News

COLLEGE STATION, Texas –Drs. Bart Drees’ and Roy Parker’s dedication and hard work were honored as they received Emeritus status at a recent Board of Regents meeting in February.

Drees and Parker both received the status for their outstanding achievements and service with both the Department of Entomology and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service during their time of employment.

Drees retired from the Department and Extension in August of 2013 after 33 years of employment as an Extension Entomologist. Initially, Drees had responsibilities for educational programming on pests of agricultural and urban environments. His work focused on pest management in commercially produced ornamental plants, red imported fire ants, and IPM in rice and soybeans.

From 1997 to 2003, Drees directed the Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project and was responsible for implementing the statewide fire ant management plan with Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas and the Texas Department of Agriculture. In addition to managing the Fire Ant Project, he conducted fire ant research and Extension programming.

Drees then began enhancing his educational efforts with applied research and education work on IPM on landscape plants in addition to continuing his educational efforts on red imported fire ant management. He has also published several scholarly papers and co-authored A Field Guide to Common Texas Insects with Dr. John Jackman.

Drees was involved in several professional organizations and societies, including committees of the Southwestern Branch of the Entomological Society of America, as well as the national organization and the Society of Southwestern Entomologists.  He also was the president of the SSWE in 2003, president of the ESA Southwestern Branch in 2005, and the ESA Governing Board from 2011-2013.

Drees also received numerous awards, including the Outstanding State IPM Program Award, the USDA-ARS Technology Transfer Award, and the Distinguished Achievement – Extension from the Southwestern Branch of the Entomological Society of America in 1998. He received the Texas Agricultural Extension Service Superior Service Award in 1996. Drees was honored by receiving both the Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Extension and the Distinguished Achievement Award in Continuing Education in 1996.

Before retiring in August of 2013, Parker had been with Extension for 35 years working in the Texas Coastal Bend area. Some of the pests he helped farmers to manage include the boll weevil, bollworm/budworm complex (sorghum headworms and corn earworms), cotton fleahopper, armyworms and aphids. During the short season cotton

He helped farmers manage and cope with very destructive pests such as boll weevil, the bollworm/budworm complex (headworms in sorghum, earworms in corn), cotton fleahopper, armyworms, sorghum midge, stink bugs, aphids and other pests. Parker was instrumental in implementing the short season cotton production system, which increased cotton profitability by some $30 million per year.

Parker also was the most trusted source of information as growers made contentious decisions such as whether or not to initiate and continue their boll weevil eradication, as well as other pest management programs. His recommendations were the product of his work field testing technologies, observations in grower fields, and his study of the literature and interaction with collaborators.

“Dr. Parker’s primary focus during his career was to provide the best possible information to growers, county agents and consultants in Texas. He worked hard, and was admired by those he served and those with whom he worked,” said Statewide IPM Coordinator Dr. Charles Allen. “It is rare to find someone who invests so completely of themselves in the service of others. Dr.Parker embodies that description. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him and learn from him for over 30 years.”

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Two of the Department’s graduate students received high honors from the Department for their outstanding research and service as they were honored during a special seminar on Thursday.

Marion Le Gall received the Outstanding Ph.D. Student and Milo Lewis was honored with the Outstanding Masters student Award during the special presentation.

Le Gall is currently working in Dr. Spence Behmer’s lab, where she is examining how interactions between macro nutrients and allelochemicals influence feeding behavior and nutrient utilization in insect herbivores.

Le Gall also has been working as a teaching assistant for several courses including General Entomology (ENTO 201) and Insect Physiology (ENTO 306), as well as giving lectures in the 201 course. She has been instrumental in creating and organizing a “digital storytelling project” exercise where students use computer-based tools to tell a short video story to integrate into the lab portion of the ENTO 306 course.

Since coming to Texas A&M in spring of 2009 from the University of Tours in France, Le Gall has served several officer positions with the EGSO, including social chair, vice president, seminar chair and secretary. She has also been instrumental in organizing several activities, including the ENTOBLITZ, the insect collecting trip for professionals and amateurs in the State of Texas, the first-ever inter-departmental soccer tournament against Wildlife and Fisheries Science, as well as departmental fall picnics and various other outreach events.

Marion has  given multiple talks on campus, including three Entomology Graduate Student forums, an invited Departmental Seminar, two Ecological Integration Symposiums, and one presentation at Student Research Week). She was awarded first place (2012), and third place (2011 & 2013), at the Entomology Graduate Student Forum, and was awarded the best talk at the 2013 Ecological Integration Symposium. Le Gall also had two papers published in 2013: one in the Journal of Experimental Biology (work from her M.S.) and one in Metaleptea , which is a non-peer-reviewed journal.

“Marion is an exemplary graduate student, and a perfect example of what the Department of Entomology wants its students to be,” Behmer said. “She gives generously of her time to promote our Department (as well as Texas A&M University), plus the field of entomology, is excellent in the classroom (including as an instructor), and is passionate about her research.”

Lewis currently is working on his Master’s in Dr. Kevin Heinz’s lab researching the physiological ecology of the potato psyllid. He is developing a degree-day model for the psyllid as a means of predicting key events within the psyllid’s population dynamics. The nominator in the packet states that completion of his thesis would help to provide growers with a tool that will allow them to transition away from calendar-based insecticide applications.

The research conducted by Lewis has translated into co-authorship of 3 peer-reviewed manuscripts in three distinctly different journals; Aquatic Botany, Environmental Entomology, and Crop Protection. He is the co-author of 1 editor-reviewed manuscript and 2 research reports. He has co-authored 5 oral and 7 poster presentations, and of these he has delivered 2 of the oral and 6 of the poster presentations.

During his career Lewis has already received two awards of recognition for his research accomplishments; one as an undergraduate student and one as a graduate student. He has also competed successfully for an Entomology Student Enhancement Fund Scholarship ($225) and an Amarillo Research and Extension Center Award for Excellence ($1,000).

Lewis serves in an elected capacity as the 2013-14 treasurer of the Entomology Graduate Student Organization and is also active as a member of the Gamma Sigma Delta Agricultural Honor Society, the Entomological Society of America, the Texas Plant Protection Association, the USDA-SCRI Zebra Chip Working Group, and previously in the American Society of Plant Biologists.

“I am impressed with his work ethic, personality, and interest in entomology, said Professor Dr. Gerry Michels. “His MS program results will be outstanding and will lead to the development of major components of potato psyllid IPM and zebra chip control.”