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Entomology Celebrates 2006 Faculty and Staff Achievements

Pankiw receives national recognition for honey bee research

Members of the Entomology department are abuzz about Tanya Pankiw's latest honey bee research.

Pankiw and her research have gone to a new level after receiving the 2006 National Research Initiative Discovery Award recently at the 2007 Agriculture Conference.

Pankiw's project, "Pheromone Regulation of Brood Rearing in the Honey Bee," was selected from more than 30 nominees nationwide. The project focuses on the effects of brood pheromone and its effects on individual bees and colonies.

Brood pheromone is a chemical that bees use to communicate between adults and their young. The pheromone has the potential to increase the number of pollen foragers in a colony by up to 150 percent. It also can have a effects on the age when bees first forage for pollen, as well as increasing the colony's growth rate.

The chemical can increase the colony's ability to withstand parasite and pathogen infections, as well as field more foragers for pollination and nectar collections.

Pankiw said the pheromone will allow producers using bees to have increased pollination of their crops. In addition, this pheromone will become valuable to beekeepers that sell and rent to producers and other beekeepers.

The NRI Discovery Award recognizes outstanding researchers in agriculture who have supported the agency's mission to advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities.

According to information posted on honeybee.tamu.edu, honey bees are very important to pollination in agricultural, urban and natural landscapes. They also pollinate around 130 fruit, vegetable, nut, ornamental and fiber crops in the United States, contributing to about $15 billion annually through improved crop yield and product quality.

In addition to a plaque, Pankiw will receive $10,000 in research funds and a one-year extension on the project.

"This is really nice and gives me flexibility on any additional work I need to do," she said.

Entomology Staff Receive Awards for Distinguished Service

The Department of Entomology Staff Meritorious Service Award annually recognizes the accomplishments of an individual employed within the Department of Entomology through the awarding of a check for $1,000.00 and a framed certificate. This year, the award was presented to Ms. Kathy Seaton, Business Associate II.

Kathy works in the Department's administrative accounting section where she is responsible for the daily purchasing activities of the department. Kathy has been instrumental in establishing new processes for the accounting team that help not only the faculty and staff but also our students - one example being, she has improved and instituted new processes necessary for quicker payment of students’ tuition and fees.

Kathy has consistently been more than an outstanding employee, always going above and beyond the basic expectations to help the Department become something special. She is the epitome of what this award represents. One nominator summarizes it best, “It is difficult to find words to adequately express Kathy’s work ethic. ‘Honest, efficient, professional, loyal, accurate, dedicated, courteous, respectful, leader and team-player.”

Special congratulations to Ms. Roberta Priesmeyer and Dr. Mark Wright were selected for the 2006 Laserfiche Run Smarter Award for Education. This award is presented annually to one educational institution worldwide in recognition of exceptional use of Laserfiche software that results in efficiency and productivity in office processes.

In addition, Roberta and Mark received the 2006 Laserfiche Users’ Choice Award, which is presented annually after an international balloting process among 25,000+ installations. Roberta and Mark have identified, developed and implemented office processes which have streamlined efficiency, increased productivity, reduced response time, and freed-up warehouse and storage space previously used to house records. Their ingenuity and creativity has been recognized throughout the Ag Program, by implementation of the software.

Dr. Dial F. Martin Honored for His Career Achievements

Following the Departmental centennial celebration in 1999, the Department of Entomology Lifetime Achievement Recognition program was developed in order to serve as posthumous recognition of the career contributions of Departmental faculty (with any combination of teaching, research and extension assignments, and with majority affiliation to the Department of Entomology) to the Department and to entomology as a whole. At the same time, this program establishes a historical awareness and record of those individuals who worked to build the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University.

Eligibility is restricted to deceased members of the faculty with professorial rank (or the equivalent thereof for earlier members of the Department). Wall plaques are on permanent display on fourth floor outside the Departmental Administrative office. A special “thank you” to Dr. Horace Burke, Chair of the Emeritus Professors Committee, who works tirelessly to ensure a thorough and timely process for nomination and balloting for this annual award. The recipient of the 2007 Department of Entomology Lifetime Achievement Recognition was Dr. Dial F. Martin, Professor-Teaching and Research, from 1939 through 1957.

Dial F. Martin served 18 years on the faculty of the Texas A&M Department of Entomology and 24 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After joining the faculty in 1939, he taught entomology and conducted research on pecan insects. During WWII he was stationed in Burma and India in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army to control mosquitoes and other arthropod pests of troops. Immediately following the war, Dial resumed teaching and research on pecan insects. His research responsibilities were later changed to biology and control of cotton pests. In the USDA,. Dial held positions as research leader in the pink bollworm program, assistant branch chief for cotton insect research, and laboratory chief and research leader at the insect control laboratory at Stoneville, MS.

After retirement, Martin advised the Brazilian government on control of the boll weevil, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in cotton insect research to that problem. He served as president of the Southwestern and Southeastern branches of the Entomological Society of America, as well as the Mississippi Entomological Society. In addition to extensive involvement in research and research administration, Dial Martin actively participated on many important academic, scientific and commodity committees during his long career as an entomologist.

2007 Department of Entomology Arthropod Image Salon

The Department of Entomology, for the third year, sponsored an Arthropods Image Salon contest. The contest aims to develop and raise the visibility of photo and creative talent in the form of a competition, followed by a public exhibition showcasing the competition winners and participants.

Participants submit entries into four categories:

The overall winner in each of four categories and the Best Overall Image were announced during the annual meeting, with the individual submitting the Best Overall Image receiving a check for $250.

Winners for the 2007 Image Salon are:

All submissions will be available for viewing on the Department website. During the summer of 2006, the MSC Gallery featured “Bug-Eyed! An Artistic Adventure” showcasing selections from the past two years of competition. This exhibit was well received by the general public, including the 4-H participants, and over 800 students in the Brazos Valley summer camp programs.

Now, the Benz Gallery of Floral Art has installed “Bug-Eyed! An Artistic Adventure” in the Horticulture-Forest Science Building atrium. As pleasant break from every day activities might be to walk over to the building and view selected works from the first two years of competition.