Texas A&M Entomology Research Network

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Song, Reed, and Rhinesmith-Carranza receive Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence

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Congratulations to Hojun Song, Ph.D., Mary Reed and Jennifer Rhinesmith-Carranza who received Vice Chancellor Awards in Excellence this year. These awards recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions displayed by faculty, students and staff members across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Teaching Awards

The Teaching Award was presented to Hojun Song, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Entomology. Song is a dedicated and creative instructor who integrates his research expertise in insect systematics and locust biology into his classes. Recognizing the need for an undergraduate field entomology course, Song began a hands-on study-abroad course in tropical field entomology in Costa Rica. On this study abroad, a group of his students discovered a new species of king cricket. Song guided them through describing this species, leading to a published paper with the students as authors. When an online teaching format was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, a graduate student said Song offered clear and interesting lectures with practical exercises and activities that made the course fun and dynamic. The student continued, “The teaching strategies Dr. Song used improved my learning and made this class my favorite graduate-level course.”

The Graduate Student Teaching Award was presented to Jennifer Rhinesmith-Carranza, academic advisor and assistant lecturer and doctoral candidate, Department of Entomology. Although employed full-time as an advisor with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, she also serves as a teaching assistant and assistant lecturer for a wide range of forensic science and entomology courses. In 2019, she was recognized by the department as the Forensic Science Teaching Assistant of the Year. An outstanding mentor, she helps students apply for internships with the FBI, reviews resumes and cover letters for graduates and helps students prepare for national certification exams. In addition, she is one of six certified technicians on the American Board of Forensic Entomology and organizes workshops to teach law enforcement how to process entomological samples associated with crime scenes.

A full list of awards was announced in AgriLife Today.

Entomology and Forensics Students Receive Senior Merit Awards

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The Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences congratulates the outstanding students receiving 2021 Senior Merit Awards. Presented by the College for over 50 years, these awards recognize the best of the best graduating seniors.

The following students are this year’s recipients:

Angelica Rodriguez

Angelica Rodriguez is the second oldest out of 5 children and a first-generation college student. She enjoys being active whether it’s dancing around her apartment, going to the student rec, or simply going for a walk. She will be graduating in spring 2021 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Entomology and a minor in Wildlife & Fisheries. She enjoys nature and would like to use her degree to work with wildlife and/or exotic animals.

Courtney Reid

Michelle Shannon

Congratulations to all of our students for your hard work and dedication!

A family legacy of sustainability, education

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Source: A family legacy of sustainability, education | AgriLife Today

Frisbie family gifts will support agriculture, ecosystems, education, more

Renée and Ray Frisbie are creating a family legacy by setting up a testamentary charitable remainder unitrust to benefit loved ones and support their Aggieland passions after their lives.
Renée and Ray Frisbie are creating a family legacy by setting up a testamentary charitable remainder unitrust to benefit loved ones and support their Aggieland passions after their lives. (Texas A&M Foundation photo.)

Texas A&M University often shapes the interests and passions of not just the individual, but entire families. In the case of the Ray Frisbie family, with the university’s help, they are creating a legacy as diverse as the passions they share.

Each in their own way, Frisbie, his wife, Renée, and their daughter, Katelan ’09, grew to love the university. In appreciation, the Frisbies have committed a legacy gift through their estate utilizing a testamentary charitable remainder unitrust that will support generations of students after their lifetimes.

Ray Frisbie, Ph.D., emeritus professor, began his career as an entomologist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He spent his entire career at Texas A&M and became an internationally recognized expert in integrated pest management. He also served as a professor and head of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Entomology for the last nine years of his tenure. He retired in 2003.

“I love Texas A&M. I’m an Aggie by choice, I guess, having worked here for 31 years,” Ray Frisbie said. “The price of education has risen so sharply that it’s difficult for the average person to go to college. So, the theme of our gift is investing in education, and it is primarily directed toward scholarships or graduate assistantships.”

The Frisbies’ estate gift will support scholarships and program funding in four distinct areas: marine and coastal conservation, special education, integrated pest management and gardening.

Impacting conservation for generations

The major portion of the legacy gift will establish the Dr. Raymond E. and Renée Barsalou Frisbie Endowed Graduate Student Fellowship in Marine and Coastal Conservation.

Why is an entomologist interested in creating a fellowship in marine and coastal conservation?

