Agricultural Research Service
50th Anniversary

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Curriculum Vitae

Ralph O. Mumma Professor of Entomology, Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 863-1770
FAX: (814) 863-4439

Education

B.S. Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia 1960 Chemistry

M.S. Mississippi State University, State College, Mississippi 1966 Organic Chemistry Entomology minor

Ph.D . Mississippi State University, State College, Mississippi 1969 Organic Chemistry Biochemistry minor

Professional Experience

1964-1969
Chemist, USDA-ARS, Boll Weevil Research Laboratory, State College, MS .

1969-1970
Postdoctoral Position with R. M. Silverstein, New York State College of Forestry, Department of Chemistry, Syracuse, NY .

1970-1972
Research Chemist, USDA-ARS, Insect Attractants, Behavior and Basic Biology Research Laboratory, Gainesville, FL.

1970-1975
Adjunct Assistant Professor; University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agriculture (IFAS), Department of Entomology and Nema­tology, Gainesville, FL.

1975-1982
Adjunct Associate Professor and member of Doctoral Faculty; Univer­sity of Florida, IFAS, De­part­ment of Entomology and Nematology, and Department of Chemistry, Gainesville, FL.

1982-Present
Adjunct Professor and member of Doctoral Faculty; University of Florida, IFAS, De­partment of Entomol­o­gy and Nematol­ogy, and Depart­ment of Chemistry, Gainesville, FL .

1972-2003
Research Leader, USDA, ARS; Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology (formerly, Insect Attractants, Behavior and Basic Biology Research Laboratory), Gainesvil­le, FL.

2003-Present
Ralph O. Mumma Professor of Entomology, Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.

Research Interests

As a chemist interested in biological and agricultural systems, I have studied chemicals that affect insect behavior. My laboratory has identified insect pheromones and other semiochemicals, including the boll weevil pheromone, which is a key component of the boll weevil eradication program. We also investigated the biochemical mechanisms by which chemical signals are produced and released by insects, and studied the behavioral responses, including learned responses, of insects to chemical cues.

More recently, we have been investigating the interactions among herbivorous insects, their host plants, and their natural enemies. We found that plants damaged by caterpillar feeding synthesize and release volatile chemicals. Small wasps use these released volatiles as cues to locate and parasitize the caterpillars. The chemical defenses of the plant are induced by a compound, which we identified and named volicitin, in the oral secretion of the caterpillars. We are now investigating the biochemical mechanisms by which volicitin triggers the plant chemical defense, the source of volicitin in the caterpillars, its role in insect metabolism, the structures of similar molecules in other insect species, and the responses of the parasitic wasps to plant volatile chemicals. Emphasis is on developing fundamental knowledge and principles that can be applied in environmentally safe pest management programs.

Honors

1968
USDA, ARS Award for "Outstanding research which achieved the isolation, identifi­cation, and confirmation by synthesis of the male boll weevil sex attractant complex."

1975
USDA Superior Service Award (Boll Weevil Pheromone Development Group) "In recognition of the discovery of and for pioneering the develop­ment of the pheromone of the boll weevil as a technique for detection, survey, suppression, or elimination of the pest."

1979
ARS Award "For outstanding research and leadership accomplishments in identifying chemicals mediating the behavior of insects."

1983
USDA Superior Service Award (Insect Chemistry Research Group) "For outstanding service in the isolation, identification, and synthesis of pheromones of a number of major pest insects and providing science and industry with chemicals for insect research and control."

1984
ARS Distinguished Research Scientist of the Year.

1986
Burdick and Jackson International Award for Research in Pesticide Chemistry, presented by Agrochemicals Division of the American Chemical Society.

1989
ARS Fellowship to study at the Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona .

1990
J.E. Bussart Memorial Award from the Entomologi­cal Society of America for research accomplishments in the area of insect semiochemicals and associated behavior.

1991
Florida Entomological Society Annual Research Award (Jointly with W. J. Lewis and T. C. J. Turlings)

1994
LeTourneau Memorial Lecture, University of Idaho .

1995
USDA, The Secretary of Agriculture's Award for Personal and Professional Excellence “For Pioneering Research on Insect Pheromones that Provided the Basis for Control of Major Insect Pests, Including the Boll Weevil, Thereby Reducing Environmental Contamination by Pesticides”.

1996
Elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America

1997
Vice President, International Society of Chemical Ecology

1997
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

1998
President, International Society of Chemical Ecology

1998
Distinguished Lecturer in Life Sciences, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY .

1998
Alfred M. Boyce Lecturer, University of California at Riverside .

1998
Inducted into ARS Hall of Fame.

1999
Strickland Lecturer, University of Alberta, Edmonton .

1999
Joseph LeConte Lecturer, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro.

2000
Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, from the Entomological Society of America, Montreal, Canada .

2002
Kenneth A. Spencer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Agricultural and Food Chemistry

2002
ISI Essential Science Indicators; listed Tumlinson's publications in the top 1% in terms of total citations earned in the field of Environment/Ecology.

2003
Presidential Rank Award as a Meritorious Senior Professional in USDA, ARS.

2003
Jean-Marie Delwart Foundation Prize for chemical communication.

Recent Publications

Turlings, T. C. J., Alborn, H. T., Loughrin, J. H., and Tumlinson, J. H. Volicitin, an elicitor of maize volatiles in the oral secretion of Spodoptera exigua: its isolation and bio-activity. J. Chem. Ecol. 26(1): 189-202. 2000.

