Jan. 2, 2008 See information on Thomas Leigh
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Mary Purcell-Miramontes |
DAVIS —Mary Purcell-Miramontes, former graduate student in entomology at the University of California, Davis, and now a national program leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), will speak on “What Does the Future Hold for Federally Funded Agricultural Research?” on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar in Entomology, organized by the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
She will speak at 5:30 p.m. in the Activities Recreation Center, UC Davis campus. Her visit, geared for entomology faculty, emeriti, affiliates, professional researchers, and students, will include a 5 p.m. reception and a 6:30 p.m. dinner.
“It is great to have Mary on campus to discuss funding opportunities for entomological research, particularly at this junction when Congress is debating the farm bill,” said Walter Leal, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology.
Purcell-Miramontes is responsible for developing and implementing the National Research Initiative’s competitive grants programs for research, education and extension programs for arthropod and nematode biology and management. The NRI programs cover organismal, sub-organismal and population biology, tools, resources and genomics and a newly created Coordinated Agricultural Project on the Protection of Managed Bees.
“I will provide an overview of the past, present and future outlook for federal funding of agricultural research, education and extension programs primarily within CREES,” she said. Her presentation will emphasize competitive grant programs that impact research on insects and nematodes in agricultural systems.
In addition, she will discuss legislation that will have a major impact on agricultural research priorities in the near future.
Purcell-Miramontes, who has direct programmatic and administrative responsibility for competitive grant allocations for approximately $13 million, initially sought a career in music before turning to biology. “I started out as music major at San Francisco State University and was a violinist in the orchestra,” she said.
After receiving her undergraduate degree at SFSU, she obtained her master’s degree in entomology in 1982 from UC Davis, studying with major professor Jeffrey Granett. She received her doctorate from UC Berkeley, studying with professor Stephen Welter in applied ecology of hemipterans (insects known as “true bugs”) of pistachios.
Her career took her to Hawaii for eight years, including a year as a postdoctoral fellow with Marshall Johnson at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, developing a statewide Integrated Pest Managed Program for tomato farmers.
In 1990, Purcell-Miramontes joined the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service as a research entomologist and worked in the area of biological control of tephritid flies. She lived and worked initially on the island of Kauai, the outermost island in the chain of the Hawaiian islands.
“After a massive hurricane in 1991 destroyed much of the Kauai’s agriculture, not to mention the laboratory facilities at the ARS lab, I decided to move my family to Hawaii (the Big Island), which is also the site of the ARS’ headquarters for the state of Hawaii,” she said.
In 1997, Purcell-Miramontes moved to the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and became a national program leader for CSREES.
For reservations or further information on the seminar, contact Clara Pacheco, academic executive assistant to the chair at (530) 752-0492.
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