Frisbie’s leadership in developing integrated science approaches for entomology gave him insight into the need for far-reaching applications in other areas of agriculture and life sciences.

“I’ve been a saltwater fisherman for 40 years,” he said. “I’ve seen the disappearance of habitat, freshwater inflows from rivers that go into the bays and estuaries that have been reduced by development, and pollution issues that affect the Gulf Coast and fisheries. I decided a graduate assistantship is the best way I can help address these issues.”

Frisbie proposed an innovative partnership between the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology in College Station and the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

“This is the first donation I’m aware of where the donor specified that students and faculty at two campuses work together and benefit from the gift,” said Jaime Barrera, vice president of institutional advancement for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

In this joint fellowship, doctoral students in marine and coastal conservation will collaborate with fisheries and coastal marine scientists at both campuses. The faculty will guide the students’ research projects and serve on their graduate advisory committees. To be eligible, the students’ field research should address critical needs in marine and coastal conservation such as:

  • Design and restoration of marine habitats.
  • Water quality for marine life.
  • Short- and long-term impacts of freshwater inflows.
  • Rearing and release methods for sportfish species to cope with changing environmental conditions.
  • Development of government policies to reduce or eliminate industrial, urban and agricultural marine pollution.

The collaboration is intended to have a “multiplier effect” on research output and educational benefits. Both programs will gain from the Gulf Coast location and facilities, as well as benefit from the potential for attracting and retaining top faculty and student researchers.

The Frisbies’ gift commitment shows vision and leadership, said Kirk Winemiller, Ph.D., university distinguished professor and interim department head for the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology.

“Someone rarely has the opportunity to make this kind of impact on natural resource conservation,” Winemiller said. “We will be good stewards of this opportunity to train outstanding scientists who will impact the world.”

Many donors interested in conservation issues are thinking about how to have a long-lasting impact.

“A planned gift like what the Frisbies have created allows us to support students interested in these same issues many years down the road,” Barrera said. “Through this vehicle, Ray and Renée’s conservation-mindedness and efforts will continue in perpetuity.”

Training special education teachers

Katelan Frisbie’s passion is helping students with learning disabilities succeed. She graduated from Texas A&M in 2009 in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in special education and spent much of her career as a special education teacher. She now works with youth at a nonprofit organization, The Forge for Families, in Houston’s 3rd Ward. The organization helps families grow educationally, economically and spiritually.

To honor their daughter’s dedication, the Frisbies planned The Katelan Frisbie ’09 Endowed Special Education Scholarship to provide scholarships to undergraduate students who pursue a degree that leads to a special education teaching career. The Department of Educational Psychology will select recipients based on academic achievement, extracurricular activities and financial need.

Advancing integrated pest management

With AgriLife Extension, Frisbie developed and delivered integrated pest management, IPM, systems to farmers. IPM is a combination of tactics that economically control pests and reduce pesticide pollution. During his time as department head, Frisbie helped develop a collaborative research consortium between Texas A&M, The University of Texas and Texas Tech University to develop IPM tactics to manage the red imported fire ant.

He also played a vital role in the development of a plan to eradicate the boll weevil, a key cotton pest, in Texas. Except for an area in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the boll weevil has been eradicated not only from Texas but also from other cotton-growing regions in the U.S.

To further his dedication and work, the Dr. Raymond E. and Renée Barsalou Frisbie Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Department of Entomology Integrated Pest Management Program Support Fund will advance IPM research by funding travel, equipment and supplies, and special projects for the AgriLife Extension IPM Program.

Helping The Gardens grow

Another endowment honors Renée Frisbie’s passion for gardening. The Dr. Raymond E. and Renée Barsalou Frisbie Leach Teaching Gardens Endowed Student Scholarship reflects her love of the campus oasis at The Gardens at Texas A&M University and her volunteer service with the Texas Master Gardener program, which supports AgriLife Extension horticultural programming throughout the state.

Master Gardener volunteers lead educational outreach activities such as plant sales, home garden tours and educational programs in elementary schools. Along with these activities, Renée Frisbie also volunteered public relations support for the organization, using the marketing and advertising skills she acquired through her work for Texas Monthly magazine and the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. She also owned a marketing and advertising consulting business in College Station.

“We are so pleased with the Leach Teaching Gardens—its design, the way it is maintained and the fact that it is a public garden. We want to help keep it perpetually,” she said. “And we want students to have the opportunity to work with gardens in the most expert capacity to prepare them for top-level jobs.”

