Posted: 9-2-2009

Entomologist Norm Leppla honored as ESA Fellow for career IPM work

Around UF, the name Norm Leppla is synonymous with integrated pest management. The entomology professor is the university’s leading light for IPM, which seeks to control troublesome pests with an environmentally friendly combination of monitoring, preventive measures and—when necessary—use of pesticides.

Colleagues nationwide have also taken notice of Leppla’s accomplishments. He’s been named a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, an honor recognizing his almost 40 years of career achievements.

Leppla will officially receive the award at ESA’s annual meeting Dec. 13-16 in Indianapolis. Founded in 1889, ESA is the world’s largest organization for entomologists, with nearly 6,000 members.

His work in IPM emphasizes biologial control, the practice of controlling pest species using their natural enemies. Leppla’s interest in IPM goes back to his days as a doctoral student at University of Arizona in the early 1970s. Environmental issues were coming to the forefront at that time, and IPM appealed to him because it emphasized alternatives to pesticide use.

Initially, IPM was met with skepticism by old-school entomologists and pest-control operators. But today, it’s widely accepted, and Leppla is glad to see the change.

“It’s just remarkable,” he said. “It’s been an uphill battle for more than 40 years and today (inquiries are) coming at us from all sides. People around the world are interested in IPM.”

In 1997, UF hired Leppla as a professor and director of three research and education centers in Central Florida—including the Mid-Florida REC in Apopka, which he helped develop. In 1999, he stepped down as REC director and moved to Gainesville to create Florida’s first comprehensive statewide IMP program. And he’s led it ever since.

Among other achievements, Leppla established the first laboratory specifically designed to support the commercial biological control industry. He’s also developed new methods for rearing insects in large numbers—both pests and natural enemies—to facilitate research and biological control.

He also teaches classes on IPM for undergraduates, grad students and for UF’s innovative Doctor of Plant Medicine program.

Leppla was associate director of the USDA-APHIS National Biological Control Institute in Riverdale, Md. from 1995-96. That position followed a stint as director for another USDA-APHIS program from 1990-94 in Hyattsville, Md., and an earlier appointment as the first research leader with the USDA-ARS Biological Control of Pests Research Laboratory from 1988-89 in Weslaco, Texas.

He began his professional career as a research entomologist with USDA-ARS, working at the Insect Attractants, Behavior and Basic Biology Research Laboratory in Gainesville from 1972-88. During that time he was also an adjunct faculty member with UF’s entomology and nematology department.

Leppla earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology at Arizona State University in 1968 and 1970, respectively, and his doctorate in entomology/biological science at the University of Arizona in 1972.