High honor for UC Davis entomologist

Enterprise staff

UC Davis urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke has been selected an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA).

Meineke, an assistant professor who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty in 2020, is one of 10 faculty members to receive the honor from the ESA Governing Board. She will be recognized at ESA's Aug. 6-11 meeting in Portland, Ore.

"This is one of the most prestigious awards an ecologist can receive," said nominator Rachel Vannette, community ecologist and associate professor in the UC Davis department of entomology and nematology.

“Early Career Fellows are members within eight years of completing their doctoral training (or other terminal degree) who have advanced ecological knowledge and applications and show promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA,” an ESA spokesperson announced. “They are elected for five years.”

Meineke received her bachelor’s degree in environmental science, with a minor in biology, in 2008 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She obtained her doctorate in entomology in 2016 from North Carolina State University, studying with major professors Steven Frank and Robert Dunn. She wrote her dissertation on "Understanding the Consequences of Urban Warming for Street Trees and Their Insect Pests."

At NCU, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded her with the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowship. As an EPA STAR Fellow, Meineke pioneered research characterizing the effects of urban heat islands on insect herbivores. And, as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University Herbaria, Meineke studied how urbanization and climate change have affected global plant–insect relationships over the past 100-plus years.

At UC Davis, the Meineke laboratory "leverages natural history collections, citywide experiments, and observations to characterize effects of recent anthropogenic change on plant–insect herbivore interactions," said Vannette. Meineke has received funding from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program; USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative; and the UC Davis Hellman Fellows Program.

In 2022, Meineke was named one of 12 recipients of the UC Davis Hellman Fellows program. Her project, “Assessing Preservation of Chemical Compounds in Pressed Plants,” focuses on whether herbarium specimens collected over hundreds of years harbor chemical compounds that reveal mechanisms responsible for changing insectplant interactions. immeasurable impacts in a child’s life… not only now, but years down the line as they disrupt the cycle of abuse that we know is all too common. While the application period has closed for this recruitment, I always encourage anyone interested in volunteering as a CASA to learn more and apply at the volunteer section of our website. Our summer training will be here before we know it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Ellen E. Martin of Woodland director of homeownership at the California Housing Finance Agency. Martin has been director of business development and stakeholder relations at the agency since 2021.

Martin was a principal at Economic and Planning Systems Inc. from 2019 to 2021 and held various positions at EPS from 2005 to 2019, including executive vice president and vice president.

She was a policy analyst and legislative coordinator at United Domestic Workers of America from 2003 to 2005, and an administrative assistant in the California State Assembly Fellowship Program in 2003.

Martin is a member of the Urban Land Institute, where she serves on the Sacramento District Council's Executive Committee as well as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. She earned a master’s degree in public policy and administration Sacramento State University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Davis.

This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $175,188. Martin is a Democrat.

— Do you know of someone who has won an award or accomplished something noteworthy? Email it to newsroom@davisenterprise.net.

In addition to training new volunteers, we also look forward to the Big Day of Giving on May 4. This is one of our biggest annual fundraisers. This year, we will be launching a “15 Reasons to Give to Yolo County CASA” campaign toward the end of this month. Please keep an eye on our social media where we will be sharing inspiring stories about moments our CASA volunteers have had while forming relationships with and advocating for their foster youth.

As part of this campaign, we are also encouraging new donors to our organization to donate fifteen dollars in honor of the fifteen reasons we share throughout the month on the Big Day of Giving. Will you help us spread the word?

Finally, Happy Easter to those celebrating. Each day that I come to work I look forward to hearing about the ways our CASA volunteers touch the lives of the foster children they serve. It makes me extremely happy to have heard that many of our volunteers have Easter activities planned for their foster youth. Since I started working at Yolo County CASA, the bittersweet emotions we feel for the foster children we serve is palpable … and so is the gratitude we have for our CASA volunteers who create smiles when their foster youth need them most.

I like forward to keeping you updated on our Spring Training, the Big Day of Giving, and more to come. As always, more information can be found on our website at yolocasa.org.

— Colleen Campbell is the Acting Executive Director for Yolo County CASA

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