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