Texas A&M Entomology Research Network

Rob Williams

Ree Set to Retire After 30 Years with Extension

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Bill Ree with his plaque. Photo by Rob Williams

The Department of Entomology recently celebrated Extension specialist Bill Ree as he announced his retirement on August 31 with a special reception on August 13.

Ree began his career in Extension in 1988 as an Extension Agent-IPM with a specialization in pecans. As an Extension Agent-IPM, Ree worked with pecan growers on protecting pecans from pests such as the pecan weevil.  In 2007, he was promoted to Extension Specialist III – IPM where he was also responsible for working with pecan growers on pest issues.

Ree has been instrumental in developing and delivering information about pest management of pecans to growers by informing them about important pests that affect orchards in Texas, as well as in the southern and southwestern US.

Ree has also presented on the topic of IPM in pecans at several events in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico and authored and co-authored Extension publications on pests such as the pecan weevil, fall webworm, and pecan nut casebearer.

Ree is a member of the Entomological Society of America and the Society of Southwestern Entomologists. He received the Southern Region IPM Center’s Outstanding IPM Program Award and was a co-recipient of the Friend of IPM Educator Award in 2008.

“Bill has done such a great service to Extension and industry, said Associate Department Head for Extension Entomology programs Dr. David Kerns. “We’re going to miss him greatly.”

Grad Student Receives MUVE Travel Award

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Caixing Xiong. Photo by Rob Williams.
Caixing Xiong. Photo by Rob Williams.

Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate Caixing Xiong as she was named the newest recipient of the Entomological Society of America’s MUVE (Medical, Urban, Veterinary Entomology) Travel Award.

The award allows Xiong to attend the ESA Annual Meeting that will be held in St. Louis, Mo. from November 17-20.

Xiong is mentored by Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio and will be presenting in the President’s Prize graduate student 10-minute paper competition in the MUVE category.

Xiong’s research interests include validating arthropod-specific G protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs, as targets, and discovering of their novel functional roles   by performing both in vitro and in vivo experiments.

“I felt very honored to receive the MUVE travel award. I am grateful for all the support and guidance my supervisor, Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio, has provided me with my research and professional development, and many great opportunities the department has offered to help me develop a strong application package,” she said. “This award will support my travel to ESA and broaden my network. Importantly, it will also help advocate Texas A&M AgriLife brand as well as our department at the awards ceremony.”

Pietrantonio was very proud of Xiong for her hard work and dedication and said that the award will help Caixing to present her research to a broad audience.

“The ESA Travel award from the section Medical, Urban and Veterinary Entomology is the result of Caixing’s dedication to her research and her timely production of results that we published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals,” Pietrantonio said. “Our colleagues at ESA recognized high quality, innovative research in vector biology, specifically in endocrinology of the cattle fever tick and the yellow fever mosquito, both a threat in Texas. I am very proud of this recognition that highlights our departmental achievement in graduate student education and training.”

Grad Students Receive Top Awards at Graduate Student Forum

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Winners of the Graduate Student Forum for 2019
The winners for the 22nd annual Graduate Student Forum. From left to right are: Zanthé Kotzé,-First Place, Pierre Lau – Second Place, and Xiaotian Tang – Third Place. Photo by Rob Williams.

Congratulations to three of our graduate students as they received awards during the 22nd annual Graduate Student Forum that was held on August 22 in Room 103.

Ph.D. candidate Zanthé Kotzé received first place for her presentation titled “Mechanisms regulating behavior of arthropods that consume vertebrate carrion: Deciphering succession as related to forensic entomology.”

Ph.D. student Pierre Lau received second place for his talk “Understanding honey bee foraging preferences and nutrient regulation to improve beekeeping pollen substitutes” while Ph.D. student Xiaotian Tang received third place for his presentation titled “Let’s talk about eating, by the way, it’s self-eating.”

The winners were three out of a total of 18 grad student that participated in this year’s forum. The event allows the Department’s graduate students to present their latest research and gives them an opportunity to practice for the upcoming competitions at the Entomological Society of America’s annual meeting that will be held in St. Louis, Mo., on November 17-20.

 

Symposium Showcases Top Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics Research in SE Texas Area

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Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Kirkpatrick speaking during the first session. Photo by Rob Williams
Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Kirkpatrick speaking during the first session. Photo by Rob Williams

Scientists from across the Southeastern Texas area gathered inside the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building for the fourth meeting of the Southeast Texas Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics Symposium on July 18.

