Robert J. O’Neil Outstanding PhD in Biological Control Award
2011 Julie Peterson
The recipient of the IOBC‐NRS Robert J. O’Neil Outstanding PhD Student Award for 2011 is Julie A. Peterson. Ms. Peterson received her BA in Zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2007. Currently she is completing her PhD in Entomology at the University of Kentucky in the lab of Dr. James D. Harwood. Her thesis is entitled “Delineating the influence of genetically modified crops and non-prey food resources on generalist predator food webs.” In May 2012, Julie will be joining the lab of Dr. George Heimpel at the University of Minnesota as a post-doctoral research scholar.
Julie’s research focuses on the ecology of generalist predators, such as spiders (Araneae) and ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in agricultural systems, with an emphasis on food-web interactions in transgenic crops. Her research objectives include: 1) Examining the potential for pollen consumption by linyphiid spiders, 2) Elucidating food webs and feeding biology of generalist predators in transgenic corn fields, and 3) Quantifying and tracking Bt endotoxin uptake in non-target arthropods. Julie’s project uses a multi-faceted approach, utilizing antibody-based (ELISA) and DNA-based (PCR) techniques with field and laboratory studies, which provides a significant advance in understanding the movement of Bt-corn proteins in invertebrate food webs, aiding risk assessment of genetically modified organisms in the environment. Also, her research examines the potential for spiders to utilize corn pollen as a supplementary resource in their diets.
Julie has published four peer-reviewed articles, one book chapter, and received several major grants in support of her research, in addition to giving over 30 presentations at national and international meetings. She has been very active in service and outreach, serving as chair of the ESA’s North Central Branch student affairs committee and President of the University of Kentucky’s graduate student organization, as well as organizing five symposia at entomology meetings. Her engaging talk for the IOBC Symposium was entitled “Consumption of crop pollen by a generalist predator: nutrition and implications for biological control.”
2010 Jennifer Henke
Ms. Henke received her BS in Biology from the University of Alabama in 2001. Her Master’s work at the University of Georgia examined “The efficacy of different sampling methods and determining length-mass relationships for wetland invertebrates.”
Currently she is completing her PhD at UC Riverside, studying “Controlling factors of wetland invertebrate communities, with an emphasis on mosquito biological control.” Jennifer’s research focuses on (1) the interaction between biological control agents and biorational control agents for mosquitoes and (2) the use of native biological control agents to promote synergies between biological control and the conservation of native species.
Specifically she has examined the potential for larvivorous fish to prey on mosquito larvae intoxicated by bacterial larvicides, studying whether by removing sublethally intoxicated larvae from populations, fish predation could delay resistance to bacterial toxins. Moreover, she has studied if the potential use of the native arroyo chub (instead of the exotic Gambusia) could result in reintroduction of the native species, enhancing its recovery while providing natural control of mosquito populations. Jennifer has published two refereed proceedings papers and received numerous grants on support of her research. She has been very active in extension and outreach, delivering over 75 presentations to a variety of audiences.
2009 Menelaos Stavrinides
Mel Stavrinides began his PhD at UC Berkeley in August 2004, having completed a BSc at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and an MSc in
pest management at the University of London, Imperial College, UK. For his dissertation research, Mel tackled the problem of increasing spider mite damage in vineyards in California. Two important questions that he addressed were; (1) Can water stress and leaf temperature in grapes influence the performance
and relative abundance of Pacific spider mite and Willamette spider mite, and their control by western
predatory mite?, and (2) To what extent can the insecticides and fungicides that are commonly used in grapes influence the control of Pacific spider mite by western predatory mite?
As a graduate student Mel has not only been very successful in generating grant support for his research, but he has also frequently been invited to give presentations of his research at national and international conferences, and at grower meetings throughout the grape growing regions of California. In addition to his research skills, Mel is a very impressive mentor and instructor, guiding numerous undergraduates through research projects and receiving an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award for his contribution to General Biology.
2008 Ezra Schwartzberg
Ezra received his B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology with an Entomology concentration from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He received his M.S. degree in Entomology from the University of Kentucky where he studied the chemical defenses of the ladybird beetle Scymnus louisianae, a predator of the soybean aphid.
For his doctorate, Ezra is studying plant defenses in response to feeding by aphid herbivores. Plant defenses, including the release of airborne volatile chemicals, have been shown to play an important role in attracting natural enemies. Ezra’s current research investigates how aphids manipulate their host plant environment by counteracting defense-related phytohormones and natural enemy-attracting volatiles.
In addition to his dissertation research, Ezra has been very active with the Entomological Society of America where he has served as an integral part of several committees. He has been active in teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses at Penn State and participating in several outreach events throughout Pennsylvania. Ezra received the Kozak Fellowship Award for Public Education from Penn State in 2008.
2007 Mary Gardiner
Ms. Gardiner was honored for her work which examines how agricultural landscape structure influences the ecosystem services provided by beneficial insects. The award was presented at the December 2007 meeting of IOBC-NRS in San Diego, CA where she also delivered an invited plenary address.
Directing a team of collaborators in four Midwestern states, Mary discovered that landscape composition strongly influenced the ability of predator communities to control the soybean aphid, a major new invasive pest of soybean that is driving growers to use more pesticides. Her work demonstrates the potential for farmers to manage landscapes to enhance predator communities and reduce the need for pesticide applications. Her work has significant implications for the incorporation of bioenergy crops into agricultural production systems.
