(See photo gallery)

"Welcome to the 2026 ENT/NEM Retirement Event. Today We Honor Dr. Becky Westerdahl and Dr. Steve Nadler." 

That was the slide presentation that greeted guests as they entered the UC Davis Student Community Center multipurpose room for a retirement program and luncheon honoring the two noted nematologists. 

Can the Ian Grettenberger lab swing a mallet as well--or better--than an insect net?

Agricultural entomologist Grettenberger, associate professor of Cooperative Extension and a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) faculty, and his doctoral student Briley Mullin teamed to win the first-ever Graduate Student-Faculty Retreat Croquet Game.

Doctoral candidate Pallavi Shakya of the lab of nematologist Shahid Siddique, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won “Best Student/Early Career Talk” at the 36th Symposium of the European Society of Nematologists, held June 1-5 in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands.

UC Davis doctoral candidate Madison "Madi" Hendrick will present her exit seminar on "Integrated Pest Management in California Field Crops: Challenges in Alfalfa and Rice" on Friday, June 5.

Her seminar is set for 10 a.m. in 366 Briggs Hall. It also will be on Zoom.  

Hendrick, scheduled to receive her doctorate in June, studies insecticide resistance in alfalfa weevil and tadpole shrimp

Professor David Holway of the UC San Diego Department of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution will speak on "Large-Scale Removal of Introduced Ants as a Test of Community Reassembly" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 in 122 Briggs Hall.

His seminar also will be on Zoom. The link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

UC Davis scientists and educators helped make the 2026 California Honey Festival "a honey of a festival" at the two-day event celebrated May 16-17 on the Yolo County Fairgrounds, Woodland.

The fairgrounds buzzed with educational and entertaining activities.

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Steve Nadler and Professor/Extension Becky Brown Westerdahl of the Department of Entomology and Nematology will be honored at a retirement luncheon on Thursday, May 21 in the UC Davis Student Community Center.  

Their service to UC Davis totals 70 years; Westerdahl, 40, and Nadler, 30. 

UC Davis doctoral candidate and dragonfly expert Christofer Brothers will discuss his rhyming prose on dragonflies at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Saturday, May 16.

He'll be presenting a 15-minute talk at 3:30 on "Midair Basket Weaving: A Doggerel of Dragonflies and Damselflies," representing his preliminary work from his dissertation on dragonfly and damselfly hunting behavior. 

Plant breeder, geneticist and nematologist Bao-Lam Huynh of UC Riverside will speak on "Genetic Analysis and Marker-Assisted Breeding for Host Plant Resistance to Root-Knot Nematodes and other Stresses in Cowpea" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) seminar on Wednesday, May 20.

Hear that buzz? It's almost time for the annual California Honey Festival. 

This year's festival is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 16, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, May 17,  on the Yolo County Fairgrounds, 1250 E. Gum Ave, Woodland. Admission is free.

UC Davis is a major part of the festival, which celebrates the honey bee and its products.