Affiliates

James E. Appleby

My interests are the life histories of the insects and mites of trees, shrubs, and flowers. My main project is the development of a multimedia computer program on such insects and mites. This will incorporate video, drawings, and colored photographs into a program that will greatly enhance the teaching of entomology in this area. The program will also be available to the tree nursery, arboricultural, and forest industries, as well as to home gardeners. Accompanying the computer program will be leaflets on given subjects, each with a limited number of photographs. The first release is planned for 1996, which will be Phase 1: The insects and mites of evergreens. This will be followed with additional releases on the insects and mites of deciduous trees, shrubs, and flowers.

I continue to serve as the resident entomologist for WILL-TV's Illinois Gardener, as editor of Illinois Arboriculture, and chair of the National Insect Photographic Salon for the Entomological Society of America, and teach Forestry 199/401. My main hobbies are scuba diving, underwater and land photography, water gardening, swimming, cross-country skiing, HO model railroading, and bird watching.

Edward J. Armbrust

Dr. Armbrust is an adjunct professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. His area of research concerns integrated pest management of forage crop insects. Specifically he is interested in the use of biological control agents in developing control programs. He oversees research programs dealing with the biology, ecology, and control of insect pests of forage crops, especially alfalfa, and aids in the development and implementation of integrated management programs. In addition, he devotes a great deal of time to administering the Center for Economic Entomology at the Illinois Natural History Survey.

Cathy Eastman

I spend my research time primarily on insect pests of vegetable crops and insects as vectors of plant pathogens. Other research interests include multiple pest interactions and the influence of crop landscape on pest and beneficial insects. Among the more unusual projects I have worked on are various aspects of horseradish pest management. I am active in the Entomological Society of America and currently am chair-elect of Section C. A southern transplant to the Midwest, I enjoy the change of seasons, fall leaves, and great sweater weather. After-work interests include companion animals, gardening, and murder mysteries.

Michael E. Gray

Associate professor, extension specialist, and IPM/Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences out-reach coordinator. Dr. Gray's responsibilities include providing leadership for the Cooperative Extension Service IPM program and serving as the outreach coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. In the early 1990s, he directed a series of parti-cipatory on-farm research projects in northern Illinois that focused on reducing the use of soil insecticides and verifying monitoring techniques for adult corn rootworms. In 1992, he was presented an Innovative Program Award from the Cooperative Extension Service for these research efforts. Currently, he and Dr. Eli Levine, Illinois Natural History Survey, are beginning a series of investigations aimed at answering questions concerning the possible adaptation of western corn rootworms to the cultural practice of crop rotation. Dr. Gray serves as the chair of the Editorial Board for the American Entomologist and is an interim editor for the Journal of Economic Entomology. In 1994, he was presented the Young Faculty Award of Excellence for his extension activities in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.

Michael E. Irwin

Michael E. Irwin has worked extensively with the International Soybean Program (INTSOY) to develop expertise and guidelines for managing insect pests of soybeans and insect vectors of crop diseases, especially for developing countries. He has sought generalized technologies for establishing pest management programs, including sampling plans, monitoring methods, and ecologically sound and environmentally compatible strategies for controlling complexes of soybean pests.

Dr. Irwin's work in plant virus epidemiology has stressed the behavioral ecology of vectors, primarily of soybean mosaic virus, bean common mosaic virus, and barley yellow dwarf virus. He is also working to understand the complex aspects of pest migration: source area, distribution in the atmosphere, distribution on an area-wide basis, and local movement and settling. He believes that the lack of knowledge concerning migration and dispersal of agriculturally important organisms is a major impediment to implementing appropriate integrated pest management strategies.

Dr. Irwin has had a strong, life-long interest in the biosystematics and biogeography of stiletto-flies (Diptera: Asiloidea: Therevidae), a relatively unknown and unstudied group.

He received a B.S. in Entomology from the University of California, Davis (1963) and the Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of California, Riverside (1971). He is a professor in the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Crop Sciences, and the Office of International Agriculture.

