PEPS Ohana, It's time again for the University of Hawaii Food Drive, to benefit the Hawaii Food Bank! Please bring (or send) a check made out to "Hawaii Food Bank" to Lydia in the department office, or bring in some food (checks preferred though, if possible). This is a GOOD cause! Everything goes to help the hungry right here in Hawaii. If you've been reading the economic news, then you know that there are people who really do need your help. It's a fact that most Americans are only one or two paychecks away from being homeless. So, please help those around you who are hungry and in need.

Five Most Wanted Foods:
Canned meats or tuna
canned meals like spaghetti, chili, and corned beef hash
canned soups
canned vegetables and fruit
canned beans

Also, GREAT T-Shirts (see attached) for only $12-14; and Aloha Diners Club Books full of great savings for only $14. See the attachments, and see Lydia to place your orders.

PLEASE GIVE NOW! FINAL DEADLINE IS APRIL 22.

Thanks for your kokua.

Foodbank T-shirts		Diners Club Info		Diners Club Listing

Entomology MS Thesis Defense:

"Occurrence and Distribution of Pests of Public Health Importance on the Island of Oahu"

Mark Leong

Mark K. H. Leong Entomology Graduate Program PEPS, CTAHR

Friday, March 7
10:30 AM
Gilmore 301

Thesis Committee: Ken Grace (Advisor), Lee Goff, Julian Yates

All are welcome to attend!

Dr. Lloyd Loope of USGS will be giving an informal talk on Wednesday March 5th 1030-1145 in Gilmore Hall room 302. His title will be:

"Stranger than Fiction: newly emergent invasive species threats to Hawaii's biodiversity and efforts to address them"

PEPS SPECIAL SEMINAR:

"Entomopathogenic Nematodes: An Area of Potential Interest"

Miss Muthusamy Razia and Dr. S. Siva Ramakrishnan
Dept. of Biotechnology
Bharathidasan University
Tamil Nadu, India

Thursday, Feb 28
11:00 AM
St John 106

Everyone is welcome! Please contact Brent Sipes if you would like to meet with Dr. Ramakrishnan while he is here.

I'm pleased to welcome Stephen Yoshida to PEPS as our new Pope Lab greenhouse manager, effective March 3, 2008. Stephen is replacing Stanley Oshita, who retired in December but kindly agreed to fill in as an emergency hire since his retirement.

Mr. Yoshida comes to us from the UHM grounds crew, where he's responsible for weed control and pesticide inventory (just as Stanley was before joining PEPS). Before joining UH, Stephen also had experience in agriculture and greenhouse operations.

Please join me in welcoming Stephen, and be sure to introduce yourself to him when you visit Pope Lab.

Announcing the Second Annual
University of Hawaii
Insect Museum
Insect Sorting Event

What is it? An insect sort becomes necessary as specimens accumulate through field collections. Until a sort, these insects are not easy for experts studying different groups to locate in the museum. During a sort, labeled insects are put with the other insects to which they are closely related. Then they are placed in their proper spot in the museum collection where experts can find them and identify them. The UH Insect Museum is a research museum in the Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

Who should come? Anyone interested in learning more about the insects of Hawaii. If you can tell a moth from a beetle, you can make a contribution!

Why should I go? It's a great chance to learn a little bit about a lot of different groups of Hawaiian insects in a casual atmosphere.

How much time will it take? You can stop by for a few minutes, go to class and come back, or stay for the whole time we are sorting. We hope to finish after one day.

When is it? Wednesday February 13, 10am until 6pm.

Where is it? The sort will be held in the UH Insect Museum Room 607A Gilmore Hall.

Questions? Contact Dan Rubinoff: rubinoff@hawaii.edu 
or Jesse Eiben: eiben@hawaii.edu 

Tonia Quintero

Tonia Quintero will be defending the Ph.D. in Tropical Plant Pathology (TPP - PEPS) on Thursday, 31 January 2008. Brent Sipes is her Advisor.

Ms. Quintero will present a seminar entitled "Molecular and Morphological Assessment of Soil Nematode Communities in Hawaii" on her research in Gilmore 301 at 12:30 PM on 31 January 2008.

The defense will follow immediately after the conclusion of the seminar.

Coffee to Welcome Dr. Yangrae Cho
Tuesday, January 8
10 AM in St John 302

Join us in welcoming our newest faculty member to PEPS!

Minimizing the spread of banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is of great importance to Hawaii's banana growers. PEPS researchers are producing and distributing tissue-cultured banana plants which are free of BBTV and parasitic nematodes. Entomologist Cerruti Hooks and nematologist Koon-Hui Wang are highlighted in the recent UH News release.

