UC Davis doctoral alumnus and Cornell University emeritus professor Michael Hoffmann, a noted entomologist and climate change educator, warned of the worldwide disastrous effects of climate change when he delivered the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Award Seminar recently in the Putah Creek Lodge.

“The goal of climate change now is simply, let’s not make it worse,” he said. “Our goal is to stabilize it…we need to confront climate change, meet it head on…. As they say, there's no Planet B.”

Entomologist-artist Allen Chew, an associate with the Bohart Museum of Entomology outdid himself with his kraken sculpture of an octopus.

It’s made of cicada molts collected last spring from emergences in the midwest and southeast regions of the United States.

Specifically, they're from Broods XIII and XIX, which are two of the 15 broods of periodical cicadas, Magicicada spp.  

Jolene Saldivar, a UC Davis Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Professor Louie Yang, will speak on "Disturbance in Coastal Sage Scrub and the Implications for Migratory Butterflies" at the next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar.

Ecologist Andrew Corbett, a research associate with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT), will speak on "In Silico Experiments with the Effect of Natural Habitats on Biological Control in Agricultural Landscapes" at the next department seminar, set for 4:10 p.m., Monday, Oct. 21 in Room 122 of Briggs Hall.

The seminar also will be on Zoom. The link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

UC Davis scientists established a major presence at the 27th International Congress of Entomology (ICE2024), a weeklong conference in Kyoto, Japan that drew more than 4000 researchers from 82 countries. 

ICE2024, themed “New Discoveries Through Consilience,” included plenary lectures, symposia and posters, with science shared, science learned and friendships made.  ICE meets every four years in a different country.

EicOsis Human Health, Inc., a clinical startup co-founded by UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock to alleviate chronic pain without the use of opioids, has been named one of Pepperdine Graziadio Business School’s 2024 Most Fundable Companies. EicOsis is one 18 recipients from a competitive pool of more than 2000 U.S.

Juliana Rangel Posada of Texas A&M University (TAMU), an international leader in honey bee research, will speak on "Don't Compromise: Food Lipid Content Shapes Protein-Lipid Regulation in Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Nurses" at the next UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) seminar.

It was an entomologist's dream and a learning experience for non-entomologists.

UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a lecturer in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, showed collecting equipment, shared entomological knowledge, and emphasized the importance of insect collections when she staffed a station at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Saturday, Sept. 28. 

Cornell University emeritus professor MIchael Hoffmann, who will deliver the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award Seminar, hosted Monday, Oct. 14 by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will be introduced by his longtime friend and colleague, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor Frank Zalom.

A soil arthropod ecology seminar by associate professor Kyle Wickings of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, will launch the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's fall seminar series.

Wickings will speak on “Composition and Function of Soil Invertebrate Communities in Residential Greenspaces” at 4:10 p.m., Monday, Sept. 30 in 122 Briggs Hall.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology will host an open house, "Museum ABCs: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting," from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28, in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane.

The event, open to the public, is free and family friendly. Parking is also free.

Nora Orozco, chief administrative officer for the Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) and the Department of Plant Pathology (PLP),  drew widespread applause and congratulations at the UC Davis Staff Assembly's annual awards ceremony honoring "Citation for Excellence" recipients.

Orozco received a highly competitive Citation for Excellence for outstanding supervision.

The ceremony took place in the courtyard of the residence of Chancellor Gary May, who congratulated all the winners. 

“Working in Dr Shahid Siddique’s lab was an absolutely amazing experience.”—Anderson Van Dang.

“The lab environment was very high energy and upbeat. I'm so glad I was a temporary part of such a strong and inclusive community.”—Mason Walline.

Back in 2010, the UC Davis entomology labs of integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom and molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu  joined forces to target the spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), a serious threat to berry production in California.

He never expected to discover a new praying mantis species.

But a juvenile mantis that UC Davis alumnus Lohitashwa “Lohit” Garikipati collected on a 2019 trip to Madera Canyon, Arizona, proved not to be the commonly known California mantis, Stagmomantis wheelerii, but a new species.