Michael Jeffords

Michael Jeffords is a professional scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey and an associate professor of entomology in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. His research interests include biological control of forest pests, effects of insect management of nontarget species, and the interactions of natural and managed ecosystems. He is serving as the public relations and education liaison for the Survey. In that role, he is responsible for translating scientific information into a variety of formats for all Illinois citizens, which includes creating curricular materials for grades K-12, writing articles for popular magazines, and other activities that can be used to inform the citizenry about important scientific issues. In addition, Michael, Susan Post, and Kenneth Robertson have recently completed a book, Illinois Wilds, that is a detailed account of the wild lands that remain in Illinois.

Carl Jones

Carl Jones is a veterinary and medical entomologist whose primary instructional roles are in veterinary parasitology and ecological parasitology. His research encompasses: (1) phenology and genetics of pest and vector species and relationship to insect seasonal and catastrophic dispersal. These studies are intended to identify links between blood-feeding arthropod dispersal and environmental factors. (2) Bionomics of populations of pest and vector arthropods of medical and veterinary medical importance such as ticks and blood-feeding flies. Models for the prediction of outbreaks and to improve the efficacy of integrated management procedures are the ultimate goals of this research. Current research projects include Lyme disease vectors, Borrelia transmission to livestock, integrated management techniques for stable fly control, modeling population dynamics of pteromalid parasitoids of flies, mosquito physiology and reproduction, and evaluation of predatory arthropods for vector control. (3) Manipulation of host physiology to disturb the reproductive capacity of both temporary and permanent ecto-parasites, and understanding the interactions that promote host and parasite coevolution.

Eli Levine

Eli Levine studies the biology, field ecology, and pest-host relationships of insect pests of corn and soybean. He is interested in devising new and unique methods of controlling these insects and incorporating these tactics into integrated pest management systems for corn and soy-bean. Research interests include: (1) determining genetic and environmental bases for prolonged diapause in northern corn rootworm eggs. The prolonged diapause trait was recently confirmed by his laboratory in populations of Illinois northern corn rootworms. This trait allows eggs to pass through two or more winters without hatching rather than the normal single winter pattern. Larvae from such eggs can cause damage to corn after a one-year rotation with another crop if resulting larval populations are high. (2) Understanding the cause for western corn rootworm damage to corn planted after soybeans in east-central Illinois. Preliminary data suggest that intense crop rotation in this region of the corn belt may have selected for western corn rootworm females that lay eggs in soybean fields. This trait is a serious threat to crop rotation as a management tool. (3) Determining when adult bean leaf beetles, a major pest of soybean, complete diapause and emerge in the spring from overwintering sites. This knowledge, coupled with a determination of their ability to survive on alternate hosts such as alfalfa and clover, is particularly important in years when their favored host (soybean) are planted late in the spring.

Joe Maddox

Joe Maddox is interested in pathogens of insects. His research includes epizootiology of insect pathogens and the importance of pathogens as regulators of insect popu-lations. Although he has worked with all groups of insect pathogens, his major emphasis has been the classification, ultrastructure, and life history of entomopathogenic micro-sporidia. Additional research interests include mechanisms of host specificity, storage of viable microsporidia, foreign exploration for entomopathogens of insect pests, and the application and/or manipulation of entomopathogens as biological control agents of insect pests. Favorite non-entomological activities include bird watching, canoeing, fishing, woodworking, and squash.

Jim Nardi

In graduate school, I began studying the cell interactions involved in formation of Manduca wing patterns. These studies have led to my present investigations of neural pathfinding in the developing Manduca wing and the cell surface proteins involved in neural-substrate interactions. These proteins are expressed not only on wing cells during growth of axons and rearrangement of wing epidermal cells but also at times when cells in other tissues are undergoing interactions and rearrangements. Each protein, therefore, appears to be multifunctional and used at different times in different tissues during the molding of insect form.