Highlight in the UH newsletter:
http://www.hawaii.edu/newsatuh/2008/0107/index.php?story=1 

Full story in UH News press release:
http://www.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/uhnews?20071214103107 

Don't forget to bring your pumpkin to our PEPS Pumpkin Carving Contest on October 31. Bring your carved pumpkin to Gilmore 301 between 11:30 and 12:00 Noon. Judging will be between 12:00 to 12:30 (take a slip of paper and write down the name of your favorite pumpkin). At 12:30 the winners will be announced!

There will be pizza. But, feel free to bring a small dish to share too if you like.

I have to be on the mainland, but Janice Uchida and Chris Kadooka (and our wonderful office staff of course) will be helping and officiating at the contest.

Happy Halloween!

Thanks to Ron Mau and his crew and our friends at Aloun Farms, pumpkins are available in Gilmore 310 for use in our upcoming PEPS Pumpkin Carving Contest on Halloween, Oct 31.

All PEPS Faculty, Staff, and Students (including undergrads and student helpers), and our friends in Administration can compete in the Pumpkin Contest - Just carve your pumpkin ahead of time and bring it to Gilmore 301 at 11:30. Judging will end at 12:30.

All are welcome to come and pick your favorite! Bring a little dish to share too and enjoy some social time on Halloween.

Here we have started a little image gallery for miscellaneous plants and their problems. This gallery supplements our existing galleries for banana, 'awa, palms, coffee, noni, 'awa and mango.

The "Miscellaeous" gallery is under construction, but now it has about 200 photos for 50 plants/crops and 85 different pest problems:

Miscellaneous Pest & Disease Image Gallery
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/nelsons/Misc/

You are welcome to submit photos. This site barely "scratches the surface" of what is out there in terms of pest problems, but I thought it might be useful for some people anyway, such as Master Gardeners. Although insect problems are not my area of expertise, I put some common ones up on the site just for fun.

CTAHR students, faculty, staff, and friends!

Please join your friends in kicking-off the new academic year at CTAHR's 18th Annual Welcome Back Ice Cream Bash, on Monday, September 10, 2007, 12:30-1:30 p.m., in Sherman Courtyard.

Meet new and old friends, and cheer on your department's representative in the costume and ice-cream eating contests!

Indulge in FREE and DECADENT ice cream sundaes!

During this year's Ice Cream Bash, while we're feasting on decadent treats, we should not forget those who are less fortunate. We will be supporting Hawaii Meals on Wheels at this year's Ice Cream Bash. Cash and check donations (payable to Hawaii Meals on Wheels) will be welcome.

See you at the Ice Cream Bash!!!

We are happy to welcome new PEPS Assistant Professor (Arthropod Vectors of Plant Pathogens) ALBERTO BRESSAN. Dr. Bressan can be reached at bressan@hawaii.edu, or at 956-6741 (Gilmore 513). A native of Italy, Alberto just moved to Hawaii from the south of France with his wife and their brand new baby daughter.

Although he started with us earlier this summer, a big welcome also to our invasive plants researcher, JAMES LEARY <leary@hawaii.edu>, 956-6179, Gilmore 403. Dr. Leary is also teaching PEPS/TPSS 481, Weed Science, this semester with Dr. Joe DeFrank (TPSS). James is a well known face in the college, and just received his PhD from MBBE, where he worked with Dr. Dulal Borthakur (as well as with Dr. Joe DeFrank in TPSS).

We are also pleased to have FRED BROOKS <brooksf@hawaii.edu> with us this semester as instructor for PEPS 405, Plant Pathogens and Diseases. Dr. Brooks has a wealth of experience in tropical plant pathology in American Samoa, and just moved to Hawaii this summer. He can be found in St John 317, 956-5305.

ETHEL VILLALOBOS <emv@hawaii.edu> isn't a new face, since she has been working with Dr. Mark Wright for several years now. However, Dr. Villalobos has taken on more responsibilities this semester as instructor for PEPS 363 and 363L, General Entomology. Ethel has taught the lab portion of the course for the past couple years, but is taking on the lectures this semester too due to the summer retirement of Dr. Stephen Saul.

STEFAN KRODER <kroder@hawaii.edu> is a new arrival and research entomologist from Europe, and is working in Gilmore Hall on Dr. Russell Messing's biological control projects. TARA GARIEPY <tara_gariepy@yahoo.ca> has also just arrived from Canada, and is working with Dr. Messing on Kauai. Actually, Stefan and Tara are working on his research projects but not side by side with him, since Russell is on sabbatical this year.

KOON-HUI WANG <koonhui@hawaii.edu> has returned to us from Florida as a research nematologist working with Dr. Cerruti Hooks. Dr. Wang earned her PhD in Tropical Plant Pathology a few years ago under Dr. Brent Sipes. Welcome back.