The premier research and teaching gardens serve as an outdoor classroom where students learn about gardening, landscape design and construction, production agriculture and environmental stewardship.

These endowment funds will provide scholarships to full-time students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the Texas A&M campus in College Station.

The Gardens have become one of the Frisbies’ favorite places. About once a week, they bring breakfast to The Gardens and stroll through the 7-acre sanctuary.

“It’s just amazing to us that this exists,” she said. “It’s like a little heaven.”

To learn how you can leave your legacy at the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, contact Allyson Tjoelker ’02 at atjoelker@txamfoundation.com. To learn more about how you can use a legacy gift to support Texas A&M after your lifetime, contact Angela Throne ’03 at giftplanning@txamfoundation.com.

The original story appeared in The Texas A&M Foundation Gift Legacy newsletter.

Brundage, Jensen, Payne, Siders receive Vice Chancellor Awards in Excellence

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Congratulations to Adrienne Brundage, Ph.D., Robert Jensen, Alexandria Payne, and Kerry Siders who all received Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence this year. These awards recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions displayed by faculty, students and staff members across Texas A&M AgriLife.

Teaching Awards

The Teaching Award was presented to Adrienne Brundage, Ph.D., instructional assistant professor, Department of Entomology. A member of both the Entomology and Forensic and Investigative Sciences faculties, Brundage teaches numerous online, face-to-face, and hybrid entomology and forensic sciences courses. The Forensic and Investigative Sciences newsletter and website she manages are valuable recruitment tools for prospective students. One of her colleagues observed that Brundage “knows students; she knows the effort it takes to engage them, and she is never afraid to lean full-force into that effort.”

Research Awards

The Graduate Student Research Award was presented to Alexandria Payne, doctoral candidate, Department of Entomology. Payne’s research investigates the interaction of bees, ants and viruses—especially the possibility that ants can harbor honey bee viruses and help spread viruses between colonies. Her research advances the understanding of the decline of pollinators. Awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a Texas A&M Doctoral Diversity Fellowship, she received over $370,000 in grants, fellowships and awards. Payne is a founding member of Aggie Women in Entomology and served as financial director and president.

Extension Education Awards

The County Agent Award was presented to Kerry Siders, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agent, Hockley and Cochran counties. Siders has conducted over 400 applied research and demonstration trials related to integrated pest management and crop production for cotton, grain sorghum, peanuts and other crops. His data helps producers make reliable pest and production management decisions and provides industry unbiased information about new products. Siders has developed innovative outreach methods such as an IPM text messaging service and a newsletter with updates on research, growing conditions and policy.

Staff Awards

The Business and Operational Staff Award was presented to Robert Jensen, business administrator, Unit Business Services. Whether helping student workers get their paychecks on time, graduate assistants complete their employment paperwork, or faculty manage complex grant budget issues, Jensen anticipates problems and suggests efficient uses of funding sources. He also assists with annual performance evaluations for staff members. According to one nominator, Jensen’s leadership and expertise related to business activities for the College and Texas A&M AgriLife Research “are the ‘glue’ that holds the department together.”

A full list of award winners was announced on AgriLife Today.

Hurley recognized as integrated pest management pioneer for schools

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by Adam Russell, Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service school IPM specialist Janet Hurley leads a school IPM training for school district IPM coordinators.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service school IPM specialist Janet Hurley leads a school IPM training for school district IPM coordinators.

Janet Hurley continues to be surprised by her career choice. She envisioned a job in health care, but despite fighting on a different front line, public health is still her focus.

Hurley, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service integrated pest management, IPM, program specialist, Dallas, was recently awarded the International Integrated Pest Management Award of Excellence for IPM Practitioner – Academic by the IPM Symposium for her outstanding work in school IPM.

The IPM Symposium is a 100% volunteer run group of practicing IPM professionals across the nation. The conference meets every three years, but due to COVID concerns, the 2021 conference is being put off and Hurley will have to wait until 2022 to officially receive her award.

