Thrilled to be starting a new USDA-NIFA funded project investigating the continental-scale population genomics of the Fall armyworm with recent lab graduate, Dr. Ashley Tessnow. The project stems from Ashley’s dissertation research. She played a huge role in writing the grant which will fund her research for the next three years as a postdoc. The work involves a multi-year coast-to-coast US sampling effort made possible by an essential network of university and USDA collaborators. Read more about the project here. 

Congratulations to Ashley Tessnow (PhD), Cody Gale (PhD) and Kate Crumley (MS), all of whom successfully defended and graduated from Texas A&M at the end of the fall 2020 semester! The COVID era put a damper on our ability to have a proper lab celebration, but we applaud them all for their hard work over the years and hope for the best as they move on in their respective careers.

Agriculture needs new and sustainable pest management approaches to meet the world’s growing food and fiber demands. Human behavior and the way we use these tools, otherwise known as stewardship, plays a critical role in the success and longevity of new agricultural technologies. Greg was recently invited by the Council of Agricultural Science & Technology (CAST) to participate in writing a commentary article titled, “The Need and Challenge for Effective Stewardship of New Pest Management Technologies in Agriculture”.

The commentary publication was launched with a webinar followed by panel Q & A session on May 19, 2020, both of which are accessible from the CAST website.

Our lab’s paper, “Tapping Into the Cotton Fungal Phytobiome for Novel Nematode Biological Control Tools“, was recently selected as the Editor’s Pick in Phytobiomes Journal and featured in a press release from the American Phytopathological Society.

Thanks to Cesar Valencia for providing the rootknot nematode egg photo.

Congratulations to our very own Caroline Wilson who took home the 1st place prize for best undergraduate presentation at this year’s 2020 Ecological Integration Symposium (EIS). Caroline worked closely with Cody Gale as her primary mentor in the lab. She also just submitted an Honor’s Thesis about her research. Caroline is graduating and moving on, but she will be missed. Good luck, Caroline!

The annual EIS meeting had to be held online this year due to the COVID apocalypse. The entire EIS including the awards ceremony has been archived here for your viewing pleasure.