Congratulations!

Two students were winners at the Entomological Society of America annual meeting in Portland, Oregon on November 9-12, as follows:

Avery Pennington – 1st place undergraduate 10-minute competition in SysEB, Behavior and Biodiversity

Jared Saufley – 2nd place undergraduate 10-minute competition in FIT, MUVE and SysEB: Education and Outreach

Alumnus News

Victoria Pickens (B.S. May 2019) won 2nd place in the 10-minute graduate student competition in FIT: General at the Entomological Society of America annual meeting in Portland, Oregon on November 9-12. Victoria received her B.S. degree in Entomology from OSU in 2019 and her Ph.D. degree in Entomology from Kansas State University in 2025. She is currently a Fellow Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Entomology at KSU.

December Graduates

Anju Ara has titled her M.S. thesis, “Identification of Septoria nodorum Blotch Susceptibility Genes in Hard Winter Wheat.” Dr. Meriem Aoun has been her advisor. Anju will pursue her Ph.D. degree with Dr. Aoun. She received her B.S. degree in Agricultural Sciences from Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2020.

Augustine Bosomtwe has titled his Ph.D. dissertation, “Biological Control of Psocids (Psocodea: Liposcelididae) using the Warehouse Pirate Bug, Xylocoris flavipes (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae).” His advisor has been Dr. George Opit. Augustine will become a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Henry Fadamiro at Texas A&M University where his research will focus on predators and parasitoids of the Hessian fly in wheat cropping systems. He received his B.S in Agriculture and his M.S. in Crop Protection (Entomology), both from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, in 2014 and 2018, respectively.

Teegin Crosthwait is completing her B.S. degree in Entomology and Plant and Soil Sciences. She plans to go to graduate school.

Jamie Eastep has titled his M.S. thesis, “Tick Abundance and Microorganism Diversity in the 11 Counties Comprising the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.” Dr. Bruce Noden has been his advisor. Jamie is searching for employment. He received his B.S. degree in Entomology from OSU in December 2023.

Chunxiang Hou has titled her Ph.D. dissertation, “Partial Reconstitution of the Prophenoloxidase Activation System in Anopheles gambiae and Maturation of Manduca sexta Moricin-6 by Dipeptidyl Peptidase IVs.” Her advisor has been Dr. Haobo Jiang. Chunxiang is searching for employment. She received her B.S. degree in Agriculture at Hebei Agricultural University in Baoding, China in 2016 and her M.S. degree in Agricultural Extension from the China Agricultural University in Beijing, China in 2018.

Fransico Mosquera has titled his M.S. thesis, “Template Switching cDNA Synthesis and Streptavidin Capture Probe for High-Throughput Detection of Plant RNA Virus.” Dr. Andres Espindola has been his advisor. Francisco is searching for employment. He received his B.S. degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the Armed Forces University - ESPE in Sangolqui, Ecuador in 2019.

Emma Patterson is completing her B.S. degree in Entomology. She plans to begin her M.S. degree at Missouri State University.

Jared Saufley is completing his B.S. degree in Entomology. He plans to begin his M.S. degree at Texas Tech University.

Rachel Seay is completing her B.S. degree in Entomology with a focus on Bioforensics. She plans to begin her M.S. degree with Dr. Jonathan Cammack.

Gillian Struble is completing her B.S. degree in Entomology and Microbiology. She plans to work this summer and then apply for graduate school.

Grace Wishard is completing her B.S. degree in Entomology. She plans to continue to work at Lowe’s for the immediate future.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Matthew Coniglion, Teegin Crosthwait, Israel Kohnle, Emma Patterson, Avery Pennington, Rachel Seay, Gill Struble, and Takoda Williams will give their Capstone ENTO 4800 final research presentations on December 5 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 207.

On the Move

Stephenie Noble’s last day in our department was November 14. She is now an Administrative Assistant in the Statistics Department at OSU. Stephanie was a part-time Administrative Support Specialist for our department who began her position on April 1, 2024.

Departmental Christmas Party

The annual Departmental Christmas party will be held on Saturday December 6 beginning at 6:00 p.m.at at Dr. Justin Talley’s house, 4905 Deerfield Drive, Stillwater. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. A donation of $2.00 per person would be appreciated to help cover the cost of the meat. There will be a gift exchange (please bring a wrapped gift of $25 or less if you would like to participate). If you plan to attend, please sign up on the sheet in the main office. We hope to see everyone there!

December Birthdays