Apurba Barman is now an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Georgia. Barman joined UC IPM as the low desert IPM advisor in January 2021. Barman was located at Imperial County UC Cooperative Extension in Holtville. Barman focused on various pest management issues on important crops of the low desert region such as alfalfa, sugarbeet, lettuce, and other vegetables. Barman came to UC IPM from the University of Georgia, where he managed whitefly monitoring and management programs across different cropping systems. Barman has two master's degrees, one from Assam Agricultural University in India and another from Texas Tech University. Barman’s doctorate degree is from Texas A&M University in College Station. He brought years of research experience working with many insect pests in diverse cropping systems.
Ashley Carr is now chief administrative officer at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. We thank Carr for her four years as a business manager with UC IPM and for continuing to work with us at 25% time for a few months while we searched for her replacement. During her years here, we relied on Carr’s expertise to guide us with developing budgets for grant proposals and contracts and on her ability to get things done. Recently, Carr helped determine policies and procedures as our program shifted toward a new focus on cost recovery. In 2022, Carr received an ANR Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) Award. We all appreciated Carr’s excellent relationship with ANR’s other financial and business managers. She always represented UC IPM well.
Katrina Hunter has moved on to work at The Organic Center, a resource for scientific reporting on agriculture and food, where she will continue to work in communications. Hunter joined UC IPM in 2018 as a writer and editor in the Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination. Hunter produced news releases and social media content. She also ensured that the pesticides listed in the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines and Pest Notes were in accordance with existing laws, regulations, and pesticide registration at the time of publication.
Elaine Lander accepted a learning and evaluation analyst position at The California Endowment, connecting equitable evaluation practices to the broader functions of communication, dissemination, and organizational learning. Lander has been an extraordinary member of the Urban and Community IPM Team since she joined us in 2019. While at UC IPM, Lander trained many UC Master Gardeners on IPM practices, grew UC IPM’s urban audience via social media, added to the Seasonal Landscape IPM Checklist, and helped develop the Wildlife Pest Identification Tool.
Danny Won has moved down the corridor to work with the UC Master Gardener Program. As UC IPM’s program support assistant since 2015, Won offered invaluable support for meeting and travel logistics, administration of UC IPM’s office space within the UC ANR building, and other important duties.
A two-year partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture has ended and with it the Invasive Shothole Borer Project. While some project staff will continue to wrap up the few objectives left, it is now time to acknowledge everyone’s work. Communications Coordinator Randall Oliver got the word out about this invasive pest by developing outreach materials for different audiences, in different languages, and by improving existing training activities. Oliver spoke at conferences and created informational videos and training courses. Oliver has also conducted similar outreach efforts on the more recently identified Mediterranean oak borer. Hannah Vasilis was the field analyst and data survey coordinator. Vasilis worked closely with the county-based trappers and visual surveyors in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Kern, and San Luis Obispo counties to collect and manage trapping and survey data. Vincent Strode was the staff research assistant, coordinating with city and county organizations such as the UC Master Gardeners of Orange County to place monitoring traps for the invasive shothole borer. The results from his trapping were communicated to Orange County Public Works and the Orange County Fire Authority. These organizations then treated or removed the infested trees. The overall goal of the Invasive Shothole Borer Project was to develop an IPM program that uses cultural, physical, mechanical, and pesticide practices to control invasive shothole borers.