Hurley was recognized for her efforts to establish and solidify Texas’ school IPM program. She was recognized by the IPM Symposium as one of the pioneers focused on school IPM education and program implementation at the school district level

“[Hurley] is a strong advocate of hands-on training, including field trips and demonstrations, and continues this approach in all educational events she organizes even today, such as the interactive Rodent Academy for schools and pest management professionals,” the award announcement read. “Through her successful program, Ms. Hurley has maintained regular training courses for school IPM coordinators and staff, hosted a nationally recognized school IPM website, served on national and regional school IPM committees, and established strong working relationships with a variety of organizations that have supported her school IPM efforts.”

Hurley recognized by IPM peers

In his nomination letter to the IPM Symposium, Mike Merchant, retired AgriLife Extension urban entomologist, Dallas, praised for Hurley’s continued efforts to make schools safer and train pest management professionals.

“Janet Hurley’s job has always been a frontline, boots-on-the-ground position. She works tirelessly to learn and teach IPM,” Merchant wrote.  “She is the glue that holds the Texas school IPM program together, keeping good records on contacts, remembering names and faces, and attending to the dozens of details that must be tracked for every training class. She has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of school districts and their IPM personnel. This serves her well in establishing the trust and relationships that encourage schools to adopt IPM.”

Hurley said being recognized as one of three recipients among hundreds of IPM specialists in the nation makes her feel she has made a difference in the profession and for her clients from Texas school districts, pest control professionals and ultimately the public.

Membership in the Symposium Steering Committee and participating in the conference are ideal for networking and sharing information among IPM professionals from around the nation, she said. It also allows collaboration with players involved in national programs like U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

“The conference is where we talk about new invasive species and cutting-edge integrated pest management tools and techniques,” she said. “So, for me, the symposium award is the highest recognition I could ever receive because it’s 100% from my peers.”

Hurley said it has taken a “village” – including AgriLife Extension specialists, various federal and state regulatory agencies and the school districts – to initiate and enforce an effective IPM program that focuses on protecting schools, students, and staff from pests and pesticides

“On our side, and the regulatory side, we want verifiable IPM within schools, and we work with school boards, administrators and facility managers regarding specific problems whether it’s proactive or dealing with infractions,” she said.

Leading the way in school IPM

In 1995, the Texas Legislature passed a law effectively creating pest management standards in school districts across the state, including mandated inspections. Hurley was hired in 2001 to oversee a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to help promote school IPM through developing resources.

In 2002, the Legislative Budget Board’s mandated the Structural Pest Control Board, SPCB, to inspect 20% of the state’s 1,052 school districts each quarter that fiscal year. It was the first of its kind of regulatory inspection of school IPM rules in the nation.

Overnight, Hurley became someone school administrators and facility managers were seeking out and engaging. By summer 2002, the SPCB had completed 830 school IPM inspections of which 80% were non-compliant. This led Hurley to create the two-day school IPM coordinator training that is now recognized as a leading example of school IPM education.

Over time, school districts recognized the impact Hurley’s recommendations had on the way they fought pest problems, whether fire ants on campus, lice in a classroom or rats and roaches in storage and kitchen areas. They also recognized that budgeting properly and addressing problems proactively could save money in the long term.

Hurley’s goal as a specialist is to make recommendations based on scientific data and to establish best management practices with a focus on proactive measures that preempt the need for chemical control.

“Door sweeps would solve three-quarters of my problems,” she said. “Simple things like that. We are so engrained with the need for immediate gratification – ‘It comes in a can and kills bugs dead, so that’s what I will use.’ No, sometimes it’s not that simple, so my job has to be about changing that behavior and educating people about better, healthier, more cost-effective approaches to IPM.”

Making a difference

Hurley said she especially enjoys working with school districts because she has seen her efforts make a difference. But building and maintaining effective IPM programs in districts is an ongoing effort due to regulatory changes regarding treatment options, technology improvements and how specific pest populations ebb and flow if given an opportunity or build resistance.

There is also the loss of institutional knowledge due to turnover in districts. Hurley produces a monthly newsletter that is distributed nationally to 1,642 school staff members, pest management professionals and interested stakeholders to keep them informed about potential problems.

Each district is different and implements individual IPM plans, she said. But there are many standard practices all facility managers need to perform, such as preparations for summer and winter breaks, a time when pest problems can get out of control quickly.

Hurley said it’s important to recognize the efforts by school districts and their support staffs.

“It’s important to get recognition, but it’s also important to give the districts praise for their hard work,” he said. “Being a trusted resource, that is what sustains me. That and engaging with people around the state in a field I am passionate about and one that I believe makes a difference every day.”