Profiles of ESA Member Diversity: Adrian Fisher (PBT Section) and Adalberto (Beto) Angel Pérez de León (MUVE and P-IE Sections)

Entomologists are as diverse as the organisms they study; professional entomologists employ many approaches, from fine-scale molecular methods to large-scale ecological observations. While entomologists differ in the ways we perform our work, many of us discovered our fascination with insects early in life and continue to be inspired by what we learn about our study organisms. In this series, we share the uniqueness of our members, along with our commonalities, to inspire the next generation of entomologists. This is the second in a series of articles that highlight the contributions of entomologists of color and describe the inspirations, journeys, and professional goals of these members. The scientists highlighted in this profile are Adrian Fisher, a postdoctoral fellow and member of ESA’s Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology (PBT) Section, and Adalberto “Beto” Angel Pérez de León, director of the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center (USDA-ARS) and a member of both the Plant–Insect Ecosystems (P-IE) and Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology (MUVE) sections. Both Adrian and Beto have loved insects from an early age and value the interconnectedness of entomology. Though Adrian and Beto differ in “instar,” or career stage, both wish to share their work to improve how stakeholders interact with their study species, whether to benefit or control these species. We interviewed Adrian and Beto to discuss their respective paths in entomology and their goals for increasing diversity and involvement in our field. Adrian is grafting worker cells into a honey bee frame. Organism of Inspiration: Honey bees Human Inspiration: Karl von Frisch Adrian Fisher has this advice for entomology graduate students: take advantage of every opportunity to learn new skills. To Adrian, the best part of research is the chance to add new techniques to his skill set that allow him to keep asking new questions about insects. Adrian admits that learning new things can be stressful, but he describes this as “positive pressure,” which results in personal and professional growth. Adrian is a postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, AZ, under the direction of Jon Harrison. Adrian’s current research involves employing a mix of lab and field approaches to examine the effects of fungicides on honey bees. Adrian cites the work of Karl von Frisch as his model, which integrates a variety of approaches that will decipher the answer to any research question. He describes his transition to this research project as a positive challenge; he expanded his work to include the behavioral physiology of these bees to examine the sublethal effects of fungicides. To Adrian, finding the best tool for each question is the best part of being a researcher. He also enjoys watching bees interact with their landscape as they respond to a changing environment. Adrian is keen to discover more about the lives of insects and humans as they interact across agricultural landscapes, and to learn what factors drive how insects adapt to changing conditions as a result of human actions. Adrian holding a frame from one of his study hives in the bee yard at ASU. Adrian is inspired by the ubiquity of insects. Insects are found in every biome, and they display complicated levels of interactions with the world around them. In contrast, the research and knowledge about insects is disproportionately small compared with research and knowledge about vertebrate species. Adrian also enjoys interacting with the general public, because individuals have a diversity of perspectives. He states that people are interested in how chemicals, such as pesticides, affect insects, but there are many questions left to answer. Again, Adrian sees these knowledge gaps as new frontiers. Despite challenges that researchers face in terms of finding funding for their work, Adrian values increasing what is known about honey bees to all who love them, from members of the public to other researchers in the field. Adrian enjoys sharing his love of arthopods at a public outreach event. Adrian has always been fascinated by the animal diversity around him. Growing up in Anaheim, CA, Adrian loved bringing home new pets, including praying mantids and centipedes, that he kept “properly contained” in his family’s home. Such activities fostered a broad interest and love of animals and led him to study zoology at California State Polytechnic in Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), where he enrolled in every kind of “ology” course offered. Adrian’s entomology professor, Joan Leong, recognized Adrian’s talent and growing interest in insects and recruited him to her research program. For Adrian, this invitation to join her team had a large impact on his professional goals and research. Adrian compared the foraging efficiency of honey bees with that of native pollinators. He cites how Leong encouraged him, investing time and effort in his growth as a young researcher. Adrian enjoys similar interactions with undergraduate and graduate researchers in his current postdoctoral position. After completing his undergraduate degree, Adrian moved to begin his graduate work with Juliana Rangel, who was at that time a new faculty member at Texas A&M University. Adrian focused his doctoral work on how pesticides affect honey bee colony health. During this time, he valued how his work influenced the practices of growers and beekeepers. He most enjoyed interacting with diverse audiences of stakeholders, each of whom had a unique science background and