UC Merced Connect: Engineering could help shoo pests from crops

Rebecca Quinte is a mechanical engineer who is learning to apply her skills and knowledge in unexpected ways, and that could end up benefiting farmers in the Central Valley and beyond.

The UC Merced undergraduate student is working with professor Andrea Joyce on a project that aims to shoo away leaf-footed bugs, insects that feed on the seeds of crops such as pomegranates, almonds and pistachios.

Quinte, a Loma Linda native finishing up her bachelor’s degree this semester, constructed the low-velocity wind tunnel in which the bugs will be observed. The researchers will observe the insects’ mate-attraction behavior in order to see whether pheromones or other attractants could be used to control the insects in place of pesticides.

“Farmers see them swarming and are tempted to apply pesticides, which I understand – it’s their livelihood,” Quinte said. “We’re trying to research an alternative for their control. We’re trying to put their minds at ease.”

The research is part of UC President Janet Napolitano’s Global Food Initiative, which was launched last year to help put the university’s campuses, the state and the world on a pathway to sustainability and food security.

Quinte was one of six UC Merced students to be chosen for the initiative’s Student Fellowship Program in December. Through the program, undergraduate and graduate students receive $2,500 for research, internships and other projects that focus on food issues.

Joyce – an assistant professor of entomology with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute – encouraged Quinte to apply for the fellowship. UC Merced is known for providing research opportunities to undergraduate students, but those positions are often in high demand.

“It can be quite competitive to find a research opportunity in a faculty member’s lab,” Joyce said. “The experience can help high-achieving students decide if they would like to pursue graduate studies or a research career.”

Quinte, who is currently working as an intern with Hetch Hetchy Water and Power, said the fellowship has given her a new perspective on mechanical engineering as a career. In particular, her research with Joyce has made her more aware of engineering’s potential to solve problems that are affecting the environment.

“As a mechanical engineer, I see more of the impact engineering can have,” Quinte said. “I see the bigger picture.”

Sustainable food leader comes to campus

Fedele Bauccio, CEO and co-founder of Bon Appétit Management Co., will speak on campus early next month in an event sponsored by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability; Dining Services; the Blum Center; and the Karen Merritt Writing Program.

The free event begins at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 4 in the California Room.

Bauccio is visiting campus as part of the Sustainability Speaker Series. This year’s theme is food, in keeping with Napolitano’s Global Food Initiative.

Bauccio’s company supplies restaurants, food vendors, corporations, universities and museums in 32 states. Bauccio and Bon Appétit have revolutionized the food service industry both by introducing fresh, made-from-scratch food to the contract market and by pioneering environmentally and socially responsible practices designed to create a more sustainable food system.

Under Bauccio’s leadership, Bon Appétit has developed programs addressing local purchasing; the overuse of antibiotics; sustainable seafood; the connection between food and climate change; humanely raised meat and eggs; and farmworker rights. Bauccio’s work has been honored by many nonprofit and industry groups, and UC Merced sustainability Director Colleen McCormick has nominated him for one more: the International Green Industry Hall of Fame for 2016.

“I heard him speak in Los Angeles last summer, and he talked about how people told him he’d never make money with a sustainable food business, but he said if you follow your passion, the money will come,” McCormick said. “I liked his message and invited him here to share it with the Merced community.”

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "UC Merced Connect: Engineering could help shoo pests from crops."