2011 Distinguished Scientist Award

Dr. Ann Hajek has had a long and illustrious career studying the fundamental interactions between natural enemies and arthropod pests (including work with entomopathogens, predators and parasitoids) and their applications in implementation of biological control programs.

        Ann received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Conservation of Natural Resources, and her M.S and PhD degrees UC Berkeley in Entomology & Parasitology.  After receiving her doctorate, Ann accepted a position at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) at Cornell where she remained for 10 years, before becoming a Professor in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University.

Much of Ann’s research has focused on biological control of insects associated with forests and trees. Her master’s research was on the smaller European elm bark beetle Scolytus multistriatus and her doctoral research focused on aphids of urban birch trees. For both of these systems, the natural enemies of interest were parasitoids or predators and Ann only began working on entomopathogens after starting working at BTI. But that change in direction has influenced much of her career.

Ann is most often recognized for her long-term interest in understanding and documenting the impact of the fungal pathogen, Entomophaga maimaiga, on gypsy moth, which is a major invasive insect pest of northeastern North American forests.  Not surprisingly,  among her more than 170 peer reviewed publications and book chapters are dozens of  contributions on gypsy moth and its natural enemies.

However, Ann’s research is much broader than her work with gypsy moth. She has also worked on pathogens associated with Colorado potato beetle, and predators/parasitoids of soybean aphid, Asian longhorned beetles, and the invasive woodwasp Sirex noctilio.  During her career, she has served as principal advisor for 11 post-dos, 8 PhD and 1 MS student as well as 20 graduate minor degree students. Her students have conducted important research on fungal pathogens of forest tent caterpillars, cassava green mite and many other pests. Much of this work has been supported by major grants she has received from multiple agencies within USDA (ARS, USFS, NIFA, APHIS), the National Science Foundation and private foundations.

In addition to working with entomology majors, for many years, Ann has taught a non-major’s course on biological control at Cornell for which she wrote the textbook Natural Enemies: An Introduction to Biological Control.   Among her many honors, Ann is frequently invited to give national and international presentations.  Most recently she has served as 2011-12 Velux Visiting Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ann has been a Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee of the IOBC and an Associate Editor for BioControl for 10 years, and has also been active in the Society for Invertebrate Pathology and the Entomological Society of America.