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.
Pasco Bruce Avery, UF/IFAS/IRREC
Written by Kayla Watson
Dr. Avery leads research in the Entomopathogenic Fungi Research Laboratory, part of IRREC’s Norman C. Hayslip Biological Control Research and Containment Laboratory.
Avery joined IRREC in 2007 as a post-doctoral research and extension entomology fellow and continued in that position for the next 5 years. During that time, his research was instrumental in obtaining a new registration for the commercial formulation of the fungal entomopathogen, Cordyceps javanica, for controlling arthropod pests infesting fruiting crops throughout the United States. In 2012, he began conducting research as a Senior Biological Scientist and was recently promoted to his current position as a Biological Scientist IV.
In his current role, Avery is conducting research involved in applied ecology, entomology, and insect pathology, evaluating multi-trophic interactions between host plant-pest-pathogen/parasitoids from a systems approach. His work is specialized to meet crop protection and production needs for growers of tropical and subtropical crops including citrus, avocado and ornamentals.
Avery’s more than a decade of experience and knowledge for management of invasive and domestic arthropod pests of horticultural crops has included trials with vegetables, citrus and avocado trees, ornamental plants, and floriculture. To achieve his unique systems approach, he has used and applied molecular biology as a tool for determining genetic diversity and the presence of various entomopathogenic fungi of insects and pathogenic bacteria associated with plant diseases.
As a research scientist, he has both instructed and investigated the impacts and effects of chemical pesticides or biocontrol agents on target and non-target organisms. He has designed projects investigating the subsequent risk analysis and quarantine tests required prior to releasing a non-native species into a foreign environment as well as within restoration scenarios. These tasks involve the coordination of international and domestic multidisciplinary collaborative research partners.
Avery has authored or co-authored more than 30 publications appearing in peer-reviewed journals for which more than 1000 citations have been made. Additionally, he has contributed to more than 30 extension-related publications. He would like to thank Robin Koestoyo, Dr. Ronald Cave, Dr. Daniel Carrillo, Dr. Anita Neal, and Robert Adair, Jr.
