Portrait of Dr. Sebe Brown

EPP Welcomes New Assistant Professor at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center

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Please help welcome Dr. Sebe Brown to EPP. Dr. Brown joined the team this past Monday, December 13, 2021, as an Assistant Professor in Fields Crops Entomology at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson, Tennessee. In this role, Brown will deliver a comprehensive and dynamic extension program in IPM related to common field crops grown in Tennessee (cotton, soybean, corn, and wheat). This involves supporting county agents, crops consultants, and other stakeholder groups. Dr. Brown will also play a key role in the academic life of EPP graduate students by serving as a major advisor. Brown says “a complete extension program relies on three key components to be effective: research, teaching, and outreach. These three components are

Dr. Hadziabdic Guerry and Dr. Trigiano Lab Published in The American Phytopathological Society

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Sarah Boggess, Dr. Denita Hadziabdic, Dr. Robert Trigiano, and colleagues published an article this past November in The American Phytopathological Society (APS) journal. The article titled “Conventional Gel Electrophoresis and TaqMan Probes Enable Rapid Confirmation of Thousand Cankers Disease From Diagnostic Samples“, discusses thousand cankers disease (TCD) and improved and rapid detection protocols.  For the full article, click here.

Portrait of Laurie Barley

Laurie Barley Awarded the UTIA Extension “Award of Excellence”

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Laurie Barley has been awarded the prestigious UTIA Extension non-exempt “Award of Excellence” that goes to an outstanding non-exempt employee who has gone “beyond the call of duty.” Laurie was instrumental in contributing to, and continuing, the educational and testing program of our state-wide Pesticide Safety and Education Program (PSEP) during the last 18 months. During this time, testing and recertification continued even as Covid-19 threatened to close them. This award recognizes her contributions to the attainment of the objectives of Extension:  including leadership, initiative, reliability, cooperativeness, personality, professionalism, communications, competence, planning and implementation. Please join us in CONGRATULATING Laurie on this outstanding recognition!

Matthew Longmire sitting on a chair in the lab

2021 Tennessee Entomological Society Award Winners

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The Tennessee Entomological Society (TES) is dedicated to spreading entomological knowledge throughout the state of Tennessee. Every year, TES holds an annual meeting that highlights student paper competitions. We would like to congratulate each participant for their excellent work while also highlighting the winners from our department. Congratulations and keep up the good work! If you would like to learn more about the Tennessee Entomological Society, please click here for more information.   Undergraduate Award: 1st place, Rachel Baxter (works with Jennifer Chandler and Dr. Karen Vail)                       M.S. Award: 1st place, Kassie Hollabaugh; 2nd place, Allyson Dekovich                       Ph.D.

Portrait Dr. Frank Hale

Dr. Frank Hale Awarded the Richard E. Caron Outstanding Entomologist Award

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Please join us in congratulating Dr. Frank Hale as he has been awarded the Richard E. Caron Outstanding Entomologist Award! This award honors the late Dr. Richard E. Caron, extension entomologist in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology from 1981 to 1991, who worked tirelessly with extension agents and producers, developing ecologically sound IPM programs for cotton and soybean. This award is presented to a TES member who has shown outstanding work in entomological pursuits. Dr. Hale is an outstanding entomologist and truly deserving of this award as he has shown ! Congratulations Dr. Hale!

Fall Armyworm

Scientists Discuss the Fall Armyworm Invasion

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In The Conversation, entomology professor, Dr. Scott Stewart, discusses the invasive species, fall armyworms and control measures. The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is an annual problem and has been invading lawns and fields across the United States. These species destroy lawns by feeding and chewing holes in leaves. To the eyes of many, these fall armyworms come across as worms. However, the fall army worm is a striped caterpillar. In the Summer, the entire lifecycle of the worm is about 30 days and twice the amount of days in the Fall and Spring. To read the full article, please click here.