FAMU student receives Southern Integrated Pest Management Graduate Student Award

Saundra Wheeler, a graduate student majoring in entomology at FAMU, has been named the recipient of the Friends of Southern Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Graduate Student Award in the masters’ category. Wheeler was presented with the award by Henry Fadamiro, the associate director of the Southern Region Integrated Pest Management, during the 17th Biennial Research Symposium of the Association of 1890 Research Directors, Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Friends of Southern IPM Awards Program recognizes extraordinary achievement in research, extension, and implementation of IPM in the Southern Region of the United States. The Graduate Student Award was created last year to honor two exceptional graduate students, one at the master’s level and one at the Ph.D. level with an honorarium, a plaque and the opportunity to publish an article about their research. The nominees from 1862 and 1890 Land-Grant Universities and Colleges were evaluated based upon their potential contributions in integrated pest management in the Southern Region of the United States.

“Receiving this award from professionals in my field is significant because it validates my choice to be become an entomologist as well as the hard work it took to complete my studies,” said Wheeler, a student in the FAMU College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS). “To be the first African-American female graduate student and the first student from an 1890 institution to ever receive this significant honor is indeed a milestone for my journey.”

Wheeler expressed appreciation to her graduate professor, Lambert Kanga, program leader for FAMU’s Entomology Program, for the high degree of support and mentoring he provided throughout her course of study.

The award recognizes Wheeler’s research on the small hive beetle, which poses a serious threat to honey bee colonies and agriculture because of the contributions made to crop pollination by the bees. Wheeler identified a fungal strain that is highly pathogenic to this beetle and is more effective in managing the small hive beetle than most pesticides currently used for control. Based on her research, she proposed a pest management strategy, which could easily be adopted by beekeepers and is cost-effective, affordable, and sustainable.