is for papers through the period of July 2015 through July 2016.  The recipient of the award will be notified by Sept. 30, 2016 by Committee Chair Robert Kula (Robert.Kula@ars.usda.gov).  For more info on the Entomological Society of Washington (D.C.) go to:  http://entsocwash.org/.