Friends of IPM Awards
The mission of the Southern IPM Center is to champion the development and adoption of integrated pest management (IPM), the science of managing pests while protecting people, the environment and economy. Each Regional Center engages broadly with stakeholders to identify and address regional pest priorities in agriculture, communities and natural areas.
Since 2003, the Southern IPM Center (SIPMC) has worked with USDA, Land Grant universities, Extension, and many other partners in promoting and facilitating the development and implementation of IPM in many settings across the region.
Many of these partners have contributed to the region’s well-being for years or even decades.
Hall of Fame
The Southern IPM Hall of Fame award recognizes individuals who have contributed to any important aspect of Southern IPM over many years with documented history of career achievements in IPM.
Along with authorship of educational materials, research papers, manuals, books, and presentations of IPM material, Hall of Fame award candidates have greatly impacted IPM in the Southern region over the lifetime of their career.
Megha Parajulee, Texas A&M AgriLife
Written by Kayla Watson
Dr. Parajulee is a Professor, Faculty Fellow, and Texas A&M Regents Fellow at Texas A&M University where his work has focused heavily on cotton IPM in the state of Texas, where has built an impressive, interdisciplinary, and highly impactful cotton IPM program.
As a postdoc, Parajulee successfully led the multi-agency, grower-involved project to solve practical problems in Texas boll weevil management, which contributed significantly to the larger goal of eventual eradication of the boll weevil from Texas, except in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Immediately following the successful boll weevil program, a comprehensive multistate IPM project provided much needed boost to the successful adoption of IPM strategies in the Texas High Plains and a clear shift from complete reliance upon chemical insecticides to conscientious grower behavior and perceptions for IPM and ecological sustainability. In the Texas High Plains, insecticide use has declined 71% over the last ten years due in large part to Parajulee’s work.
The impact of Dr. Parajulee’s research accomplishment and contribution in entomological science and IPM has extended beyond the Texas High Plains region, Texas, and the U.S. cotton belt. He has developed a significant international reputation, having been invited to 68 international conferences and symposia to deliver plenary or keynote speeches on cotton IPM and ecological approaches to pest management. He also co-edited a book “Principles and Practices of Food Security: Sustainable, Sufficient, and Safe Food for Healthy Living”, published in July 2020.
As a lifetime IPM researcher and advocate, Parajulee truly excels in areas of publication, presentations, grants, student training, outreach, and service at local, state, national and international levels. Additionally, his comprehensive research portfolio directly and effectively addresses the needs of clientele in the Southern region to keep agriculture highly competitive in today’s global marketplace.