Charles Vincent, ESA Fellow (2013)

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Dr. Charles Vincent, a research scientist at the Horticultural Research and Development Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, Canada (HRDC), was elected as Fellow in 2013. He is recognized as an international leader in agricultural entomology for innovation in research and development of alternative insect management methods to conventional insecticides.

Born in Montreal, QC, in 1953, he received a B.Sc. in agriculture from Université Laval (Quebec City, QC) in 1978, a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in entomology from McGill University (Montreal) in 1980 and 1983, respectively. In 1983, he joined HRDC. He was appointed adjunct professor at McGill University in 1984; professeur adjoint at the Université du Québec à Montréal in 1991; and, since 2000, professeur invité at the l’Université Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens, France), where he teaches a one-month workshop on scientific writing every year.

Vincent’s research involved alternatives to insecticides in horticultural crops. His research was instrumental in the development and commercialization of Virosoft CP4®(with Biotepp Inc.), the first insecticidal virus registered for agricultural use in Canada, and Requiem®,a Chenopodium-based botanical (with Codena Inc.). He has achieved an international reputation for important contributions to classical biological control and physical control methods for insect pest management in diverse agricultural systems. He supervised the work of 14 Ph.D. and 22 M.Sc. students, as well as 6 post-docs and more than 100 student interns, mostly from Europe. He authored 165 scientific papers, and edited 24 books and 8 technical bulletins. He has given more than 500 presentations for diverse audiences worldwide.

Vincent served ESA asCo-chair of the Local Arrangements Committee for the ESA-ESC-SEQ meeting in Montreal (2000); member of the Committee on Common Names of Insects (2001–2003); member of the Standing Committee for International Affairs (2004–2010); Governing Board member, representing the International Branch (2012); and organizer of 5 symposia at ESA meetings. He has held leadership positions in scientific societies, notably as Président of the Société d’entomologie du Québec (1988), President of the Entomological Society of Canada (2004), and President of the ESA-International Branch (2011). He has co-organized 26 symposia worldwide and assumed approximately 50 roles in various scientific societies. He has received numerous awards, including two Exceptional Service Awards from ESA (2000, 2007); Commandor, Order of Agronomical Merit from the Ordre des Agronomes du Québec (2009); Gold Medal from the Entomological Society of Canada (2010); Entomological Distinction Award from the Entomological Society of Quebec (2012); Foreign Member from the Académie d'Agriculture de France (2012); L.O. Howard Distinguished Achievement Award from the ESA-Eastern Branch (2013); and the Gold Harvest Award for innovation, collaboration, and service excellence from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (2014).

He has happily lived with France Labrèche (medical epidemiologist) for the past 40 years. They have two sons: Philippe (chemist) and Louis (physicist). His hobbies include reading (history, biographies, thrillers), listening to music (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Miles Davis), acoustic guitar, singing (occasionally in public), tennis, volleyball, and world travelling (museums, national parks or protected areas).

(updated March 2014)