Four others earn positions on ESA Governing Board
Annapolis, MD; September 2, 2020—Marianne Alleyne, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been elected by members of the Entomological Society of America as the organization's next Vice President-Elect.
She will begin her term as VP-Elect at the conclusion of ESA's Virtual Annual Meeting, Entomology 2020, November 11-25. She will then serve as ESA Vice President beginning in November 2021, President beginning in November 2022, and Past President beginning in November 2023.
In an election that saw the highest member voting turnout in many years, ESA members also elected four other members to begin or continue positions on the ESA Governing Board:
- Stephanie BondocGawa Mafla-Mills, American Museum of Natural History and Rutgers University: ESA Student Representative (newly elected)
- Richard Mankin, Ph.D., U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultrual Research Service: Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology Section Representative (newly elected)
- Andrew Short, Ph.D., University of Kansas: Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Section Representative (re-elected)
- John Ruberson, Ph.D., University of Nebraska: North Central Branch Representative (newly elected)
ESA members also voted on several other volunteer positions within the Society and ESA Sections and Branches, as well as Honorary Members:
For more information on the entomologists elected to the ESA Governing Board, see below:
Marianne Alleyne
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Marianne Alleyne is an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her lab, the Alleyne Bioinspiration Collaborative (ABCLab), studies the multifunctionality of cicada, beetle, and fly wings, as well as the material characteristics and architecture of the clicking mechanism of Elateridae. Insights from the ABCLab's fundamental research have informed the engineering of multifunctional materials and robotic systems.
Dr. Alleyne received a B.A. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley, an M.S. in Entomology from UC Riverside, and a Ph.D. in Entomology from UIUC. She was an entomology research scientist and lecturer at UIUC for 15 years until transitioning to her current tenure-track position. Her commitment to ESA has led her to serve the Society in multiple ways since becoming a student member in 1995. Throughout her career, Dr. Alleyne has been committed to science communication and science policy, and she was an ESA Science Policy Fellow from 2014-2016. She served as president of the Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology Section in 2010 and as the Annual Meeting co-chair (Austin, TX) in 2013. Since 2017, she has been the elected PBT representative to ESA's Governing Board.
Dr. Alleyne has also shown a strong commitment to enhancing diversity, inclusion, and equity in science by co-developing the Code of Conduct Statement and co-creating the EntoAllies program. Her most recent service to ESA combines her passion for innovation and the nurturing of members' creativity by serving on both the Innovation Task Force and the Antlion Pit Competition.
Stephanie BondocGawa Mafla-Mills
American Museum of Natural History and Rutgers University
Stephanie BondocGawa Mafla-Mills is a first-generation Ph.D. candidate studying the island biogeography and community structure of tropical Odonata at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey. Stephanie's research focuses on evaluating how morphology, range, and gene flow vary across species. In particular, she studies how this variation affects insect dispersal and migration across spatial and temporal scales.
As a Philippine Islander and an Ecuadorian-American, Stephanie is particularly interested in documenting the life histories of the endemics that inhabit her ancestral lands while actively engaging indigenous entomologists in every project she undertakes. Stephanie has conducted field work in Guyana and Mexico and learned canopy fogging from Dr. Terry Erwin in Ecuador. A main pillar of her work includes empowering underrepresented students to pursue entomological research projects.
Stephanie served as a panelist on ESA Diversity & Inclusion panels and participated in symposia at the national and Branch meetings. She volunteered two years in a row in the presentation preview room at the annual meeting. Stephanie's commitment to advocating for entomology can be seen at her institution, where she has directly mentored five undergraduate students on entomological research projects through Rutgers University-Newark's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program. She looks forward to the opportunity to serve ESA in this capacity, and to continuing her commitment to entomological research and outreach.
Richard Mankin
USDA-ARS
Dr. Richard Mankin, research entomologist at the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Research Laboratory, Gainesville, Florida, conducts research on detecting and controlling hidden insect infestations and on understanding how insects use the senses of smell and sound in communication. He currently serves as the PBT treasurer and has been a member of ESA since 1979. He served as chair of PBT (in 2002) and as PBT representative to the editorial boards of JEE and the Annals.
ESA has demonstrated an increasing commitment to membership diversity and inclusion during the time he has been in ESA and, if elected to the ESA Governing Board, Richard will prioritize support of activities that continue this trend. In addition, he has supported science education outreach and the professional development of early-career researchers, and will encourage further activities by PBT and ESA in such areas. The PBT Governing Council has expressed interest in continuing previous networking activities of the Insect Genetic Technologies Research Coordination Network (igtrcn.org), and Richard plans to maintain ESA awareness of these and other PBT initiatives. Finally, because the planning and logistics of future Branch and annual meetings may be complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic or other disruptions, Richard has interest in ESA's further exploration of virtual meetings and other options for dissemination of research findings and other scientific information.
Andrew Short
University of Kansas
Andrew Short, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and curator of entomology at the University of Kansas. He earned a B.S. from the University of Delaware (2002) and a Ph.D. from Cornell University (2007) before arriving at Kansas in 2008.
Dr. Short's research program focuses broadly on the diversity and evolution of aquatic insects and the biodiversity of South America. He combines phylogenomic and morphological data with extensive tropical fieldwork to examine how insects evolve between aquatic and terrestrial habitats and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles. He also teaches courses in introductory entomology and tropical field biology. He was the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award in 2015 and was named as a Fulbright Scholar to Brazil by the U.S. Department of State in 2017.
A member of ESA since 1994, Dr. Short has served the society in a variety of roles, including as president of the SysEB Section (2018), and is currently a member-at-large of the ESA Publications Council. He also serves on the board of directors of the Natural Science Collections Alliance and is a research collaborator at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History.
John Ruberson
University of Nebraska
John's Ph.D. (Entomology) is from Cornell University. He is head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Nebraska (since 2019). He was previously at the University of Georgia (1994-2012) and department head at Kansas State University (2012-2018). His research and extension emphasize design/implementation of conservation biological control in annual crop systems, ecology of predators and parasitoids, and sustainable crop production. He has taught courses in biological control, integrated pest management, general entomology, and insects and society.
Along with other professional service, he served as ESA-NCB president (2017-18) and past president (2018-19), on the ESA-NCB Student Awards Committee, and as NCB representative on the ESA Recognition in Entomology Awards Panel. Nationally for ESA he was secretary and chair of the former Biological Control subsection and chaired the Nan Yao Su Award Committee and the Student Activity Award Committee. In ESA-SEB, he chaired three annual meeting Program Committees, chaired the Student Awards Committee, and served on the Bylaws Revision, Nominating, and Resolutions Committees. He was Biological Control subject editor for Environmental Entomology for six years and was on the editorial board of Biological Control for 10 years. He's judged numerous student competitions, including ESA Branch and national meetings, Georgia Entomological Society, and Sigma Xi. He coached a K-State student debate team and Linnaean Games teams for ESA competitions. He served as member-at-large and vice president for the Nearctic Region Section of the International Organization for Biological Control. He also filled numerous roles in the Georgia Entomological Society, including president.
CONTACT: Joe Rominiecki, jrominiecki@entsoc.org, 301-731-4535 x3009
ABOUT: ESA is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, the Society stands ready as a non-partisan scientific and educational resource for all insect-related topics. For more information, visit www.entsoc.org.