A Grand Challenge Agenda for Entomology

Entomology Leadership Summit Agenda, 2016

  Posted on by Chris Stelzig

On September 27-28, 2016, the Entomological Society of America (ESA) convened a high-level summit of global entomological leaders in Orlando, Florida, USA at the Rosen Centre Hotel, Ballrooms D and E . This was the inaugural meeting of the Grand Challenges in Entomology Initiative. At this invitation-only Summit we explored three broad issues of major global importance to which entomology can make a unique and powerful contribution.

  • Sustainable agriculture – global hunger, food security, and natural resources preservation
  • Public health related to vector-borne diseases
  • Invasive insect species – global trade, biodiversity, and climate change

The agenda from the meeting is below. A poster session accompanied the Summit.

SUMMIT AGENDA DAY ONE:  Tuesday, Sept 27:

6:00pm  Reception and Posters

7:15pm  Welcome and Overview
— Dr. May Berenbaum, ESA President
— Dr. Frank Zalom, ESA Past-President and Summit Co-Chair

7:25pm  Keynote address — Collaboration to Solve Global Challenges
 — Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Director

7:55pm  Moderated Panel Discussion Introducing Topical Themes
— Dr. Sally Rockey, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Executive Director
— Dr. Maureen Coetzee, University of Witwatersrand Malaria Entomology Research Unit, Director
— Dr. Stephanie Bloem, North American Plant Protection Organization, Executive Director
— Mr. Rick Stone, moderator

8:40pm  Perspective Talks — Micro talks on topics of interest related to the Summit agenda
— “Science Influencing National/International Public Policy” – Dr. Erin Cadwalder, Lewis Burke Associates
— “Modern Funding for Research” – Dr. Sybil Bucheli, Sam Houston State University and Experiment.com
— “Connecting Science to Communities through Entomophagy” – Mr. Robert Nathan Allen, Little Herds
— “Collaborations: Scientists as Community Partners” – Dr. Raj Pandya, American Geophysical Union and the Thriving Earth Exchange
— “Scientific Solutions to Global Challenges – Dr. Doug Norris, Project Premonition

9:15pm  Conclusion and Day Two Preview
— Mr. Rick Stone, Summit facilitator

SUMMIT AGENDA DAY TWO:  Wednesday, Sept 28 :

10:00am  Overview of the Challenges and Introduction of Co-Chairs
— Dr. Frank G. Zalom, ESA Past President and Distinguished Professor of Entomology, University of California-Davis
— Dr. Silvia Dorn, ESA and Royal Entomological Society Fellow and Professor of Applied Entomology, ETH Zurich
— Dr. Le Kang, TWAS Fellow and Director of the Institute of Zoology and President of Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
— Dr. Antônio R. Panizzi, Senior Scientist, Embrapa and Professor, Federal University at Curitiba
— Dr. John Pickett, Immediate Past President of the Royal Entomological Society and Michael Elliott Fellow at Rothamsted Research

10:10am  Outcomes from Brazil – A Facilitated Panel Recapping the March Aedes aegypti Summit
— “Communicating Science to Communities” – Dr. Grayson Brown, University of Kentucky
— “Critical Research Needs to Control Aedes aegypti” – Dr. Luciano Moreira, Oswaldo Fiocruz
— “Speaking with a Unified Voice” – Mr. C. David Gammel, ESA

10:30am  Keynote Address — “Entomological Solutions to World Problems”
— Dr. Fred Gould, North Carolina State University

10:50am Facilitated Conversation — “Next Steps”
— Dr. Fred Gould, North Carolina State University
— Mr. Rick Stone, Facilitator

11:10am Workshops Overview

11:15 Break and View posters

11:30am  Facilitated Workshops on Areas of Focus
— “Public Health” – Maureen Coetzee, University of Witwatersrand Malaria Entomology Research Unit, Director
— “Sustainable Agriculture” – Francesco Pennacchio, University of Napoli, Professor and Eliane Quintela, Embrapa
— “Invasive Insect Species/Climate Change” – Sanford Eigenbrode, University of Idaho, Distinguished Professor

12:30pm  Lunch, featuring “thought tables” with discussion-focused seating. View posters.

1:30pm  Reports from Morning Workshops
— Dr. Coetzee, Dr. Pennacchio, and Dr. Eigenbrode
— Mr Rick Stone, moderator

2:00pm  Facilitated Workshops on Entomological Challenges
— “Influencing National and International Public Policy” – Dr. Erin Cadwalader and Ms. Meghan McCabe, Lewis Burke Associates
— “Funding Research and Implementation” – Dr. Dan Strickman, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
— “Connecting Science to Communities” – Mr. Sean Southey, PCI Media Impact and Mr. Rick Stone, Storywork Institute
— “Collaboration and Partnership with Industry” – Dr. Caydee Savinelli, Syngenta and Dr. Brad Hopkins, Dow AgroSciences
— “Scientific Solutions to Global Challenges” – Dr. Nan-Yao Su, University of Florida

4:00pm Break – View posters

4:20pm  Reports from Afternoon Workshops
— Dr. Cadwalader, Dr. Strickman, Mr. Southey, Dr. Savinelli, and Dr. Su
— Mr. Stone, moderator

4:50pm  Call to Action
— Mr. C. David Gammel, Entomological Society of America

5:00pm  Closing Keynote Address — “Telling the Story”
— Mr. Sean Southey, PCI Media Impact

5:30pm Future Story “Entomology in the year 2025”
— Mr. Rick Stone, summit facilitator

5:30pm  Closing and Attendee Photo
— Dr. May Berenbaum, ESA President

 

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Entomologists Call for Education, Management Programs, and Cooperation to Stop Zika, Dengue, and Chikungunya

  Posted on by Chris Stelzig

culex larvae

Annapolis, MD; March 29, 2016 –The Entomological Society of America (ESA) and Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil (SEB) held a Summit in Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil on 13 March, 2016 to discuss the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the primary transmitter of Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

While the Summit featured talks on many aspects of mosquito biology, behavior, and control, the experts agreed that the most critical needs for controlling the mosquito and the diseases are:

1) Connecting scientists to communities more effectively through public awareness campaigns on how people can protect themselves from mosquitoes, and educational efforts to dispel misinformation regarding insect control measures.