Alborn, H. T., Jones, T. H., Stenhagen, G. S., and Tumlinson, J. H. Identification and synthesis of volicitin and related components from beet armyworm oral secretions. J. Chem. Ecol. 26(1): 203-220. 2000.

Tumlinson, J. H., Paré, P. W., Alborn, H. T., and Lewis, W. J. Chemically mediated tritrophic plant-insect interactions. In de Wit, P. J. G. M., Bisseling, T., and Stiekema, W. J. (Eds.) Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions, Vol. 2. Proc. 9th Intl. Cong. on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, pp 378-383. 1999.

De Moraes, C. M., Lewis, W. J., and Tumlinson, J. H. Examining plant-parasitoid interactions in tritrophic systems. An. Soc. Entomol. Brasil 29(2): 189-203. 2000.

Tumlinson, J. H ., Alborn, H. T., Loughrin, J. H., Turlings, T. C. J., and Jones, T. H. Plant Volatile Elicitor from Insects. U. S. Patent # 6,054,483; April 25, 2000; U. S. Patent # 6,207,712 B1; March 27, 2001.

Frey, M., Stettner, C., Paré, P. W., Schmelz, E. A., Tumlinson, J. H., and Gierl, A. An herbivore elicitor activates the gene for indole emission in maize. PNAS 97(26): 14801-14806. 2000.

Mori, N., Alborn, H. T., Teal, P. E. A., and Tumlinson, J. H. Enzymatic decomposition of elicitors of plant volatiles in Heliothis virescens and Helicoverpa zea. J. Ins. Phys. 47: 749-757. 2001.

De Moraes, C. M., Mescher, M. C., and Tumlinson, J. H. Caterpillar-induced nocturnal plant volatiles repel conspecific females. Nature. 410: 577-580. 2001.

Schmelz, E.A., Alborn, H. T., and Tumlinson, J. H. The influence of intact-plant and excised-leaf bioassay designs on voliticitin- and jasmonic acid-induced sesquiterpene volatile release in Zea mays. Planta. 214: 171-179. 2001.

Cardoza, Y. J., Alborn, H. T., and Tumlinson, J. H. In vivo volatile emissions from peanut plants induced by simultaneous fungal infection and insect damage. J. Chem. Ecol. 28(1): 161-174. 2002.

Engelberth, J., Schmelz, E.A., Alborn, H. T., Cardoza, Y. J., Huang, J. and Tumlinson, J. H. Simultaneous quantification of jasmonic acid and salicylic acid in plants by vapor-phase extraction and gas chromatography-chemical ionization-mass spectrometry. Anal. Biochem. 312: 242-250. 2003.

Schmelz, E. A., Alborn, H. T., Banchio, E., and Tumlinson, J. H. Quantitative relationships between induced jasmonic acid levels and volatile emission in Zea mays during Spodoptera exigua herbivory. Planta. 216:665-673. 2003.

Schmelz, E. A., Alborn, H. T., and Tumlinson, J. H. Synergistic interactions between volicitin, jasmonic acid and ethylene mediate insect-induced volatile emission in Zea mays. Physiologia Plantarum. 117:403-412. 2003.

Cardoza, Y. J., Lait, C. G., Schmelz, E. A., Huang, J., and Tumlinson, J. H. Fungus-induced biochemical changes in peanut plants and their effect on development of beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua Hubner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae. Environ. Entomol. 32: 220-228, 2003.

Suazo, A., Torto, B., Teal, P.E.A. and Tumlinson, J. H. Response of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida Murray ) to honey bee (Aphis Mellifera L.) - and beehive-produced volatiles. Apidologie. 34: xxx-yyy. 2003.

Aldrich, J. R., Bartelt, R. J., Dickens, J. C., Knight, A. L., Light, D. M., and Tumlinson, J. H. Insect Chemical Ecology. Pest Management Science. 59:777-787. 2003.

Alborn, H.T., Brennan, M.M. and Tumlinson, J.H. Differential activity and degradation of plant volatile elicitors present in the regurgitant of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) larvae. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 29: 1357-1372. 2003.

Huang, J., Cardoza, Y.J., Schmelz, E.A., Raina, R., Engelberth, J.E. and Tumlinson, J.H. Differential volatile emissions and salicylic acid levels from tobacco plants in response to different strains of pseudomonas syringae. Planta.  217: 767-775. 2003.

Lait, C.G., Alborn, H.T, Teal, P.E.A., and Tumlinson, J.H. Rapid biosynthesis of N-linolenoyl-L-glutamine, an elicitor of plant volatiles, by membrane associated enzyme(s) in Manduca sexta. PNAS. 100: 7027-7032. 2003.

Schmelz, E.A., Alborn, H.T. and Tumlinson, J.H. Nitrogen deficiency increases volicitin-induced volatile emission by altering ethylene sensitivity and the kinetics of JA accumulation in Zea mays. Plant Physiology. 133: 295-306. 2003

Cardoza, Y.J., Teal, P.E.A. and Tumlinson, J.H. Effect of peanut fungal infection on oviposition preference by Spodoptera exigua and on host searching behavior by Cotesia marginiventris. Environmental Entomology. In Press. 2003.

Schmelz, E. A., Engelberth, J., Alborn, H. T., O'Donnell, P., Sammons, M., Toshima, H. and Tumlinson, J. H. Simultaneous analysis of phytohormones, phytotoxins, and volatile organic compounds in plants. PNAS, 100: 10552-10557. 2003.

Engelberth, J., Alborn, H. T., Schmelz, E. A., and Tumlinson J. H. Airborne signals prime plants against insect herbivore attack. PNAS. In Press. 2003.