Congratulations to 2007 OVEA winners

A team of 9 students and 1 faculty member from the Department of Entomology traveled to Columbus, Ohio on November 15th to compete in the Ohio Valley Entomological Association (OVEA) 2007 Twentieth Annual Forum the next day. Thirty-eight students from 7 different universities took part in the competition. Purdue gave 7 presentations and came home with 3 award winners:

Master of Science Category:

Left to right: Thelma Heidel, Ashley Walter, Ye Ye and J. Ray Fisher

First Place - Thelma Heidel from Purdue University presented a paper entitled, “Assessing the Risk of Non-Target Effects in a Soybean Aphid Classical Biological Control Program”.

Second Place - Ashley Walter from Purdue University presented a paper entitled, “Increasing early detection of invasive species through targeted outreach”.

Left to right:  Alexzandra McKinnis, Tonya Fisher, Corey L. Brelsfoard and Joshua Benoit

Ph.D. Category:

Honorable Mention - Alex McKinnis from Purdue University presented a paper entitled, “The effects of refuge structure on western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) population dynamics and resistance management”.

Walter Baldauf was elected as President of OVEA for 2008, and Alex McKinnis as president-elect for 2009. A special thanks to Linda Mason who provides outstanding faculty leadership for our participation in OVEA, and for taking the group to Ohio this year. See the attached report for a complete account of this year’s competition.

20th Annual Forum Results