October 14, 2016
Entomology graduate students receive top awards at International Congress of Entomology
Graduate students in K-State's entomology department excelled at the International Congress of Entomology Sept. 25-30 in Orlando, Florida.
The meeting is hosted every four years at different locations around the world. The 2016 meeting was the largest gathering of entomologists, with more than 7,000 in attendance. Needless to say, the student competition events were highly competitive with numerous entrants from around the globe.
K-State graduate students brought home numerous awards including:
• Edwin Afful, doctoral student mentored by Tom Phillips, professor of entomology, received first prize in the Graduate Student Oral Competition: Urban Entomology in a Changing Environment: Home and Warehouse Pests session for his paper, "Phosphine resistance in Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) in North America: incidence, severity and work towards a rapid assay for detection."
• Jessica Thomson, doctoral student mentored by Ludek Zurek, professor of microbial ecology, and Dana Nayduch, USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist, received first prize in the Graduate Student Poster Competition: Medical and Veterinary Entomology Section session for her poster, "Procurement and persistence of GFP-expressing Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium in male and female house flies exposed to cattle manure."
• Ryan Schmid, doctoral student mentored by Brian McCornack, associate professor of entomology, received first prize in his session of the Graduate Student Oral Competition: Integrated Pest Management and Sustainable Agriculture: Agricultural Systems for his presentation, "Assessment of a novel Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), monitoring method under field conditions."
• Lina Aguirre-Rojas, doctoral student mentored by Mike Smith, professor of entomology, received second prize in the Graduate Student Poster Competition: RNAi and Gene Expression Control in Insects for her poster, "Silencing of Laccase2 in Dectes texanus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) by RNA interference."
• Barbara Amoah, recent doctoral graduate mentored by Tom Phillips, professor of entomology, received second prize in the Graduate Student Poster Competition: Acarology and Stored Products session for her paper, "Development and validation of sequential sampling plans for the ham mite, Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Shrank) (Acari: Acaridae) on dry-cured ham."
In addition to their presentation victories, Thomson and Schmid also were members of the Midgrass Prairie Regional Debate Team, along with three members from South Dakota State University. The team won its head-to-head debate, and finished as second runner-up for the overall competition.
An excellent performance and representation of Kansas State University on an exceptional international stage.