IUSSI-NAS

The Status of Pollinators in North America report released by the National Research Council in 2007 sounded the alarm—the populations of pollinators upon which we depend on for ecological stability and agricultural productivity might be at risk. Events since then have proven the report to be all too prescient, with alarmingly losses and extinctions especially for bees, the most important pollinators on the planet. This session will highlight some of the latest advances in promoting bee health involving research on nutrition, microbiome, genomic-based breeding, nesting biology, social immunity, and landscape management. The webcast will be available at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday, April 26. For more information: http://www.nasonline.org/about-nas/events/annual-meeting/nas157/science-sessions-bees.html

Dear Fellow IUSSI-NAS members,

First, we would like to sincerely offer our well wishes and hope you and your family are safe in this uncertain time. Given the increasing magnitude of the coronavirus outbreak, we have decided to postpone the IUSSI-NAS breakout meeting scheduled for October 17-18^th, 2020 at the Southwestern Research Station in Portal, AZ. This was a sad decision, but it is important for us to prioritize the health and welfare of our participants, which we do not feel we can do while still having an in-person meeting.

As details regarding rescheduling the meeting for Fall 2021 are solidified, you will be made aware. However, don’t cross October 17-18^th, 2020 out of your calendar just yet! Instead, we are planning to organize a Zoom conference. We may as well put all these fancy Zoom skills we’ve learned to good use, right? Further details, including registration and abstract submission will become available over the summer.

Please keep up all your excellent work; we can’t wait to hear all about it in one venue or another.

Best wishes,

Sarah Bengston & Anna Dornhaus

IUSSI-NAS 2020 Breakout Meeting Organization Committee

Call for student research grant nominations

The deadline for applications for the student research grants has been extended to April 8, 2020!

The awards committee has announced the call for nominations for the Jeanne 2020,
Michener 2020, Nutting 2020, and Tschinkel 2020 Student and/or Postgraduate Research Grants. See attached flyers and awards and grants page for purpose, nature, eligibility and application details.

President-elect:
Karen Kapheim

Secretary:
Sarah Lawson

Treasurer:
Chris Smith

Awards Committee:
Rachelle Adams
Floria Uy

Nominations committee:
Chelsea Cook

Please see attached for the IUSSI-NAS 2019 Newsletter.

Congratulations to our 2019 Award recipients of the George C. Eickwort Student Research Award and Jeffrey P. La Fage Student Award for Applied Research on Social Insect Pests.

George C. Eickwort Student Research Award: Beryl Jones

Jeffrey P. La Fage Student Award for Applied Research on Social Insect Pests: Pierre Lau

A big THANK YOU to our IUSSI-NAS Awards Committee: Rebecca Clark, Hongmei Li-Byarlay, Juliana Rangel, co-chairs; Kaitlin Baudier, Sarah Bengston, Christina Kwapich, and Jürgen Liebig

Madeleine Beekman, Secretary-General of IUSSI,  has published a 2019 society newsletter.

Congratulations to our 2019 award recipients of the George C. Eickwort Student Research Award and Jeffrey P. La Fage Student Award for Applied Research on Social Insect Pests.

George C. Eickwort Student Research Award: Beryl Jones
Jeffrey P. La Fage Student Award for Applied Research on Social Insect Pests: Pierre Lau

A big THANK YOU to our IUSSI-NAS Awards Committee: Rebecca Clark, Hongmei Li-Byarlay, Juliana Rangel, co-chairs; Kaitlin Baudier, Sarah Bengston, Christina Kwapich, and Jürgen Liebig

Congratulations to our 2019 IUSSI-NAS research award recipients

2019 Robert L. and Louise B. Jeanne Social Wasp Research Grant: Andrew Legan
2019 Charles Michener Bee Research Grant: Margaret Shanahan
2019 William L. and Ruth D. Nutting Termite Research Grant: Austin Merchant
2019 Tschinkel Ant Natural History Research Grant: Kip Lacy

A big THANK YOU to our IUSSI-NAS Awards Committee:
Rebecca Clark, Hongmei Li-Byarlay, and Juliana Rangel Posada (Co-Chairs)
Kaitlin Mari Baudier, Sarah Bengston, Christina Kwapich, and Juergen Liebig

Dear Colleagues, Friends, and Family,

I am excited to let you know that we have completed our fund drive for the Michener Award, a graduate student scholarship that will recognize excellence in research on bees.

This award is named after Charles Michener (1918-2015), a member of the IUSSI-NAS who was admired as a teacher, mentor, and colleague. His lifetime love of bees drove his science, the careers of his many students, and our fundamental understanding of the biology and taxonomy of the bees.

I would like to especially thank Gene Robinson and Michael Breed for all their help in this campaign, to which more than 40 people inside and outside of our society contributed. Thanks to the help of our generous contributors, we raised $36,596 in just four months.

Now that we have reached (and exceeded) our original goal of $30,000, the official fund drive is over, but we are still happy to accept new donations. All funds will go towards Michener Awards.

This is a wonderful example of collective action for good. Thank you all!

Sincerely,
James Nieh
IUSSI-NAS Treasurer