Douglas B. Walsh, Ph.D., professor and extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at Washington State University (WSU), was elected as a Fellow in 2023. Walsh is known internationally for his research on the modes of action and resistance mechanisms of acaricides on spider mites and regionally in the Pacific Northwest for his extension and outreach efforts on specialty crops.
Walsh was born in New York, New York, in 1963, and his family relocated to California in 1969, where he completed his primary and secondary education in Goleta, California. Walsh received his B.S. in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1985 and Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California, Davis, in 1998. Walsh accepted the position of assistant professor in entomology at WSU in 1998 and was promoted to associate professor in 2003 and to professor in 2007.
Walsh has maintained a well-funded (more than $30 million) and productive program as the research director of the Environmental and Agricultural Entomology Laboratory located at the WSU Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in the Yakima Valley near Prosser, Washington. Walsh is the extension integrated pest management (IPM) coordinator for Washington State and the Washington State liaison representative to the U.S. Department of Agriculture IR-4 Project. Walsh has an extensive and varied integrated pest and pollinator management research and extension program assisting regionally important commodities including hops, alfalfa, grapes, and mint. Walsh also directs environmental impact studies on alfalfa leafcutting and alkali bees, the key pollinators of alfalfa produced for seed. Walsh's efforts in IPM have resulted in the documented reduction of over 100,000 pounds of insecticide use in the Pacific Northwest annually. Walsh has authored over 200 publications, and he annually makes over 35 extension presentations. Walsh has directly mentored 12 Ph.D. and 11 M.S. graduate students at WSU.
Walsh has served ESA in numerous capacities, most notably as Pacific Branch president in 2010 and as the representative from the Pacific Branch on the ESA Governing board from 2013 through 2019. Walsh was knighted into of the Order of the Hop (Chevalier) by the International Hop Growers Bureau in 2017. Within ESA, Walsh has received the Excellence in IPM Award and has led two teams that received the IPM Team Award. Within WSU Walsh has been awarded the Sahlin Award for Outreach and Engagement, the Excellence in Extension Award, the Team Interdisciplinary Award, and the Excellence in Integrated Research and Extension Award.
Walsh has shared his life with his wife of 35 years, Catherine (aka Kikie). Kikie is a senior software engineer with Altera Digital, a hospital software firm. Together they have raised their children Claire, Russ, and Jeff. All three of Walsh's children graduated from WSU. Claire resides in Everett, Washington, with her husband Cody and son Lowell. Claire is lifecycle marketing manager with Niantic Labs. Russ resides in Prosser, Washington, where he is completing his M.S. in teaching at WSU Tri-Cities. Jeff resides in Renton, Washington, with his wife Chi, where he serves as a site reliability engineer for TikTok.