2011 Highlights: UC IPM Annual Report

UC IPM staff members honored

Bentley receives service award

Walter Bentley, who has served for more than 30 years as a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and IPM advisor, was awarded ANR’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award in Extension. The award recognizes a career dedicated to the development and delivery of practical, relevant, and sensible pest management programs for Californians.

In the award nomination, Pete Goodell, IPM advisor and UC IPM associate director for agricultural IPM, noted “(Walt) has had only two driving forces in his career—creating practical yet high-quality entomological knowledge based on science and directing that knowledge to make a difference in the lives of the people he serves.”

UC IPM director earns top weed science honor

During its 2011 annual meeting in Portland, Ore., the Weed Science Society of America awarded its highest recognition—the Fellow award—to Kassim Al–Khatib, UC IPM director and a professor of weed science at UC Davis.

Al–Khatib, whose specialty is weed physiology and herbicide resistance, has led significant grant programs, holds two patents, and has authored or co-authored nearly 350 refereed journal articles, abstracts and proceedings, extension and research publications, and book chapters.

Goodell leads Applied IPM Ecologists

Pete Goodell, IPM advisor and UC IPM associate director for agricultural IPM, has been serving as president of the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists since January 2011. The organization provides quality information about ecology-based pest management while encouraging environmentally compatible approaches and an awareness of IPM.

As president, Goodell is working on an initiative to develop a national IPM credential to certify professional IPM practitioners.

Melnicoe receives Citation of Excellence

UC Davis has awarded Rick Melnicoe, assistant to the UC IPM Director and Director of the Western IPM Center, a 2011 Citation of Excellence for supervision. The nomination noted that as a model of a can-do attitude and approach, Melnicoe encourages others to aim high and stretch. He also has become a leader in the program at a national level.

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