Hannah Burrack to Deliver Leigh Seminar on Monday, Oct. 6

UC Davis alumna Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University since 2022 and recipient of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology’s 2025 Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Award, will be honored at a seminar and dinner on Monday, Oct. 6.

Her public lecture is at 4 p.m., in the multipurpose room of the UC Davis Student Community Center. It will be followed by a reservations-only dinner.

On her Instagram account, Burrack writes "I study the bugs that eat what you want to eat with a focus on invasive species."

Spotted-Wing Drosophila

One of her greatest achievements for fruit growers is her monitoring network for spotted-wing drosophila, an invasive pest that has devastated fruit and vegetable crops on the U.S. west coast. The network led to the first discoveries of the pest in South Carolina in early July 2010, and in North Carolina a few weeks later. She is among the authors of 14 articles in The Journal of Economic Entomology's Special Collection: Research Advances in Spotted-Wing Drosophila suzukii Management, published in the August 2022 edition. 

Burrack received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 2007, studying with Professor Frank Zalom, now UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus (on recall). She earlier received her master's degree in entomology from UC Davis.

Zalom, who nominated her for the award, will introduce her. He served as the  president of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) in 2014, and is an elected Honorary Member (2021), ESA's highest honor.

'The Complete Package'

When Burrack joined North Carolina State University in 2007 as assistant professor and Extension specialist for small fruits and tobacco pest management, Zalom said: "The NC State faculty made a very wise choice in hiring her. Hannah has the complete package when it comes to IPM research and extension, and I have every confidence that she will be a leader of her generation of IPM specialists." Zalom is a past president (2014) of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) and was elected Honorary Member, ESA's highest award, in 2021.

Burrack advanced to associate professor and professor and served a total of 14 years on the NC faculty. She led entomology research and extension efforts for blueberries, caneberries, grapes, tobacco and industrial hemp. She generated $10.8 million in funding, authored 71 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and delivered more than 500 extension presentations to over 28,000 stakeholders. Internationally recognized for her work on invasive agricultural pests—particularly Drosophila suzukii (spotted-wing drosophila)—she also prioritized mentorship, advising or serving on committees for postdoctoral scholars, visiting scholars, and more than 30 graduate students.

Selected Chair of MSU's Department of Entomology

In the summer of 2021, Burrack was selected chair of Michigan State University's Department of Entomology, East Lansing, effective Jan. 1, 2022. 

“Hannah's background in extension, combined with her research experience and administrative skill set makes her a great fit for our college, its students and for our stakeholders in Michigan,” said interim dean designate Kelly Millenbah, of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources in a news release. “Hannah is also committed to undergraduate and graduate student development and has supported various mentoring initiatives.”

At the time, Zalom commented: "Hannah is going to make a great chair. She has great communication skills, vision and energy." 

Burrack, known for her “boundless energy and fresh ideas,” served as the principal investigator and manager of several USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grants and panels related to research on spotted- wing drosophila management, crop protection, pest management and methyl bromide transitions. In 2018, she received the University Faculty Scholar Award and the Extension Service Award from NC State University

Burrack was named the 2011 recipient of the “Future Leader” award from the Southern Region Integrated Pest Management  (IPM) Center. She received the Friends of IPM award at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Branch of ESA, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Native of Green Bay

A native of the Green Bay, Wis., area, Hannah received her bachelor degrees in entomology and rural sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2002. She served as an international student at Thammasat University, Bangkok in 2000.

At the University of Wisconsin, she worked with only a three-month field season. Her desire to move to a warmer climate, where she could broaden her field experience, resulted in her move to California.

At UC Davis, she studied introduced pests of olives. Burrack completed her dissertation research on “The Seasonal Biology of the Olive Fruit Fly (Bactrocera oleae), an Invasive Pest in California.” Her research addressed the olive fruit fly phenology, reproductive biology, cultivar preference and adult fungal associations.

While at UC Davis, she delivered a number of presentations on the olive fruit fly. Among them: she addressed the Ninth Annual Exotic Fruit Fly Symposium, Fresno, on “The Olive Fruit Fly in California: Current Status and Reproductive Biology” and the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), Portland, Ore., on “Intraspecific Competition in the Olive Fruit Fly.”

Also while at UC Davis, Burrack won first place in the Graduate Student Paper Competition, Pacific Branch of the ESA; received a scholarship at the 2007 California Farm Conference, Monterey; and a research fellowship award from Biological Invasions, the National Science Foundation’s  Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (NSF-IGERT).

Memories of UC Davis

When asked for some of her memories at UC Davis, Burrack said: 

• "Driving to extension meetings with Frank where I learned about the inner workings of the department and the who’s who of California Agriculture."
• "Epic department department retreats at UC field stations that built department culture and lasting connections between graduate students. Snow in Sagehen Creek! The coast at Bodega Bay!"
• "I also have vivid memories of my last seminar in the department--my exit seminar in Fall 2007 where my jet-lag induced meal skipping resulted in a blood sugar dip in the middle of my presentation. My graduate cohort classmate Cory Unruh saved my tail with some OJ (orange juice) and I finished strong. I’ll be mindful to eat before my talk in October!"

 Noted Cotton Entomologist

The Leigh seminar memorializes cotton entomologist Thomas Frances Leigh (1923-1993), an international authority on the biology, ecology and management of arthropod pests affecting cotton production. During his 37-year UC Davis career, Leigh was based at the Shafter Research and Extension Center, also known as the U.S. Cotton Research Station. When his wife, Nina, passed in 2002, the name of the alumni seminar changed to the Thomas and Nina Distinguished Alumni Award Seminar.

Zalom remembers Leigh well. "Tom was a physically imposing figure, but he was quiet, thoughtful and a true gentleman," Zalom said. "He was a respected member of the southern San Joaquin Valley community and he maintained close ties with a number of local organizations. People associated with the San Joaquin Valley cotton industry revered him, and his work benefited them greatly."

"Although he was located 4 ½ hours from campus in Shafter (near Bakersfield), he made an effort to stay in good communication with our department in Davis," said Zalom, a UC Davis doctoral alumnus.  "This was not so easy given the distance but also the lack of internet, Zoom, etc. that facilitates remote communication nowadays. He was a solid researcher, and open to collaboration with other entomologists and researchers from other disciplines, and was active in the Entomological Society of America (ESA), and served as president of the Pacific Branch in 1981."

Zalom, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis (1978), joined the University of Minnesota faculty as assistant professor before returning to UC Davis in 1980. 

Previous recipients of the Leigh Award include

1996: Michael Irwin
1990: Lowell "Skip" Nault
2004: Kenneth Yeargan
2008: Mary Purcell-Miramontes
2010: Murray Isman
2011: Gary Felton
2011: Brian Fisher
2012: Marc Tatar
2013: Kenneth Haynes
2015: Tim Paine
2017: Jennifer Thaler
2018: Robert Page Jr.  
2024: Michael Hoffmann (selected in 2023 but seminar postponed until 2024)

For more information about the Hannah Burrack seminar and dinner, contact Chelsea Hogan at cdhogan@ucdavis.edu.