COLLEGE STATION, Texas—The Department of Entomology recently announced Dr. Frank Zalom as the recipient of the 2017 Dr. Perry Adkisson Distinguished Seminar Speaker Award during a special seminar that was held on Thursday, March 30.
Zalom is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California – Davis and has appointment as an Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Specialist for the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He teaches arthropod pest management and conducts research on integrated pest management (IPM) on vine, tree, and small fruits and vegetable crops.
Zalom provides leadership national and has served as Co-Chair of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ National IPM Committee from 1999-2015. He also has served as an IPM representative to the ESCOP Science and Technology Committee since 2003, USDA Western Region IPM Competitive Grants Program Manager for 10 years, and served on the USAID Board of Directors for the IPM CRSP from 2001-2005.
Before coming to UC-Davis, Zalom worked briefly as a postdoctoral research associate at UC-Berkeley in the late 1970s, and was an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, where he taught Economic Entomology and Insects in Relation to Plant Disease, as well as conducted research on insect vectors of plant diseases. In 1980, he returned to University of California as an Extension IPM Coordinator and served as UCIPM’s Associate Director for Research and then Director for 16 years before returning to UC-Davis’ Department of Entomology in 2002. Zalom was also Vice Chair of the Department from 2005-2008.
Zalom is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, the Entomological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Entomological Society. Some of the most recent awards Zalom received included the Entomological Foundation IPM Team Award, the Entomological Foundation Excellence in IPM Award, and the Outstanding Mentor Award from the UC Davis Consortium for Women and Research.
Zalom served numerous leadership roles in the Entomological Society of America national organization, including President in 2014, Vice President-Elect and vice president in 2012. He also served as the President of the Entomological Foundation, and continues to serve as a member of the Entomological Foundation’s Board of Directors and the ESA’s Science Policy Committee.
He has authored over 335 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and books, and has served as Major Professor for 12 Ph.D. students and seven Master’s students.
The award is named for Dr. Perry Adkisson, former head of the Department and of the Texas A&M University Chancellor. During his career, Adkisson was an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the first ever recipient of all three of the world’s major prizes in agriculture, the Alexander von Humboldt Award, the Wolf Prize, and the World Food Prize. Along with Dr. Ray Smith, he developed what is now known as IPM or Integrated Pest Management.