Gilstrap named 2019 honorary member of Entomological Society of America

COLLEGE STATION — Frank Gilstrap, Ph.D. and professor emeritus, is recognized as a 2019 honorary member of the Entomological Society of America, ESA, for extraordinary contributions during his career with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University, College Station. 

Honorary membership acknowledges those who have served ESA for at least 20 years through significant involvement in the affairs of the society that has reached an extraordinary level. Candidates for this honor are selected by the ESA Governing Board and voted on by the ESA membership.

Gilstrap’s research included biological control of insects and mites damaging small grains, field crops and fruit. 

During his career, Gilstrap conducted entomological research in the U.S., Africa and Central America; generated $4.25 million in funding; graduated 14 masters students and 14 doctoral students; and published 237 articles and reports, 31 of which were in ESA journals.

As an AgriLife Research associate director from 1996-2003, Gilstrap managed intellectual property, $5 million in appropriated funds and Texas commodity relationships. As the director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Center at Dallas, he created and implemented a business-based management model for the center and established more than 60 partnerships that grew annual center revenue from $250,000 from 2000 to 2005 to $2.1 million in 2011. 

Gilstrap has been a continuous ESA member since 1972. He served as president in 2006, as a member of the ESA Governing Board from 2000-2007, as a member of the Entomological Foundation Board of Counselors from 1997-2011. He was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Economic Entomology from 1983-1987, and he served as its chair in 1987. Gilstrap was named Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 2011.

Additional highlights of his service to the discipline include serving as president of the International Organization for Biological Control/Nearctic Regional Section from 1979-1989 and project leader for the International Sorghum-Millet Collaborative Research Support Program, U.S. Agency for International Development from 1979-1995.

Gilstrap retired in 2010 and was named professor emeritus by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in 2011. He was honored by the Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in January with the department’s Lifetime Achievement Recognition.

Gilstrap earned a bachelor of arts in biology from Fresno State College and a master of science and doctorate in entomology from the University of California-Riverside. 

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