Thursday, August 22, 2019        

10:00 am – 4:30 pm

Minnie Belle Heep Center, Room 103

10:00 – 11:00      Keynote panel with professionals in the field of entomology

11:00 – 11:10     Break, get computer ready for student presentations

                Student presentations, Session 1

11:10 – 11:21      Zanthé Kotzé – “Mechanisms regulating behavior of arthropods that consume vertebrate carrion: Deciphering succession as related to forensic entomology.”

11:21 – 11:32     Pierre Lau – “Understanding honey bee foraging preferences and nutrient regulation to improve beekeeping pollen substitutes.”

11:32 – 11:43     Brenda Leals – “The interaction between ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ and the gut of the potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae), nymphs.”

11:43 – 11:54     Xiaotian Tang – “Let’s talk about eating, by the way, it’s self-eating.”

11:54 – 12:05     Samantha Sawyer -“Vertebrate scavengers impact on primary colonizers of small carrion in differing habitat and season.”

12:05 – 1:00        Lunch on your own

 Student presentations, Session 2

1:00 – 1:11          Mackenzie Tietjen – ” Assessing host-associated differentiation in Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae).”

1:11 – 1:22          Mark Olson – “Sugar feeding patterns for Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes of South Texas.”

1:22 – 1:33          Caixing Xiong – “Prediction of the cattle fever tick endogenous kinins, and discovery of new kinin receptor ligands using a dual-injection fluorescence assay.”

1:33 – 1:44          Jose G. Juarez – “An engaged community, the key to surveillance and control of Aedes aegypti in the “Colonias” of the US-Mexico border.”

1:44 – 1:55          Dayvion Adams – “Artificial vs. live-host feeding: A study of fecundity and fertility in Culex quinquefasciatus (Culicidae) mosquitoes.”

1:55 – 2:06          Phillip Shults – “Presence of bluetongue antibodies in east Texas goats and an investigation of the Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) vector.”

2:06 – 2:25          Coffee break in the atrium

Student presentations, Session 3

2:25 – 2:36          Jocelyn Holt – “Quantifying Interactions between invasive sugarcane aphids and tawny crazy ants.”

2:36 – 2:47          Kenneth Masloski – “Importation biological control of crapemyrtle bark scale.”

2:47 – 2:58          Tara-Kay Jones – “Comparative assessment of Dalbulus maidis survival and fecundity on Mexican and American corn germplasm.”

2:58 – 3:09          Ashley Tessnow – “Genomic insights into the migration and host strain hybridization patterns of a major agricultural pest, Spodoptera frugiperda.”

3:09 – 3:20          Kyle Gilder – “Landscape Factors Influencing Crapemyrtle Bark Scale Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae Kuwana (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae).”

3:20 – 3:31          Bert Foquet – “Locust phase polyphenism in a phylogenetic framework: from behavior to molecular changes.”

3:31 – 3:42          Crys Wright – “Testing for fecundity compensation in parasitized sugarcane aphids.”

3:42 – 4:10          Coffee and cookies reception in the 1st floor atrium. Judge deliberation

4:10 – 4:30          Awards ceremony. Adjourn