Recently I collaborated with Patrick Dowd and Robert Bartelt at the USDA station in Peoria to study the structure of a beetle gland that produces an aggregation pheromone. We were surprised to discover that the cells producing this pheromone turn out to be oenocytes. This is the first demonstration that oenocytes have been recruited to produce pheromone and that tracheole cells have been recruited as ductule cells to transport pheromone from oenocytes to spiracles. These poorly understood cells may be the source of pheromones in other species of insects.

Most weekends are spent outdoors about 70 miles from Urbana. Two years ago, I purchased a hill farm over-looking the Wabash River that my family sold in 1970. In the process of restoring part of the old orchard to prairie and maintaining the native flora of the hills and ravines, I have learned the immense pleasure of knowing a piece of land in all its seasons.

Last year, I discovered the world of mites in Charlie Vossbrink's acarology course. The class size was conducive to lively interactions, and the class seems an excellent new addition to the department's course offerings. It has provided me with the pleasures of new discoveries as well as ideas for a popular book on creatures of the soil that I am presently writing and illustrating.

Robert J. Novak

Received Ph.D. in Entomology ('76), UIUC; M.S. in Biology, University of Utah ('71); B.S. in Biology, University of Southern Colorado ('69). Currently professional scientist, Illinois Natural History Survey; associate professor, UIUC and UIC with affiliate appointments in Entomology, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Environmental Studies, and School of Public Health. Director, Medical Entomology Program, Illinois Natural History Survey. Previously NIH postdoctoral associate, University of Notre Dame, and research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, and San Juan, PR. Member of American Mosquito Control Association, served on the Scientific and Regulatory Committee (chair, '91-93), Resolutions Committee, and Aedes albopictus Committee. Received AMCA Presidential Citation, 1993, and elected vice-president in 1994 and president in 1996. Member of the Illinois Mosquito and Vector Control Association (president, vice-president, executive board), Entomological Society of America, Society of Vector Ecology, and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Has been a consultant for the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, USAID, and U.S. Army. Has worked in 12 countries in Central and South America, the Antilles, East and South Africa, and Europe.

My research interest is in medical veterinary entomology, especially the family Culicidae (mosquitoes) and the pathogens they transmit, as well as in urban/public health entomology. My laboratory has long-term field and labora-tory investigations in mosquito ecology and genetics, insect pathology, toxicology and management, molecular and classical virology/bacteriology, and mosquito vector competence. Studies on other infectious pathogens of public health importance are also being investigated.

David Onstad

David Onstad, associate professor, teaches Ecology of Agricultural and Forest Systems (For/Hort 140). Research interests include mathematical modeling of insect populations and diseases, risk assessment of biological and chemical pest control, and microbial control of insects and weeds. He is working on microbial control of gypsy moth, risk of gypsy-moth management to nontarget Lepidoptera, and ecology of European corn borer, and is developing a computerized ecological database of the world's insect pathogens, which he hopes to put on the World Wide Web.

David lives north of Mahomet with his wife, Dawn Dockter, and daughter Nora. His hobbies are home brewing, wine tasting, table tennis, gardening, and bicycling. He is secretary-treasurer of the local chapter of Amnesty International, which he led for four years in the late 1980s. He has studied at Cornell University and conducted research in the Department of Theoretical Production Ecology, Agricultural University, Wageningen (The Netherlands). During fall 1994, David was on sabbatical leave at North Carolina State University, working on a mathematical model of population dynamics and genetics of European corn borer on genetically engineered corn.

Daniel Schneider

Daniel Schneider's research focuses on the effects of disturbances on aquatic ecosystems. By applying knowledge of how natural perturbations affect ecosystems he seeks to predict the effects of human disturbances. His research extends from the zebra mussel and its effects on the Great Lakes and Mississippi River ecosystems, to the effects of changes in flood regime on insect communities of wetlands, to historic effects of settlement and changing land use on the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay region.