The work was funded by a $1.5 M USDA Risk Avoidance and Mitigation (RAMP) grant to MSU and collaborating institutions. MSU PI’s include Douglas Landis, Christina DiFonzo and Michael Brewer of the Department of Entomology, and Scott Swinton, Department of Agricultural Economics.
2006 Alejandro Costamagna
The 2006 IOBC-NRS Outstanding PhD Student Award was presented to Dr. Alejandro Costamagna at the IOBC-NRS Symposium held in conjunction with the ESA National Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. Alejandro recently completed his PhD degree with Dr. Doug Landis in the Department of Entomology at Michigan Sate University and is currently a post-doc with Dr. David Ragsdale at the University on Minnesota. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro came to MSU on a Fulbright scholarship to pursue his MS degree where his research addressed the impacts of agricultural landscape structure and host density on biological control of the true armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta. For his PhD, Alejandro was awarded a prestigious C.S. Mott Fellowship in Sustainable Agriculture at MSU to study biological control of the invasive soybean aphid (Aphis glycines). Alejandro was an exceptional student maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA during his entire graduate program and has won many awards for his research presentations. He has published 9 peer-reviewed papers to date with several in high quality cross-over journals like Basic and Applied Ecology and Ecological Applications.
2005 Renée Prasad
Dr. Prasad received her Ph.D. in 2005 from Washington State Uni-versity, where she worked on integrating community ecology — specifically the biological control tactic of the use of beetle banks — into cole crop production, with Dr. William Snyder. Dr. Prasad has been active in outreach to grow-ers, complementing her research. Prior to receiving her degree at Washington State, she received a M.S. at Simon Fraser, and also worked for an IPM consulting company. Dr. Prasad is the author of at least a half-dozen papers and book chapters, has given numerous talks at professional meetings and extension meetings, and was PI or co-PI on a num-ber of grants to support her research. Dr. Prasad is currently working for E.S. Cropconsult, Ltd., in Canada. IOBC-NRS is proud to have such an accomplished student as our Outstanding Student Award winner.
2004 Jana Lee
Jana received her B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley, in Genetics and Cell biology, where she did undergraduate research in plant molecular biology. She then completed a M.S. degree in Entomology at Michigan State University, where she focused on agricultural ecology and biological control in Doug Landis’ laboratory. Her research focused on interactions between habitat management, insecticide use, and abundance of carabid beetles. Jana was among the first to quantify the response of carabids to habitat disturbance. At the University of Minnesota, she completed her Ph.D. in 2004 under the guidance of George Heimpel. Her field- and lab-experiments elucidated the role of floral nectar in influencing the behavior and physiology of insect parasitoids in the field. Her dissertation work provided critical tests of the long-standing hypothesis that increased floral diversity in agricultural habitats leads to improved biological control.
In addition to the IOBC Award, Dr. Lee was awarded both the first-year and last-year graduate fellowships by the University of Minnesota Graduate School, and the Louise Dosdall fellowship (Jana is the only student in the history of the Department of Entomology to be awarded all three of those fellowships), and most recently was awarded the UM College of Agriculture’s Philip C. Hamm Scholarship for Graduate Students in Plant Sciences and related Disciplines.
She has been an author or co-author on six refereed papers, two book chapters and two guides to natural enemies. She is currently employed by the US Forest Service, studying chemical ecology and biological control of invasive forest insects.
2003 Jonathan Lundgren
Jonathan's Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois in December, 2003, assessed the risk of feeding on transgenic pollen by the coccinellid predator, Coleomegilla maculata. Jon’s research examined nutrition of pollen for development of C. maculata, rates of pollen consumption in lab and field experiments, effects on development of C. maculata when feeding on different amounts of pollen from corn plants expressing the genes for producing Bt-toxins, and the effects of corn anthesis on prey and pollen feeding by C. maculata.
In addition to his dissertation work, Jonathan has worked on the invasion of an agromyzid leafminer in the Midwest, and is an integral player in a new organic-transition project, examining the roles of carabid predators in organic crop habitats. Jon has also been involved in the IOBC Global GMO Guidelines Project, many outreach activities, and has been one of the members of the University of Illinois debate team for recent ESA meetings.
Prior to his work at Illinois, Jonathan received an undergraduate degree in biology and a M.S. degree in entomology, both from the University of Minnesota. Jonathan also worked as a technician for USDA-APHIS-PPQ. He is currently a post-doc at Illinois, working on a USDA-funded Organic Transition project, looking at the roles of carabids and other predators in organic systems.
2002 Jason Harmon
The 2002 Outstanding Student in Biological Control was awarded to Jason Harmon. Jason was an undergrad in Tony Ives’ lab at the University of Wisconsin, where, among other things, he did a project on the effects of predator vision and prey color in foraging behavior of coccinellids. In his Ph.D. with Dave Andow at the University of Minnesota, he has been looking at the effects of alternate prey on predation of pests by generalist predators in a spatially heterogeneous environment.
Dave Andow says about Jason, "he is one of those rare students whose gift for experimental research has resulted in one productive year building logically on each previous productive year. It is not that he is immune from making mistakes; rather he has the remarkable ability to turn mistakes into productive insights without losing any time." Jason’s research effort promises to improve the predictability of generalist predator’s response to prey populations in a complex environment. Jason was awarded the EPA Star Fellowship, and ESA oral student presentation award, and has already been active in service and teaching at the University of Minnesota. Jason delivered an excellent presentation on “The ecological mechanisms of shared predation” to lead off the IOBC Informal Conference Symposium.