LUC LEBLANC and WILL HAINES, both Entomology PhD students advised by PEPS Associate Professor Dan Rubinoff, received awards for their presentations at the 15th Annual Hawai‘i Conservation Conference, July 25-27, 2007. at the Hawaii Convention Center. Luc received the award for Best Student Oral Presentation for his research on the impact of fruit fly lures on non-target insects. Luc has found that traps placed in orchards do not attract native insects, and that they are not inclined to visit even improperly placed traps in native forests unless large number of dead flies are present. Will was named Runner-up for his paper on the true conservation status of Hawaiian leafroller moths in the genus Omiodes. By focused surveys, Will found that many of the species thought to be extinct due to habitat destruction and biological control impacts were actually alive and well, or had been misidentified in the first place Details can be found at http://www.hawaiiconservation.org/call-for-papers.asp.

The Plant Pathology Graduate Student Organization (PPGSO) is hosting their monthly barbecue and vollyball games this coming Friday, Aug 24 around 4:00 PM on the lawn adjacent to Gilmore. Everyone in the department, and all friends of the department, are invited to come for good food, fun, and fellowship. If you can bring a little food to share, or a donation to help with party needs, it is appreciated. Let's all show up and have some fun!

In an effort to further communication among us in CTAHR, we are pleased to announce the release of "CTAHR eXchange." CTAHR eXchange is our opportunity to communicate ideas, discuss issues, raise concerns and seek solutions. The web site is home to CTAHR internal blogs and forums. CTAHR eXchange can be found at www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/CS.

Currently on CTAHR eXchange is my "Sustainable Agriculture" blog. We will also be putting up future issues of the CTAHR Research as a separate blog. I've also started two forums - one on Invasive Plant Species and one on CTAHR Research Funding. Feel free to read and make comments.

CTAHR eXchange can be read by all. But to comment on the blogposts or to respond to the forum posts, you must log in. If you are a CTAHR employee, an account hs been created for you but you must log in. Once inside you may create your own profile.

Our hope is to use this as a means for furthering communication among us all.

If you are interested in hosting a forum or discussion group, please contact Doug Vincent at vincent@hawaii.edu with your ideas. I will be moderating CTAHR eXchange and it will be my responsibility to bring issues to the attention of the CTAHR administration.

CTAHR eXchange is powered by the Community Server software and has benefited from the technical assistance of Elsie Kawahara and Kathy Lu in setting up the program.

Thanks and let's have some good conversations.

Aloha CTAHR Faculty and Staff:

A faculty and staff lunch will be held on August 16, 2007, to kick-off the academic year and to give everyone the opportunity to meet our new faculty members who’ll be participating in a faculty orientation on the morning of August 16:

CTAHR Welcome-Back Lunch
August 16, 2007, Thursday, 12:00 noon
Gilmore 212

We hope that all of you will join us at the Welcome-Back Lunch. It’ll be an excellent opportunity to meet friends in the college, boost our energy level for the upcoming academic year, and to get a free lunch!

Please let Susan Nakamura of the Academic and Student Affairs Office (e-mail: AcadAff@ctahr.hawaii.edu, phone: 956-6997) know that you'll be attending the lunch by Tuesday, August 7, 2007.

We hope to see all of you at the Welcome-Back Lunch on August 16, 2007!

Thanks to Kathy Lu, after many months of effort, the new CTAHR Extension website is up. The site is:

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ext 

Entomology MS Defense:

Mandy Anhalt

"Transmission biology of Banana bunchy top virus to banana by Pentalonia nigronervosa (Hemiptera: Aphididae)" Ms. Mandy Dara Anhalt

Friday May 11th, 2007
3:00 PM
Gilmore 306

Please join me in welcoming Dr. James Leary to PEPS as Assistant Researcher responsible for invasive plants/weeds!

James Leary

Dr. Leary received his BS in Horticulture from Michigan State University, MS in Horticulture from UH Manoa (with Joe DeFrank), and just completed his PhD in MBBE (with Dulal Borthakur). James' faculty position is funded by a TSTAR Capacity Building grant, in collaboration with NREM.

Dr. Leary can be contacted at:

James John Kalani Leary <leary@hawaii.edu>
Office: Gilmore 403
Lab: Gilmore 401
Tel: 956-6179

Double Feature!
Proposal seminars in Entomology:
Tuesday, May 8th, Gilmore 301

Will Haines

2:00pm: Will Haines, PhD. Proposal in Entomology: The ecology and evolution of Hawaiian Lepidoptera, with a focus on moths in the genus Omiodes (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). Committee: Dr. Daniel Rubinoff (Chair), Dr. Ken Kaneshiro, Dr. Mark Wright, Dr. Andy Taylor, Dr. Jon Price (USGS)