response to his work. His admiration for beekeepers increased. Adrian enjoyed hearing how different beekeepers came to the craft of caring for bees, and he felt great satisfaction in helping them with their concerns. Adrian’s proudest achievement is his first published peer-reviewed paper, “The Synergistic Effects of Almond Protection Fungicides on Honey Bee Forager Survival,” co-authored by Chet Coleman, Clint Hoffman, Brad Fritz, and Juliana Rangel in the Journal of Economic Entomology. He describes how the hours of work processing data and preparing the manuscript gave him a feeling of completion and accomplishment. Adrian is also gratified that his work has utility for other researchers; he describes his work as a piece of a puzzle that is leading to an understanding of how fungicides affect honey bees in their environment. Adrian is eager to make this science more visible, allowing for conversations among researchers, growers, beekeepers, and the general public about the health of honey bees. He hopes to foster these connections through research by exploring the effects of new chemicals and fungicides on honey bee health. He also hopes to increase the visibility of entomology in the research science landscape. Adrian also advises graduate students to bring their skills and knowledge to new projects, and to be ready to learn even more. He suggests that students start thinking about their career trajectory early in their graduate work, instead of waiting until the defense of their thesis or dissertation. Adrian’s growing career displays hallmarks of his advice to students. He enjoys his position as part of ASU’s School of Life Sciences Social Insect Research Group, which is comprised of researchers who use a variety of approaches to understand the lifestyles of these unique creatures and their societies. In addition to his research, Adrian is the instructor of record for Animal Physiology and Animal Physiology Lab in the 2020 fall semester. Adrian hopes to continue growing as a researcher, communicator, and educator as he pursues a career in academia. Overall, Adrian’s goal is to utilize his work as a researcher to increase awareness of the crucial connections between insects and people, and to inspire others to appreciate the diversity of the insect world. Organism of Inspiration: Six- and eight-legged friends/foes Human Inspiration: Family, collaborators, and stakeholders Adalberto (Beto) Angel Pérez de León is the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center in Parlier, California. Beto is fascinated by the six- and eight-legged friends and foes that motivated him to be an entomologist. His path, both tortuous and serendipitous, in entomology spans a diversity of jobs in academia, government, and industry. Beto credits his family in Veracruz, Mexico, for nurturing his inquisitive mind and can-do attitude. While Beto was growing up, his father gave him magazines that together created the Enciclopedia Salvat de la Fauna by Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. Beto dreamed of working with the fauna he saw in the pictures. Because of his parents’ commitment, Beto studied U.S. culture and the English language as an exchange student in Indiana. Upon his return to Mexico, Beto studied veterinary medicine; little did he know that the apiculture course he took would be the first step in his path to becoming an entomologist. Beto highlights the interconnectedness of research fields as a way to advance science. The internship he did in the pathology department as a veterinary student in the Universidad Veracruzana provided foundational knowledge that proved useful when he volunteered to assist Gard Otis (University of Guelph) with field research on bee tracheal mites. Beto became enamored with the biology and ethology of honey bees. Beto says that hindsight is 20-20; honey bee medicine is an important concern of the American Veterinary Medical Association. As luck would have it, Beto was hired in 1987 by Carlos Vergara to work at the University of Georgia with Alfred Dietz, who was funded to research Africanized honey bees in Mexico. It helped that Beto had some knowledge of apiculture, in terms of using a smoker and spatula to open beehives. Two years of field research in the jungles of Mexico yielded some of the most thrilling experiences in Beto’s career. He was in charge of field operations, including supervising experienced beekeepers, interacting with farmers, collaborating with state and federal officials from Mexico and the U.S., and managing up to 410 beehives. Beto is collecting samples from a mare suffering from a co-infestation of cattle fever ticks and New World screwworms in the Dominican Republic. Beto sought to continue his graduate studies with a project that combined his veterinary education and entomological expertise. Christopher Chase recruited Beto for a doctoral fellowship that established Chase’s research program at the USDA-ARS Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming. Beto found the offer too good to pass up; he packed up and went west. In less than a year, Beto found himself without an advisor. Walter Tabachnick introduced Beto to the Network on the Biology of Parasite Vectors. In a life-changing experience, Beto was blown away by a lecture by José Ribeiro on the salivary gland pharmacology of arthropod disease vectors. Ribeiro’s talk inspired Beto to conduct similar studies on the salivary glands of the biting midge, Culicoides sonorensis, for his doctoral work. The results of his scientific findings were recognized with the Gerald Hollandsworth Memorial Award of the West Central Mosquito and Vector Control Association. With some of his financial burden lifted by the award, he