About This Site

This site was initiated in 1994 by Tony Shelton with a grant from the National Biological Control Institute, and Cathy Weeden was hired to generate the information and develop the website. Although Cathy left in 1999, the success of the site, even today, is due in large part to her knowledge and creativity. Many other people helped in the initial design and content of the project, including Mike Hoffmann, Ben Shelton, John Zakour and dozens of other researchers who provided reliable information on particular biological control organisms. Over the years, others have contributed to the site by being webmasters (Yaxin Li and Jason Plate) or providing funding (the Department of Entomology/NYSAES and Cornell Cooperative Extension). In 2009, Cornell Cooperative Extension provided a generous two-year grant to revise and enhance the site. With this funding we were able to hire Jill Eccleston (Cornell Ph.D., 1996) to reorganize and add new information to the site and Chris Cooley to help with its design and make it all work on the web.

Funding

This project was initiated in 1993 and originally funded, in part, by the National Biological Control Institute and the Department  of Entomology at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (now merged with its Ithaca colleagues into a single department) .  Additional funding has been provided by Dr. Shelton’s program and, most recently, by a grant from Cornell Cooperative Extension.  Funding is welcome from other sources who will be recognized for their contributions.

About the authors

Tony Shelton (ams5@cornell.edu) is a California native who migrated to upstate New York in 1979 after receiving his Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California at Riverside where his academic training and research were in integrated pest management (IPM) and biological control. He is a professor of entomology at Cornell. His research focuses on developing IPM strategies for insects affecting vegetables, with spinoffs for other crops. In his spare time he enjoys travelling, biking, sailing and the exploring the beautiful Finger Lakes.

Originally from Rhode Island, Jill Eccleston moved to upstate New York to attend Cornell University, receiving a Ph.D. in entomology in 1996. She now lives in the snow belt east of Lake Ontario and divides her time between family and consulting work.

Chris Cooley is an illustrator, graphic/ web designer, and owner of CMCreative Design. He has lived in New York his whole life receiving a B.I.D. from Syracuse University and working for Cornell University before grabbing the entrepreneurial bug and flying with it.

Acknowledgements

We thank the many colleagues who helped in the initial creation of this site: Elaine  Gotham for graphic design and Linda McCandless for shaping  the project into a cohesive whole and Peter McDonald and Ben Shelton for creative suggestions and much needed technical assistance.  We are especially grateful to Cathy Weeden for creating much of the content of the site as it existed from 1993 to 2010.  We are also very grateful for the help provided by  Yaxin Li after Cathy left.  Finally, we thank the many scientists who have contributed suggestions, photographs, information, and other help.