A $1 million alumnus gift will establish an endowed faculty chair in the field of insect systematics in the entomology department at the University of California, Davis, to study the classification, biology and evolution of insects, areas critical to pest management. Presented by Everet and Marion Schlinger of Santa Ynez, the gift spans three years and creates the Everet and Marion Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics. The position will be held by a senior faculty member. Insect systematics is an area of study concerned with the diversity and interrelationships of organisms, and is considered indispensable by Everet Schlinger, whose own studies focused on the systematics of flies. Systematics plays a vital role in pest control and is the cornerstone around which all pest management strategies are built. For example, this kind of expertise came into play several years ago when a small parasitic wasp was brought from Italy to reduce ash whitefly infestations in ash trees. The Schlinger chair, along with the expanded Bohart Museum of Entomology and the newly created Center for Biosystematics at UC Davis, will "help focus attention on an aspect of biology that has been declining over the past 20 years," said Michael Parrella, chair of the entomology department. Everet Schlinger's expertise in insect systematics began with the group of insects that includes bees and wasps. He later turned to extensive studies of fly systematics. His career took him to UC Riverside, where he served as chair of the entomology department, and to UC Berkeley, where he served as chair of the entomology and parasitology department. UC Davis is home to one of the most comprehensive insect collections in the United States, housed in the Bohart Museum. Schlinger was the first president of the Bohart Museum Society, named in honor of emeritus professor Richard Bohart, who taught Schlinger.