Entomology Lecture
Beatrix Gerke
The course serves both as a single, concise exposure to the subject and as a foundation for advanced work in entomology (systematics, evolution, ecology, management). Lectures cover all fundamental aspects but emphasize basic biological phenomena, including diversity, evolution, classification, structure, function, development, reproduction, behavior, and ecology. Prereq: Biology 1113, 1113H ,1114, or 1114H. Not open to students with credit for 3000.
The Founders' Memorial Award was established in 1958 to honor the memory of scientists who made outstanding contributions to entomology. Each year at the ESA Annual Meeting, the recipient of the award delivers the Founders' Memorial Lecture, which posthumously honors the life and career of an influential entomologist.
At the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting, the subject of Beatty's lecture will be Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915), a French naturalist, entomologist, educator, and popularizer of science. Though Fabre received little formal education, through intense study he became an expert on the behaviors of a variety of arthropods.
He spent portions of his career teaching both high school and adult night-school courses, and he eventually published dozens of books, many of which described the lives of insects in a narrative form, with "remarkable humanistic elegance [that] brought his audience into the world of the insect," as one modern-day entomologist observed. Fabre's work became popular in France near the end of his life and was later translated into several other languages.
Beatty has focused much of his entomological career studying the behavior and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, having served in research and teaching positions at the University of Vigo (Spain), Santa Clara University, Cornell University, the University of Kiel (Germany), and Stanford University. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed articles since 2003, and he is currently co-editing the forthcoming Dragonflies & Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press).
In 2011, Beatty joined the Entomological Society of America and has been an active member since. He served as the 2016-2017 president of ESA's Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity (SysEB) Section and is currently the SysEB representative to the ESA Education and Outreach Committee. He has also volunteered for a variety of community outreach projects, engaging public and K-12 audiences in insect science. Beatty is married to fellow entomologist Kathleen Harding; together they have a five-year-old son, Thomas.
"Chris is a champion for science, someone who has a strong history of community engagement and outreach," says ESA President Jessica Ware, Ph.D. "His wide breadth of interests, innate curiosity, and love of natural history make him a perfect choice to share the story of Jean-Henri Fabre, whose work has inspired so many."
In recommending Beatty for this recognition, Michael L. May, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the Department of Entomology at Rutgers University, wrote, "I would characterize [Beatty] as a true disciple of Fabre, albeit with a modern mindset and full knowledge and appreciation of the techniques and, especially, the questions that make entomology the exciting and powerful discipline it is today."
Beatty will deliver the Founders' Memorial Lecture, titled "The Passionate Observer: The Life and Times of Jean-Henri Fabre," at the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia in Vancouver, during the Awards Breakfast, beginning at 7:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday, November 15.
ABOUT: ESA is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, the Society stands ready as a non-partisan scientific and educational resource for all insect-related topics. For more information, visit www.entsoc.org.
The E. Paul Catts Memorial Lecture was initiated in 1997, one year to the week after his untimely death on April 5, 1996. A fund drive was initiated and the lectureship was endowed in 2001. Major contributors included Ann B. Catts, Elizabeth Beers and Frank Peryea, and John and Ruth Brown. The lecture is intended to honor excellence in communicative skills. Paul was an excellent teacher, public speaker, and artist.
The Founders' Memorial Award was established in 1958 to honor the memory of scientists who made outstanding contributions to entomology. Each year at the ESA Annual Meeting, the recipient of the award delivers the Founders' Memorial Lecture, the topic of which is always a deceased entomologist.
ABOUT: ESA is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 6,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. The Society stands ready as a scientific and educational resource for all insect-related topics. For more information, visit
A gracious endowment from the Doane family, including his wife, Dr. Winifred Doane, Professor Emeritus, School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, and their son Timothy P. Doane, supports this special event. The Department enthusiastically organizes this lecture series and greatly appreciates the opportunity to honor the legacy of Dr. Charles Doane.
Dr. Chuck Doane attended UW-Madison, receiving his M.S. in 1951 and Ph.D. in 1953. He studied the management of vegetable pests in the Department of Entomology under the direction of Dr. R. Keith Chapman. In a career spanning 46 years he developed innovative programs for many companies around the world.
She received her BA and MS in Entomology from the Agraria University in Lima, Per, and Ph.D. in Crop Sciences with a major in Entomology and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Florida Horticulture Department.
In Sept-2005, she joined the faculty at Oregon State University. Her position included Research and Extension with expertise in IPM and an emphasis on insect ecology, distribution, population dynamics, insect-plant interactions, biological control, insect-plant pathogens interactions, and chemical control. She has been involved in working with multiple commodities groups including potatoes, grass seed, wheat, and vegetables.
As director of the Oregon IPM Center since September 2022, she is working on strengthening signature programs for the center including phenology and prediction models, responses to the arrival of invasive species, and developing IPM content including biological and pesticide resistance management.
She is also an active member of ESA having served in a variety of roles, currently as vice president of the Pacific Branch and newly appointed ESA books editor in chief, a member of the Division, Equity, and Inclusion task force, and the founding co-organizer of the Latino/Hispanic Symposium now in its 12th year.
About Dr. Spivak
Marla Spivak is a MacArthur Fellow and McKnight Distinguished Professor in Entomology at the University of Minnesota. Recent awards include the 2015 Minnesota AgriGrowth Distinguished Service Award, the 2016 Siehl Prize laureate for excellence in agriculture, and the 2016 Wings WorldQuest Women of Discovery Earth Award. She and Gary Reuter bred a line of honey bees, the Minnesota Hygienic line, to defend themselves against diseases and parasitic mites. Current research includes studies of the benefits of plant resins (propolis) to honey bees and the effects of agricultural landscapes and pesticides on bee health. In 2013, Dr. Spivak delivered a TED talk describing the declines of bees.
Dr. Douglas has been the Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor of Insect Physiology and Toxicology, in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University since 2008. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. Douglas was a member of faculty at the University of York, UK (1996 -2008), and a Royal Society University Research Fellow (1986-1996). The three current research foci in her laboratory include, Drosophila-gut microbe interactions, whereby laboratory team members are investigating the composition of the gut microbiota by molecular and microbiological methods, and how the presence and composition of the microbiota interacts with the nutritional condition and immunological function of the insect. Next, they investigate metabolic coevolution in cooperative symbioses, and more specifically how the metabolic networks of the animal host and microbial symbionts are structured for nutrient exchange by genome analysis, metabolic modeling and metabolic experiments. Additionally, her laboratory focuses on the identification of novel targets for insect pest control resulting from fundamental research to identify molecular processes essential for the function of insect pests, and strategies to target these processes. Their research includes interference with the function of insect sugar processing genes and symbiosis-related genes in phloem-feeding insect pests.
Dr. Millar is a professor of Entomology at the University of California Riverside. His research focuses on the study of natural chemicals that mediate interactions between organisms. He studies both insect-produced chemicals such as sex or aggregation pheromones, and chemical messengers from hosts or habitats, such as the chemicals that insects use to locate and recognize their preferred feeding and egg-laying sites.
Dr. Hildebrand is a Regents Professor and Professor of Neuroscience, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Entomology, and Molecular & Cellular Biology. His research aims to contribute to knowledge that will help to alleviate the harm done by insects that are predators of the human food supply or vectors of diseases. Areas of principal interest currently include: the physiology, functional organization, and postembryonic development of the olfactory system; sensory control of mating behavior and insect-host interactions, including feeding and oviposition behaviors; chemical ecology and behavioral aspects of moth-hostplantinteractions; olfactory learning and the roles of biogenic amines in plasticity of olfactory function; and functional organization ofneurosecretory systems.
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