COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Shelby Kilpatrick’s hard work and dedication is paying off well as she received the College of Agriculture of Life Sciences’ Senior Merit Award during the College’s Spring Convocation on Saturday, April 8.
Kilpatrick is a senior Entomology and Agricultural Leadership and Development double major. She is a very active member of the Department’s Undergraduate Entomology Student Organization, where she served as Outreach Coordinator in 2015-2016 and Secretary and Webmaster in 2014-2015.
As the UESO’s Outreach Coordinator, she was responsible for coordinating volunteers for various outreach programs, such as with local schools and events, Aggieland Saturday, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ annual Tailgate, and the Department’s 4-H and FFA Insect Identification clinic. Since joining UESO in Fall 2013, she has coordinated over 22 outreach programs impacting more than 19,000 people and 2 club programs, and helped with coordinating 2 honey sales fundraisers.
Kilpatrick is also an active member of the TAMU Collegiate 4-H Club and the Horticulture Club. She served as the Collegiate 4-H Club’s President in 2015-2016 and Public Relations officer in 2014-2015. As a member of the 4-H club, she coordinated and led 8 club promotional events and volunteered at Texas 4-H Teen Retreat, Texas 4-H Roundup events, and the Beefmasters Programs. As a member of the Horticulture Club, Kilpatrick has helped plan and implement the Fall Pecan Sale, Pecan Tree Repotting, and the Spring Plant Fair.
Since 2014, Kilpatrick has been actively involved with the Department of Entomology’s Scholars Society, where she serves as an ambassador, assisting more than 162 prospective students during 20 conferences that were held during the summers of 2014 and 2015.
She also is involved in several community service activities, including volunteering at the Brazos Valley Food Bank in 2016, where she helped fill backpacks, bags and family boxes with food to be distributed to area families. She also educates citizens about safe, sustainable, and effective horticultural practices to promote healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.
Kilpatrick served as an undergraduate student instructor during the current spring semester for the Biodiversity and Biology of Insects course (ENTO 301/602) and has worked on various research projects as an undergraduate honors student researcher, including studying density-dependent phenotypic plasticity in Schistocerca lineata, the biology and behavior of lacewings, sodium regulation in Schistocerca americana, and the effectiveness of traps for horse and deer flies.
Kilpatrick was most noted in her research studies in 2015 as she discovered a new species of halictid bee during a summer study abroad program in Dominica. Her discovery was a separate study that was featured in a paper written by Dr. Jason Gibbs of Michigan State University, as well as the species being named in her honor.
She has received numerous awards for her research, including first place for presentations at the 2017 Ecological Integration Symposium in March and second place at the 2017 Southwestern Branch Meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) in April. In 2016, Kilpatrick also received first place for her presentations at the International Congress of Entomology and National ESA Meeting, the Southwestern Branch ESA Meeting and the TAMU Ecological Integration Symposium. She also received the 2016 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award in the Undergraduate Research Category and the 2015 Class Stars Award in the 2017 Academics Category.
Kilpatrick was recently honored with the Percival Scientific Undergraduate Entomology Student Award as well as the Undergraduate Student Achievement in Entomology Award at the 2017 Southwestern Branch ESA Meeting. She has also helped the TAMU Undergraduate Linnaean Games Team receive 2nd place both in 2016 and 2017 at the Southwestern Branch ESA Meetings.