2) Establishing mosquito control programs as a critical element of the campaign against Aedes aegypti, in addition to the important work already being done by the medical community on disease management. Prioritizing mosquito control would include funding for integrating well-established and novel control technologies as well as improving the collection and dissemination of data on mosquito populations and the efficacy of control measures.

3) Creating a coalition of international mosquito-control-related organizations to advocate for vector control as a critical element against Aedes aegypti and the diseases it transmits.

Aedes aegypti is a container-breeding mosquito that is mostly problematic in municipalities, including urban centers.

“This is a pest that we know how to control — we just need to do it,” said Dr. Luciano Moreira, a principal researcher at Fiocruz in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and a co-chair of the Summit. “Spreading the word about how all people have a role to play will be critical to success.”

“This mosquito had been the target of an international eradication effort in the Americas that had largely been successful,” said Dr. Grayson Brown (University of Kentucky), the other co-chair of the Summit. “However, as the mosquito population declined to very low levels, eradication efforts were abandoned and the mosquito resurged. As it did, human disease reappeared and the pathogens vectored by this mosquito exploded soon thereafter.”

The Summit is part of the ESA’s Grand Challenges Initiative, which addresses areas where the entomological sciences can impact problems of global importance. A second Summit is planned during the International Congress of Entomology in Orlando, Florida on September 21, 2016.

To learn about the key findings from the Summit, including recommended actions and critical research needs, please visit https://entomologychallenges.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/outcome-statement-final.pdf.

To learn more about the Summit on the Aedes aegypti Crisis in the Americas, please visit https://entomologychallenges.org/grand-challenges-summit-on-aedes-aegypti-mosquito-in-brazil.

To learn more about the ESA’s Grand Challenges Initiative, please visit http://entomologychallenges.org.

The Entomological Society of America, co-host of the Summit, is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, and hobbyists. For more information, visit http://www.entsoc.org.

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Ante la diseminación del virus Zika y otros virus, entomólogos internacionales se reunirán y colaborarán en el control de mosquitos transmisores de enfermedades

  Posted on by Chris Stelzig

Aedes aegypti

Annapolis, MD, January 27, 2016 – On March 13, 2016, in Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil, the Entomological Society of America (ESA) and the Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil (SEB) will host a meeting of the societies entomological world to talk about collaborative control options to combat one of the most lethal animal species in the world – Aedes aegypti a mosquito that transmits the Zika virus, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever . The purpose of the summit will be to organize the international entomologist community to better control the diseases caused by mosquitoes in the Americas and around the world.

Under the title “Summit on the Aedes aegypti crisis  in the Americas: Uniting to face a major challenge” , the summit is expected to bring together the world’s most prominent entomology researchers and several dozen other high-impact assistants to look for ways to fight this mosquito.

“The recent impact of the Zika virus has added urgency to a meeting that was already crucial,” said C. David Gammel, Executive Director of ESA. “Entomological societies are in a unique position to address issues related to the control of insects that spread these diseases by convening the global entomological community together with other related stakeholders.”

The meeting is the first of two summits to be organized by ESA in 2016 as part of the Grand Challenges Agenda, which looks for areas in which entomology can have a significant and positive impact on issues of importance to humanity. At this first summit, the leaders of the international entomological communities will meet with leaders from government agencies, industry representatives, public health experts and funders to discuss the crisis caused by this mosquito, as well as the ways in which that societies can respond. Establishing a sustainable program for the effective elimination of the mosquito is a central objective of this first summit. A second summit will be held in Orlando, Florida, during the International Congress of Entomology (ICE) in September 2016.

“Preparations to organize this important cover on Aedes aegypti began two years ago as a way to confront dengue and chikungunya, which have become a global epidemic with 2.35 million cases reported in the Americas alone,” said Dr. Grayson C. Brown, a researcher at the University of Kentucky, former president of ESA and co-director of the event. “Now that Zika has become a major health crisis, our mission has become much more crucial, it is vital that the world’s scientific leaders work together on this issue.”

Zika and chikungunya have been rapidly gaining momentum as serious threats to public health after their recent appearances in the Americas. The Aedes aegypti carries these and other life – threatening diseases, including dengue and yellow fever. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have recently identified Zika as a probable cause of microcephaly in newborn babies, which led to the US government. to issue warnings for travelers to the affected regions.

“There is a good reason to define the mosquito as the most dangerous animal in the world,” said Dr Luciano Moreira, a researcher at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz in Brazil and co-director of the summit. “A strategy of integrative control must be conceived, uniting different disciplines to control this lethal mosquito.”

The summit will be held in conjunction with the Brazilian and Latin American Entomology Congresses in the city of Maceió in Brazil. Entomological and scientific related societies, national and international, are invited to send representatives to attend this summit. The session will include scientific presentations in addition to plenary speakers, poster presentations, panels, subsidiary work sessions, and discussions about the next steps necessary for the action.

The Entomological Society of America is the largest organization in the world that caters to the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people who work in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA now has more than 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry and government. The members are researchers, professors, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students and hobistas. For more information, visit http://www.entsoc.org .

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