Our Newest ESA Fellows

Three University of California entomology professors were among the 10 newly elected Fellows of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) honored at the organization's 58th annual meeting, held Dec. 12-15 in San Diego.

Their selection speaks highly of the caliber of UC professors. No more than 10 Fellows are selected for the honor every year from the 6000-member organization, and this year the UC system has three.

They are Bruce Hammock and Thomas Scott of UC Davis and Thomas A. Miller of UC Riverside. 

Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology, studies "inhibitors of epoxide hydrolases as drugs to treat diabetes, inflammation, ischemia and cardiovascular disease," the ESA statement of his work reads. "Compounds from the UC Davis laboratory are in human trials."

That in itself--from bench to bedside--is unique in the annals of entomology.

Hammock, a member of the UC Davis Medical Center's Cancer Center and the National Academy of Sciences, is not only a distinguished professor but a highly sought-after mentor who draws students to his lab from all over the world. 

Scott, who directs the UC Mosquito Research Laboratory at Davis, is one of the key "go-to" researchers studying dengue.  When he's not in his UC Davis lab, you can usually find him doing research in Peru, Thailand or Mexico. Scott is especially known for his research on mosquito ecology, evolution of mosquito virus interactions, epidemiology of mosquito-borne disease, and evaluation of novel products and strategies for mosquito control and disease prevention.

Scott is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a past president of the Society for Vector Ecology. He serves as a subject editor for the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. (More on Hammock and Scott on the UC Davis Department of Entomology website.)

ESA officials pointed out that Miller's research "has included structure and function of the insect circulatory system; mode of action of insecticides; insect neuromuscular physiology; physiology, toxicology and behavior of pink bollworm in cotton fields; transgenic insects; and applied symbiosis for crop protection and biopesticides for crop protection. "

Miller's university teaching includes insect physiology, insect toxicology and first year biology. Current projects include control of bush cricket pests of oil palm trees in Papua New Guinea, oversight of field trials of transgenic grapevines with resistance to Pierce's disease, biotechnology for control of desert locust, and regulatory control of insect transgenic technologies.

In 2003 Miller was awarded the Gregor J. Mendel Medal for Research in Biological Sciences by the Czech Academy of Sciences. That's just one of his many honors.

Indeed, the list of honors and accomplishments for these three UC entomologists could easily fill a book!