was able to pay for his wedding to Valerie Huet at the Laramie Plains Museum. Beto says that he would rather be lucky than smart. He was in the right place at the right time to obtain a postdoctoral fellowship, allowing him to stay in Wyoming. His research documented the ability of biting midges to become infected and transmit vesicular stomatitis virus to susceptible hosts. This information was applied by regulatory agencies to adopt control measures emphasizing biting fly control during vesicular stomatitis outbreaks. Beto vividly remembers cleaning cow stalls with Tabachnick on a Thanksgiving day so the animal care crew would have time off, earning him the accolade of a member of the lab’s “A team.” Beto shared his work on bluetongue in Spanish in a USDA-APHIS-ARS Exotic Animal Diseases International Course in Plum Island, NY. After that, Beto’s career took a sharp turn, moving him from USDA to industry. This new adventure required moving his family to North Carolina to work with Rhône-Poulenc. Beto learned to sharpen his professional survival skills, and by 2000 he moved to Texas to work for STILLMEADOW, Inc. Soon after that, Beto was back in North Carolina to work with the then-budding biotech company SCYNEXIS, Inc. Building a world-class animal health discovery biology program from scratch is not for the faint of heart, but Beto’s team met each challenge, earning millions of dollars for the company. Beto says that the message here is summarized by the song “Don’t Look Back” by Boston; after three years of success, he was out of a job. In one of the most difficult conversations of his life, he explained the situation to Valerie, reassuring her that everything was going to be all right. Beto says that this period of unemployment was one of the most productive periods of his life. He networked and continued to be involved with scientific organizations. Though he considered setting up a consulting firm, Beto joined the Environmental Science Division of Valent Sciences Corporation. He gained valuable insights from wise scientists and entomologists working in the private sector: Bill Clymer, Jacky Hair, Dick Endris, Bill Donahue, Elmer Ahrens, Ron Everett, Bob Pennington, Bob Sabol, Glenn Cawthorne, and Hayato Teshima. Because of Beto’s experience and involvement with the International Symposium on Ectoparasites of Pets (ISEP) and the Livestock Insect Workers Conference (LIWC), Fred Knapp asked him to join the organizing committee of the joint ISEP-LIWC meeting. There, Beto met Dan Strickman, who later approached Beto at the 2007 ESA meeting about career opportunities with USDA-ARS. By the beginning of 2009, Beto had joined the USDA-ARS as director of the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory. He had not yet settled into his new office in Kerrville, Texas, when Strickman asked him to organize a meeting with stakeholders about the alarming situation with cattle fever tick outbreaks. Naively, Beto asked when this meeting should occur; he sank into his office chair when he learned that the meeting should be as soon as possible. It was baptism by fire again. In this new role, Beto communicated about livestock entomological research to diverse audiences nationally and internationally. Working with Kenneth Linthicum and the Office of National Programs, Beto established the USDA-ARS Veterinary Pest Genomics Center, providing virtual space for interactions between collaborators. Beto fostered mutually productive global research partnerships, including a public–private partnership that delivered an anti-tick vaccine for the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program. Working with ARS research entomologist Andrew Li and industry partners, Beto developed remote insecticide application methods to control horn flies. Beto also collaborated with the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group of the Department of Health and Human Services where the ESA position statement on tick-borne diseases was considered. Through these efforts, he helped raise awareness about tick biology, ecology, and control, centering on the One Health approach, which is also embraced by the USDA, to deal effectively with tick-borne diseases. In 2020, Beto was excited to accept his current position with USDA-ARS in Parlier, CA. Beto gratefully acknowledges the contributions and support of many individuals, which drive him to create opportunities for others in entomology. With Craig Wilson, he expanded the USDA-ARS Future Scientists Program. Beto also collaborated with Ruby de la Garza and Juan Alvarez to reach minority scientists through the USDA Office of Partnerships & Public Engagement. Beto’s service as a member of the Governing Board for the Acarological Society of America gives him an opportunity to advance research for the common good. As an agent of productive change, Beto involves motivated scientists with diverse expertise to solve agricultural problems in an environmentally sustainable manner. He urges budding entomologists to find their passion and strive to excel in whatever field of entomology they have chosen. Alvaro Romerois an associate professor of urban entomology at New Mexico State University and a member of MUVE.Rebecca Simmonsis a professor of biology at the University of North Dakota and the 2021 president of SysEB.Jessica L. Wareis an associate curator of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, vice president of ESA, and part of the Entomologists of Color collective.Alix Whiteneris a technical services manager for the Pacific Northwest region at FMC Corporation and is the president-elect and the entomology gamesmaster for the Pacific Branch.

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