Congratulations to UC Davis doctoral students Shawn Christensen, Lexie Martin and Iris Quayle!
They each won the President's Prize (first-place) for their graduate student research presentations this week at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting in National Harbor, Md.
That's quite a feat and well-deserved! From bees to beetles...
Shawn and Lexie are members of the lab of associate professor and community ecologist Rachel Vannette, who serves as vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology andNematology. Iris studies with professor and arachnologist Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics for the department, and associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Shawn competed in the Plant-Insect Ecosystems (P-IE) Section, Apiculture; Lexie in the P-IE Section, Pollinator Biology; and Iris in Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity (SysEB) Section, Biogeography.
Shawn, who has advanced from doctoral student to doctoral candidate, presented his research, titled "Bee Specific! Solitary Bee (Anthophora bomboides) Hosts a Specialized Core Microbiome through Development." Lexie delivered her presentation on "Establishment and Health Impacts of Floral and Intraspecific Microbes in Bees." And Iris? “Colorless but Never Dull: Unraveling Population Genetics and Color Evolution in ‘White' Darkling Beetles (Onymacris).” (See news story)
Iris earlier won first-place for her graduate student presentation at the annual meeting of the Pacific Branch of ESA (PBESA), held in April in Seattle. This was her first-ever presentation at a scientific meeting. “Iris has hit the ground running in all respects," Professor Bond commented at the time. "Winning the student paper award, the first time ever presenting her research, reflects her exceptional capabilities as a scientist and as a future professor and teacher. Iris comes from a non-traditional STEM background and it is exactly those experiences that will continue to contribute to her success as she evolves as a scientist. I predict that this is only a prelude of things to come.”
Iris is focusing her dissertation on the evolutionary relationships and color/trait evolution in Onymacris. Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles) comprise “more than 80 percent of all known beetle species in the Namib desert (Southern Africa) where the genus Onymacris contains a rarity unexpected from aptly named darkling beetles--the presence of several species with striking ‘white' elytra (wing sheaths).” (See news story)
The complete list of student winners--first, second and third places--is posted on the ESA site.
Founded in 1889, ESA is the largest entomological organization in the world. Its more than 7,000 members are affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government.
Attached Images:
These three UC Davis doctoral students won the President's Prize in their specific categories at the Entomological Society of America meeting in National Harbor, Md. From left are Shawn Christensen, doctoral candidate and Lexie Martin, doctoral student, both of the Rachel Vannette lab; and doctoral student Iris Quayle of the Jason Bond lab.
UC Davis doctoral student Iris Quayle delivering her presentation at the Entomological Society of America meeting. She won the President's Prize, or first place, in her category. (Photo by Emma Jochim)