USDA secretary cites Tumlinson for insect research

U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist James H. Tumlinson (M.S. '66, Ph.D. '69) has received a USDA award for his pioneering work in developing environmentally friendly chemical attractants to control boll weevils and other crop pests.

USDA Secretary Dan Glickman presented a Personal and Professional Excellence Award to Tumlinson in September 1995, during a ceremony at Gainesville, Fla.

Tumlinson, a research chemist for USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville, has authored more than 200 papers during his 30-year career involving insect chemical attractants called pheromones. His discovery of the boll weevil pheromone was a key element in the program that has helped eradicate that cotton pest in the Southeast. Tumlinson isolated, identified, and synthesized the four-chemical blend that makes up the boll weevil pheromone used in traps to detect and catch the insects.

The National Cotton Council of America estimates that the boll weevil eradication program has had an economic benefit of $7.8 billion, and has helped reduce cotton insecticide applications by 40 to 90 percent.

Tumlinson has expanded his research in recent years, identifying chemical attractants for Japanese beetles, corn earworm and fall armyworm moths, corn rootworms, peachtree borers, and other insects.