News Stories - Page 16

Recent CAES graduate Arjun Bhatt was recognized with the 2021 Nesbitt-Flatt Outstanding Senior Award. CAES News
Prestige Trap
William Flatt served as the dean of the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from 1981 to 1994. Coming in as dean, Flatt recognized that college enrollment was low and tackled the challenge of recruitment using his problem-solving skills and charisma. This year’s Nesbitt-Flatt Outstanding Senior Award recognized a student with the same charisma and determination as Dean Flatt. Arjun Bhatt was recognized as this year’s recipient during the 2021 Student Awards and Leadership Celebration held on YouTube. Bhatt recently graduated with bachelor’s degrees in both applied biotechnology and psychology.
An entomology student cradles a newly emerged Brood X cicada in their hand on a recent cicada-finding expedition. CAES News
Cicada Summer
Standing in the Chattahoochee National Forest recording the song of the Brood X periodical cicadas on her smartphone, Julia Berliner realized in that moment that the last time the insects emerged from forest soil, her phone did not exist.
Domestic cats become infected with bobcat fever after being bitten by an infected Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum). A female Lone Star tick is shown here on a fingertip for size. CAES News
Bobcat Fever
Experts at the University of Georgia are urging cat owners across the state to proactively protect their pets as cases of cytauxzoonosis, or bobcat fever, an often fatal tick-borne disease, are spiking in middle Georgia.
In the sculptured resin bee (left), females have a pointed abdomen, while the males have a blunt edge. Both males and females have a striated abdomen with raised bands. The thorax and abdomen of the carpenter bee (right) are connected, bald and smooth. CAES News
Sculptured Resin Bees
University of Georgia entomologists are seeking citizen help to document the presence of the sculptured resin bee — also known as the giant resin bee — an invasive bee that could threaten the native carpenter bee population.
Assistant Professor Carmen Blubaugh focuses her teaching and research on addressing pest problems in crop production. Her work focuses on providing management tools that reduce the environmental impact of agriculture and on understanding and predicting some of the numerous ecological factors that control predator-prey dynamics. CAES News
Teaching for Outcomes
Agroecologist and entomologist Carmen Blubaugh has big plans for her service-learning course taught through the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and her efforts have been recognized with her selection as a 2021-22 Service-Learning Fellow at the University of Georgia.
CAES Dean and Director Nick Place (left) and UGA blueberry entomologist Ashfaq Sial ceremonially plant the first blueberry bush in the new research orchard at UGA's Durham Horticulture Farm in Watkinsville, Georgia. CAES News
Blueberry Research
Native to North America, blueberries are the most-recently commercially domesticated fruit in the U.S. Just a little over a century ago researchers began studying this wild berry with an intent to develop improved varieties for commercial cultivation.