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Plant Pathology

Department of Plant Pathology

CFAES

Emerald Ash Borer Video Wins Entomology Outreach Award

Nov. 19, 2014

David Showalter, Ph.D. student, and Michael Falk, a  former Environmental Sciences major who completed a student internship in Pierluigi Bonello's lab, received a first place award in the Entomological Society of America's (ESA) "YouTube Your Entomology" video contest, Outreach category for their entry, Can We Save Ash Trees from the Emerald Ash Borer?  Showalter and Falk developed the script and video for their Crowdfunding campaign, and submitted an edited version for the entomology contest.

In the video, which was written, filmed and edited by Showalter and Falk, they compared the ash tree genome to a football playbook and used a clever analogy between facing an unknown, invasive species and playing an unfamiliar football opponent.  They received $200 and a "Stinger" award at the plenary session of the ESA Annual Meeting in Portland, Nov. 16. Falk is currently an entomology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.