Chandra Moffat
Chair of the ESC Student Affairs Committee (SAC)
MSc Candidate, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus (Co-supervisors: Dr. Jason Pither and Dr. Bob Lalonde)
My thesis investigates the ecology of a cynipid gall wasp, proposed as a biological control agent for hawkweeds invasive in North America. My work is conducted in the European native range of these species, based at CABI Europe-Switzerland. I use a combination of field-based observational and experimental methods to address questions related to patterns of host selection at multiple spatial scales.
Update: December 2011
ESC-AES JAM 2011
This year's Joint Annual Meeting in
Halifax was a filled with presentations
on diverse entomological research in
Canada, and the theme of Beauty and Impact
could be found throughout the sessions. Personally,
I was very impressed with both the
scientific content and the professional delivery
of the student talks, and saw many students
integrating a variety of approaches and tools.
The posters were also of high quality; ESC
students truly are impressive! Students and
non-students alike thoroughly enjoyed the
musical talents of the Mahers Bahers, which
got several members of the Governing Board
dancing around the room!
Student Mixer
This year we opted for a shorter student
mixer to take advantage of the nearby Garrison
Brewing Company and their tasty brews. The
portion of the mixer held at the hotel provided
a great opportunity for socializing. We had
delicious appetizers to feed hungry students:
the sushi in particular was really great, and I
have Vancouver standards! Thanks go to the
staff of the Westin Hotel for excellent service,
both at the Student Mixer and throughout the
meeting, and to the Local Organizing Committee for providing the delicious snacks. Our
time at Garrison Brewery was lively, and we
were pleased many non-students joined in the
fun beer tasting.
Silent Auction
Quality of items prevailed over quantity
this year, and I was very impressed with the
generosity of both those who donated items
and those who made bids. We raised more
than $800 for the ESC Scholarship and Awards
Fund which, considering the size of the meeting,
was a great result! My personal thanks
go to Kevin Reeh for his hard work to make
the Silent Auction a success. On behalf of
ESC students, we gratefully thank those who
donated and bid on items.
Graduate Student Symposium:
Too
many aphids, too few butterflies, and
the patterns in between
The GSS was a great session this year, as
always. I enjoyed the diversity of studies
presented, as it offers a good flavour of the
entomological research currently being conducted
in Canada. The abstracts of the six talks
that were selected for inclusion into the GSS
are included elsewhere in the Student Wing (see the December ESC Bulletin).
ESC Job Board and Student Facebook
Page
The job board has been quite active lately.
At http://www.esc-sec.ca/jobs.html you can
find job postings for faculty, research and
other positions, as well as postings on graduate
research opportunities. This is a great way to
find a potential graduate supervisor, as is the
Directory of Entomology in Canada, which can
be found at http://www.esc-sec.ca/directed.
html. The ESC Student Facebook group is
also very active, with job and research postings,
events, and advice abounding! I highly
recommend joining our facebook group and
regularly checking the Job Board. Postings for
the job board can be sent to jobs@esc-sec.ca.
Thesis Roundup
As always, we like to know when a student
defends their thesis. If you have (or anyone
you know of has) defended a thesis recently, please send me your/their name, degree and
date achieved, thesis title, supervisor's name,
university and email address to students@esc-sec.ca.
That is all for now. Please feel free to contact me anytime.
~ Chandra
Chandra Moffat
Entomological Society of Canada, Student Representative
MSc Candidate, Unit of Biology and Physical Geography
University of British Columbia, Okangan Campus, Kelowna BC V1V 1V7
Phone: 250-807-9567
Email: students@esc-sec.ca