Dr. Schneider has also worked on aquatic insects, ecology, and water resources issues in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico. His teaching covers ecological applications to planning, watershed planning, and the historical ecology of human settlement. He also has an appointment in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the Center for Aquatic Ecology at the Illinois Natural History Survey. He got his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kevin L. Steffey

Kevin Steffey is an extension specialist and professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies at UIUC and the Illinois Natural History Survey. He received his B.S. in Entomology from Purdue University ('72), his M.S. in Entomology from the University of Missouri ('75), and his Ph.D. in Entomology from Iowa State University ('79). Kevin began his career in Illinois in 1979 and has focused his educational and applied research programs on insect management in corn, alfalfa, and other field crops. His research includes studies of corn rootworm management and control, nonchemical methods of managing European corn borers (including transgenic corn), alfalfa insect management, and insect surveys of agricultural systems. He is author or co-author of 20+ scientific publi-cations, 20+ invited publications (including four book chapters), and more than 150 extension publications. He has been active in the Entomological Society of America, having served on the Governing Board, and is currently contributing editor of "Postmarked: Extension USA" in American Entomologist.

David Voegtlin

I have been working at the Illinois Natural History Survey since 1980. My primary focus is on the biology and taxonomy of aphids. Biological aspects of this are host alternating life cycles, local and long distance movement and response of cereal aphids to autumnal conditions. My taxonomic work has been related to species complexes to which so many of our agriculturally important aphids seem to belong. My association with the department has been primarily by serving on student committees.

Donald Webb

Donald W. Webb is an insect systematist with the Center for Biodiversity, Illinois Natural History Survey. His research centers around the systematics and evolution of the lower brachycerous Diptera and the asiloid family Therevidae. He is also identifying the macroinvertebrates of Illinois caves and springs and evaluating the effects of agricultural runoff on their community diversity. He is resurveying the stonefly (Plecoptera) fauna of Illinois and evaluating their distributional patterns relative to environmental changes over the past 70 years in Illinois. And on occasion, his expertise in forensic entomology is called upon, to determine the time of death of individuals inhabited by fly maggots.

Rick Weinzierl

Rick Weinzierl is an associate professor and extension specialist in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences; he is an affiliate in Entomology and also holds an appointment in the Illinois Natural History Survey. He has been on the faculty at Illinois since completing his Ph.D. in Entomology at Oregon State University in 1984. He earned his M.S. degree at North Dakota State University in 1979. He teaches "Fundamentals of Insect Pest Management" (Ent 319) to graduate students and advanced undergraduates and conducts extension and applied research programs that cover insect management in fruit and vegetable crops and in livestock production. His interests include the biological control of muscoid flies, IPM implementation in fruits and vegetables, and evenhanded communications about pesticides and food safety.

Robert N. Wiedenmann

I arrived at the Illinois Natural History Survey in May 1994. I received my Ph.D. from Purdue in 1990, where I worked on the searching strategy of a predaceous insect. I then spent four years on a postdoc in the Biological Control Laboratory at Texas A&M, where I worked on insect parasites of stem-boring pyralids.

My research interests are centered around biological control of insects and weeds. I am interested in foraging strategies of parasitic insects, especially the combinations of morphological and behavioral adaptations that make up those strategies; behavioral and physiological aspects of the ecology of insect parasites of lepidopteran stem borers; and facultative phytophagy of predaceous Heteroptera, and how that affects using those predators in IPM strategies. I also have a project on biological control of an exotic weed, purple loosestrife, in northern Illinois. I am currently advising two M.S. and two Ph.D. students in Entomology.

Arthur Zangerl

An Illinois product from birth through doctoral training, Arthur Zangerl came to Entomology in 1983 after obtaining a Ph.D. in Plant Biology (Ecology) at the University of Illinois. Born of Swiss parents who came to the U.S. during the Great Depression, Art is able to share Swiss cultural experiences with another descendant of Swiss stock (Stewart Berlocher).

Art came to the department as a postdoc to work with assistant professor May Berenbaum. Art is now a faculty affiliate of the department and continues a highly productive 13-year collaboration with Professor Berenbaum on the study of chemical coevolution of plants and insects.