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September 14, 2015

Posted by entomology.office | September 18, 2015

ENTOMOLOGY NEWS SEPTEMBER 14-18, 2015

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

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.

Our next Entomology Department Colloquium will be on Wednesday Sept. 23. The presenter will be Dr. Anthony Zera, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska.  The title of his presentation is: Functional Genomics of Dispersal Polymorphism in a Wing Dimorphic Cricket:  Morph-Specific Circadian and Non-Circadian Patterns of Gene Expression.  For more info about Dr. Zera, go to: http://biosci.unl.edu/anthony-zera.  Seminars are each Wednesday at noon in FSHN 354 and the AMS dial # is 5709215.

We are doing something new this semester by having a monthly (no host) Lunch and Learn.  The first one will be at noon on Friday, Sept 25 in rm. 354.  Mike Mizoguchi, from AMS will be coming to giving us an overview of our newly updated AMS system.  He will teach us how to get the most of our system so we can use it more effectively and with fewer problems.  All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend.  Future sessions will feature presenters from the WSU Library system and OGRD.  Let Dory know if there is there something you would like to learn about and we’ll find a resource person to come and present to us.

The Entomological Society of America has put forward the request for student volunteers for the ESA national meeting in Minneapolis in November.  If a student volunteers for 6 hrs 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 now.

Last Date of Attendance required for ‘F’ Grades, effective Fall 2015:  At the Faculty Senate meeting on April 16, 2015, the senate approved a new grade type which is required to support the federal reporting needs for financial aid and for Veterans benefits. This new grade type – the Z grade – is to be used only for students who discontinue their participation in a course. The Z grade allows instructors to enter a last date of attendance. Student Financial Services and Veterans Affairs will then use this information to comply with federal regulations. The approved addition to Rule 90 is as follows: 90l. Z. (Failure due to discontinued attendance without withdrawal.) The Z grade is an internal grade indicating that a student earned a failing grade and discontinued all participation in a course without formally withdrawing from the course. It appears and functions as an F rather than as a Z on the transcript. An instructor entering a Z grade must enter the last date of attendance for each Z grade submitted. If the last day of attendance is not available, the date of the last exam or assignment recorded must be submitted instead. Note that the Z grade will appear and function as an F on the transcript. Note, too, that the Z grade will only be required for Final Grades. See the attached screen shots of how the Z grade will appear to an instructor in the Final Grade Roster and the complete rationale presented to the Faculty Senate.

Funding Opportunity: 

The Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR) Biologically-Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming (BIOAg) program is soliciting grant proposals.  Please view the whole RFP HERE <http://csanr.wsu.edu/csanr-grants/bioag-grant-program/>. Proposals are being accepted for project grants, outreach/extension curriculum grants, and planning grants.  Applications will be accepted by electronic submission. The goal of this proposal solicitation is to engage a broad, interdisciplinary spectrum of WSU faculty in projects that further the development, understanding, and use of biologically intensive and/or organic principles, practices, and technologies to improve the sustainability of agriculture and food systems in Washington State.  In addition, BIOAg funding is used to meet three objectives: to stimulate new research initiatives, to augment critical gaps in existing areas of knowledge, and to move existing, game-changing research out into the real world. Please view the RFP for deadlines, additional information, instructions and application forms.

The new WSU CAHNRS Plant Phenomics Center is now available to CAHNRS researchers.  The new facility is for high-throughput phenotyping and characterization of plants. They can assist in the data analysis and interpretation to help you understand the large amount of data these methods can generate.  For more information and to schedule an experiment using the instrumentation of the Phenomics Center contact Magnus Wood at by email or phone (335-4888). See attached flyer.

Former Students:

WSU Entomology MS graduate Judy Wu (MS 2010) recently completed her PhD program at the Univ. of Minnesota at the and is on to her job as the new pollinator health assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that she will  start Oct 1.

Matthew Smart (MS 2010) (and husband of Judy Wu) was featured in a Minnesota Public Radio program titled:  Bees feel the Squeeze as a Cropland Consumes Habitat.  Matt  completed his PhD program last February at the Univ. of Minnesota.  He is employed with the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota.  Both Matt and Judy were advised by Steve Sheppard.  To read the article go to:

http://find.publicradio.org/search?q=Bees+Feel+the+Squeeze&site=mpr&proxystylesheet=mpr&client=mpr&output=xml_no_dtd&filter=p&numgm=5.

 

EMPLOYMENT:  See attachment for details on these positions.

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

 

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.