January 26
Norman Barr – USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T, Center for Plant Health Science and Technology, Mission Laboratory, Edinburg, TX.
Title: “Molecular Diagnosis of the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis: Methods Needed to Support Pest Exclusion”
Host: Dr. Greg Sword
February 2
Lynn Kimsey – University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Title: “Delusional Infestation, or All Those Little Friends You Never Knew You Had”
Host: Jim Woolley
February 9
Hsiao-Hsuan (Rose) Wang – Texas A&M University, Ecological Systems Laboratory, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Title: “Modeling Ecological Dynamics in Temporally Variable, Spatially Heterogeneous Environments: Spatial Ecology of Invasive Plants, Native Wildlife, and Tick-borne Disease Risk”
Host: Pete Teel, Taylor Donaldson, Ashleigh Faris
February 16
**GRADUATE STUDENT RECOGNITION & AWARD SEMINAR**
Mackenzie Kjeldgaard – “I’ll have what she’s having: Next-generation insights into the diets of invasive ants”
Tyler Raszick – “Boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) population genomics as a tool for monitoring and management”
Pierre Lau – “Palynological analysis of pollen collected by honey bees (Apis mellifera) in developed areas in four regions of the United States”
February 23
Alex Wild – University of Texas at Austin, Department of Integrative Biology.
Title: “How to Take Better Insect Photographs”
Host: Hojun Song
March 2
Molly Hunter – University of Arizona, Department of Entomology.
Title: “The Rise and Fall of a Transformational Endosymbiont of Whiteflies”
Host: Greg Sword
March 9
Gregg Howe – Michigan State University, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.
Title: “Plant Defense Against Insect Herbivores: Mechanistic Insights into Growth-Defense Tradeoffs”
Host: Spencer Behmer
March 23
Micky Eubanks – Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology.
Title: “The Effect of Invasive Ants on the Spread of Aphid-Vectored Plant Viruses”
Host: Micky Eubanks
March 30
**PERRY ADKISSON DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER AWARD**
Frank Zalom – University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Title: “Invasive Species, Integrated Pest Management, and One Perspective from the West Coast”
Host: David Ragsdale
April 6
Job Lopez – Baylor College of Medicine, National Center for Tropical Medicine.
Title: “Defining the Intricacies of Vector Competency and Transmission of Tick-borne Relapsing Fever Spirochetes”
Host: Pete Teel
April 13
Paul Ode – Colorado State University, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management.
Title: “Changing Biotic Interactions in a Changing Climate”
Host: Kevin Heinz
April 20
Lee Dyer – University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Biology.
Title: “The Ecology and Evolution of Phytochemical Diversity”
Host: Raul Medina
April 27
Brandon Barton – Mississippi State University, Department of Biological Sciences.
Title: “From Beetles to Bowhunters: Predator-mediated Indirect Effects of Global Change”
Host: Jeff Tomberlin