With the tremendous amount of interest in the Ross Taylor Bell and Joyce Rockenbach Bell Research Grant in 2023, The Coleopterists Society is pleased to announce that two awards will be given this year! There were 17 applications submitted this year from around the world including North America, Japan, Nepal, South Africa, Europe, Australia, and four from Latin America. The awardees are:
Dr. Lawrence Kirkendall and Dr. Thomas Atkinson for their project titled “Synopsis of the Platypodinae of Brazil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)”. This project involves the principal investigators travelling to Ilha Solteira, Brazil to work on the taxonomy of a large collection of platypodines assembled by Dr. Carlos Flechtmann and housed in the Faculdade de Engenharia – Câmpus de Ilha Solteira (São Paulo State University).
Dr. Cristian Beza-Beza for his project titled “Curation and study of the personal collection of Pedro Reyes-Castillo at the Colección Entomológica del Instituto de Ecología (IEXA): continuing the legacy of biodiversity research in Passalidae”. This project involves bringing together several taxonomic experts and students to the Instituto de Ecología in Xalapa, Mexico to work on the taxonomy and catalog the recently donated collection of passalid beetles from the late Pedro Reyes-Castillo.
We would like to thank Joyce Bell for making this grant possible with her generous donation to The Coleopterists Society in memory of her husband, Ross Bell. This grant is awarded on April 23rd, 2023, which would have been Ross’s 94 th birthday.