News Release

UC Riverside faculty member elected fellow of Entomological Society of America

Bradley Mullens, professor of entomology, is one of only ten new fellows elected this year

Grant and Award Announcement

University of California - Riverside

Bradley Mullens,   	 University of California - Riverside

image: Bradley Mullens is a professor of entomology at UC Riverside. view more 

Credit: Mullens lab, UC Riverside.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For his outstanding contributions to entomology, Bradley Mullens, a professor of entomology at the University of California, Riverside, has been elected a fellow of the prestigious Entomological Society of America (ESA), the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines.

This year, Mullens and only nine others were elected to this honor. They will be recognized at the ESA's annual meeting in Reno, Nev., in November 2011.

"It is very gratifying to see Brad's hard work and dedication to veterinary and medical entomology recognized in this way by the ESA," said Rick Redak, the chair of the Department of Entomology. "Brad is a recognized world leader in the area of controlling and managing those insects that bring harm to our domestic animals, and the Department of Entomology is both pleased and proud that he has received this tremendous honor."

Mullens received his B.S. in agriculture (animal science) and M.S. in agricultural biology (entomology) from the University of Tennessee, and his Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University. He works in veterinary entomology, particularly on biting midge vectors of bluetongue viruses to ruminants (e.g. cattle and desert bighorn sheep), fly pests of poultry and dairy systems, poultry ectoparasite control, and host-ectoparasite relationships.

"It is a unique honor to be elected a fellow of the ESA," Mullens said. "Honestly, it probably wouldn't have happened if I weren't at UC Riverside. We have ten ESA fellows active in our Entomology department right now, out of only 248 scientists who have received this honor since 1934. It is an inspiration every day to work with colleagues and students who are truly devoted to helping people's daily lives through our science. This place is 'buzzing'!"

An ESA member for nearly 35 years, Mullens has served on the editorial boards or as subject editor for the Journal of Medical Entomology and the Journal of Economic Entomology and has been active many times in helping judge or moderate student paper/poster competitions and sessions. He also serves on the editorial boards for the journals Medical and Veterinary Entomology and Veterinarni Medicina.

His approximately 130 reviewed, scientific papers focus on field ecology and ultimately integrated control (cultural, biological, and chemical tactics). Internationally, he has worked in Denmark (Musca biological control and poultry mite ecology) and Reunion Island (stable fly biological control). Most recent were field projects in Spain (ecology and management of midges) related to the ongoing bluetongue outbreak in Europe. In 2008 he helped draft a scientific opinion dealing in part with vector control and surveillance to reduce potential for bluetongue spread there.

Mullens is a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, and received the Best Paper Award for Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2005-06), the Lifetime Achievement Award for Veterinary Entomology (2005), and ESA's Recognition Award (2009).

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