Pi Chi Omega focuses on connecting industry

From left are Dr. Linda Mason, dean of Purdue University’s Graduate School; Pat Hottel, BCE, McCloud Services’ technical director; and Pi Chi Omega President Dr. Cassie Krejci, BCE, Rentokil’s head of science and innovation for North America, during the Pi Chi Omega Raise the Bar event earlier this year. PHOTO: PI CHI OMEGA

Pi Chi Omega has been busy this year, doing what we do best: connecting and enriching the urban pest management community. Have you experienced our connection this year?

We started 2023 at the Purdue Pest Management Conference in January. At that event’s membership meeting, we approved 22 new members. The community continues to grow with an additional six members approved in April via online voting.

Our Purdue “Raise the Bar” event was where the real connection happened, with three dozen members present — plus some guests! While in the exhibit hall, Pi Chi Omega staff and board members shared an update about the formation of the fraternity’s industry grant program, which provides funds to encourage and assist outstanding professionals to enhance our industry and their careers in pest management. More information about this new program is available at PiChiOmega.org/scholarships-grants and on p. 80 of Pest Management Professional’s November 2022 issue.

Sisters-in-law Kristin, left, and Andrea Coron, assistant director and director, respectively, of
Pi Chi Omega, led the organization’s “Move Against Malaria” 5K team this spring. PHOTO: PI CHI OMEGA

Pi Chi Omega also was happy to collaborate with the United Nations’ “United to Beat Malaria” program in May to raise money through the Move against Malaria 5K. The Pi Chi Omega team raised just over $900 to support the program’s mission of “United, we can be the generation to beat malaria and create a healthier, more equitable world for all.”

Look for the Pi Chi Omega Move Against Malaria team to double its fundraising goal in 2024.

May 2023 scholarship recipients

• Dr. John Osmun Scholarship ($3,000): Madison Gits, University of Florida doctoral candidate, researching German cockroach insecticide resistance.
• Founders Endowment Scholarship ($2,000): Isabelle Lucero, University of Kentucky graduate student, examining how the age of gel baits affects their palatability and efficacy.
• Alain VanRyckeghem Scholarship ($2,000): Simona Principato, University of Kentucky doctoral candidate, testing bed bug behavioral responses to different insecticides.
• Dr. Austin Frishman Scholarship ($2,000): Ben Grady, University of Kentucky graduate student, studying bed bug-derived histamine as a potential new environmental contaminant.
• Norm Ehmann Scholarship ($2,000): Morgan Wilson, Virginia Tech doctoral candidate, comparing the labor and cost of two fumigation methodologies (tape and seal; tarpaulin) in bed bug-infested single-family homes.
• R. Randall Rollins Memorial Scholarship ($2,000): Jacob Winkles, University of Georgia graduate student, working on determining the economic contribution of the pest management professional industry in the state of Georgia.