image: Victoria Y. Yokoyama is a 2012 Honorary Member of the Entomological Society of America. view more
Credit: © ESA
The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is pleased to announce the selection of three new entomologists as Honorary Members of the Society. Honorary Membership acknowledges those who have served ESA for at least 20 years through significant involvement in the affairs of the Society that has reached an extraordinary level. Candidates for this honor are selected by the ESA Governing Board and then voted on by the ESA membership. All four will be honored at the Awards Ceremony at Entomology 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee this November.
DR. ELIZABETH F. BECKMEYER has been a member of ESA for 40 years, joining the Society as an undergraduate at Georgia Southern College. After receiving her B.S. in Biology, she studied insect oogenesis, receiving her M.S. in Entomology at the University of Georgia, M.A. in Zoology at Duke University, and Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A year as an AAAS Science, Engineering and Diplomacy Fellow (1987-88) broadened her view of the role of scientific societies in promoting diversity in science. In 1989, she founded the Women in Entomology Breakfast that continues today as an important networking event at the Annual Meeting. She also held leadership diversity workshops that revealed the mechanisms of nominations, committee membership, editorial board compositions and programming to the entire membership. She initiated the use of electronic mail to communicate with the entire membership of the Society, constructing email directories for sending section news and programming updates to each Section. She continues to advocate openness in the operation of the Society as the best route to diversity within the organization.
Dr. Beckemeyer has served the ESA as: Governing Board Representative (2002-05); Officer for Section B (1994-97); Chair of the Standing Committee on Ethics (1992-94); member of the Standing Committee on Rules (1999-2004) and Committee on Awards and Honors (2010-13); and as Chair (2002) of the Editorial Board of American Entomologist. She is currently Assistant Professor of Biology at Georgia Perimeter College in metro Atlanta.
DR. STEVE CLEMENT has been a member of ESA since 1971. After earning a PhD in entomology from UC-Davis (1976), he was postdoctoral entomologist (UCD), assistant professor of entomology (Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster; 1977-1981), and USDA-ARS research entomologist (Albany, California; Rome, Italy; Pullman, Washington from 1981 to 2010, before retiring in 2010. A graduate faculty member at Washington State University and the University of Idaho, he served on research committees of graduate students from 10 countries. Dr. Clement is internationally known for research in biological weed control, host-plant resistance, development of sustainable cropping systems, and conservation and use of plant and microbial germplasm for global agriculture. He has an exemplary record of transferring his research to public and private entities in the U.S. and other countries for commercialization and more research. Publications include one co-edited book, 15 book chapters, and 144 peer-reviewed papers; co-authors from 21 U.S. universities, 14 ARS research units, and research entities in 13 foreign countries. A member of ESA's International Branch (previously North Central Branch and Pacific Branch), Steve has served ESA for over 22 years, exemplified by: Subsection Fa Secretary, Chair-Elect, and Chair; Local Arrangements Committee (Co-Chair, Member); Pacific Branch Representative to the Governing Board; Executive Committee; Finance Committee (2012 IB representative); GB liaison to the ESA bid committee to host the 2012 International Congress of Entomology and to the International Affairs Committee; and Chair of the first selection committee for the Starks Plant Resistance to Insects Graduate Student Research Award. In the Pacific Branch, Clement has been a member of the Program, Registration, Executive, Awards, and Resolutions committees, and Chair of Registration and Awards. He has organized Section and program symposia at ESA national meetings and judged student paper competitions at several ESA annual and Branch meetings.
DR. VICTORIA Y. YOKOYAMA has been a research entomologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, CA since 1984. Her previous positions were associate professor in the Department of Biology at California State University at Long Beach; and researcher at the Institute for Cancer Research at Columbia University in New York, NY, after attaining her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. During her career with the ARS, Dr. Yokoyama has developed quarantine treatments and strategies to control pests of regulatory concern in commodities exported from the western states. She is a 2006 ESA Fellow and recipient of the 2004 C. W. Woodworth Award from ESA's Pacific Branch.
Dr. Yokoyama has served the ESA as 1992 Section E Chair, and 2001 Section Eb Chair. She was the 1998 Local Arrangements Committee Chair and a member of the 1999-2001 Exotic Pest List Committee. Her Pacific Branch service has included 2004-2005 President; 1995-1998, 2004-2006 Executive Committee; and 2011 Program Co-Chair. Her service to the ESA journals includes the Committee for the ESA Handbook of Insect Pest Series (1991-1997); the Board of Reviewing Editors of the Journal of Economic Entomology (1992-1994); Section E Representative to the American Entomologist Editorial Board (1995-1999 ) and Chair (2000); and Section E & P-IE Representative to Journal of Economic Entomology Editorial Board (2005-2008)and Chair (2009). She was the 2007 organizer of the first Society of Regulatory Plant Protection Network meeting. At both the national and Branch levels, Dr. Yokoyama has served on awards judging panels and committees on nominating, strategic planning, and student opportunity.
The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has more than 6,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are students, researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, and hobbyists. For more information, please visit http://www.entsoc.org.