The day-long symposium featured various presentations by researchers from the Southeastern Texas area, including Texas A&M, Texas A&M Galveston, the University of Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The event was hosted by the Department of Entomology and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program faculty. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together scientists from various backgrounds interested in evolutionary genetics to share their research, develop collaborations, and network.

Dr. Aaron Tarone opening the symposium. Photo by Rob Williams
Dr. Aaron Tarone opening the symposium. Photo by Rob Williams

Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Kirkpatrick from the University of Texas opened the symposium with “Sex differences in the recombination landscape” Presenters from the Department of Entomology included Ph.D. student Ashley Tessnow who spoke on “Genomic insights into the migration and host strain hybridization patterns of a major agricultural pest, Spodoptera frugiperda”, Pierre-Andre Ayer with his talk “Sexually antagonistic selection: Genetic divergence between males and females maintains diversity in an invasive ant”.

There also was a presentation before lunch made by Dr. Charlie Johnson on a seed grant that the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences genomics core faculty is supporting to promote collaboration among evolutionary geneticists in Texas.

Carlos Aguero with his poster during the poster session. Photo by Rob Williams
Carlos Aguero with his poster during the poster session. Photo by Rob Williams

Several Entomology graduate students and postdoctoral research associates presented posters, including “Characterization of microbial communities outside and within subterranean termite communities” by Carlos Aguero, “Characterization of the Sugarcane Aphid Microbiota” by Jocelyn Holt, “Cycle knockout alters circadian gene expression and

behavior in Aedes aegypti mosquito” by Jacob Meyers, “Evaluation of Illumina Sequenced Bacterial Genomes from Environmental Samples” and “Potential Host Range of Bacterial Infections in Drosophila” by Igor Vilchez.

Dr. Spencer Johnston then closed the symposium with a talk on the history of genomic research and evolutionary genetics.

Dr. Aaron Tarone said the Organizing Committee was impressed by the attendance and the outstanding quality of work in this year’s presentations and posters.

“The turnout was the best for the four STEGG meetings so far,” Tarone said. “There were a lot of high quality and interesting presentations.”

The program was financially supported by the Department of Entomology, Department of Biology, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, VWR, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and the TAMU Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.  TAMU Galveston provided management of the website and communications.  Many thanks to these sponsors and contributors.

Grad Students Receive Top Awards at National Conference

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Zanthe Kotze, left, with Lauren Beebe, right, standing with their certificates. Photo by
Zanthe Kotze, left, with Lauren Beebe, right, standing with their certificates. Photo by Casey Flint.

The Department of Entomology would like to congratulate grad students Zanthé Kotzé and Lauren Beebe on receiving top marks for their presentations at the North American Forensic Entomology Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis on August 5- 7.

Kotzé is a Ph.D. candidate mentored by Dr. Jeffery Tomberlin. She received the first place platform presentation award in the Ph.D. category for her presentation titled “Mechanisms regulating behavior of invertebrate decomposers: Deciphering arthropod succession as related to forensic entomology.”

“I am humbled and honored to have been awarded the PhD presentation award. All speakers were of an exceptionally high caliber and spoke and presented outstandingly,” she said. “The conference provided a wonderful opportunity to see what researchers countrywide and internationally are working on, and provided an opportunity to network for future collaboration.”

Kotzé also praised the NAFEA executive committee and said attending the conference was a great experience.

“The NAFEA executive committee did a phenomenal job at organizing the conference and included informative workshops and a fascinating keynote address,” Kotzé said. “I would highly recommend any students interested in decomposition ecology to attend this meeting and interact with a diverse group of researchers and professionals.”

Beebe is a Masters student advised by Dr. Aaron Tarone. She received first place platform presentation in the Masters category for her presentation titled “Thermal Tolerance of the Larval Stadia of Two Forensically Important Blow Fly Species, Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) and Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) (Diptera: Calliphoridae)”

“It felt great representing Texas A&M forensic entomology at the 2019 NAFEA meeting and receiving the Masters presentation award!” Beebe said.  “I am thankful to the Tarone and Tomberlin labs for their feedback during my preparation, and to the NAFEA committee for their hard work organizing this conference.”