Speakers

	Denis Anderson is a researcher for the government of Australia and one of the most distinguished scientists of our era working on parasites of the honey bee. It was his pivotal 2000 paper that showed that the mite visiting hardship on beekeepers around the world was not Varroa jacobsoni, but rather a new species hitherto unknown to science. As discoverer, the honor of naming the beast fell to Dr. Anderson and his co-author, and with a flair for the dramatic they dubbed it Varroa destructor. It is truly an honor for EAS 2006 to host a scientist of Dr. Anderson’s stature.
	Paul Arnold has been at Young Harris College for 18 years. He is a graduate of Huntington College where he earned an A.A. in Wildlife Management, and a B.S. in Biological Science in 1982. In 1987 he earned his Ph.D. in Botany from Miami University in Oxford, OH. He came to Young Harris College in 1987 and has taught courses in Biology, Botany, Invertebrate Zoology, Ecology, Human Anatomy & Physiology, and Microbiology. Dr. Arnold's primary professional interests include: Biopredator control of the hemlock wooly adelgid using Sasajiscymnus beetles, physiological ecology of mycorrhizal fungi, the effects of toxins in mutualistic relationships between plants and their fungal symbionts, pollen analysis in honey, and the flora of the southern Appalachian bioregion. Paul is currently the director of the predatory beetle laboratory at Young Harris College.
	Cindy Bee is owner and operator of Bee’s Honeybee Removal Co. and approaches the ten year mark in the full time business. As a degreed educator and Master Beekeeper, she works extensively with the beekeeping community as well as the general public. She is past President of Metro Atlanta Beekeepers, is currently on the board of directors, and runs DillonBee Apiaries based in Marietta, Georgia. Cindy has proven herself a vital part of the beekeeping community.
	Jennifer Berry is Apicultural Research Coordinator and Lab Manager at the University of Georgia. She’s actively involved in all aspects of honey bee education and her area of research emphasis has been a queen breeding program which selects for resistant stock and IPM work. Jennifer travels extensively and speaks to local, state, national and international beekeeping associations. She is currently this year’s EAS president.
	Bob Binnie started keeping bees on a commercial scale in 1981 while living in Oregon. Since that time he’s had bees in California, Washington, North and South Dakota, Georgia and North Carolina. Since moving to Georgia 15 years ago Bob has made a name for himself in the nuc and honey business. In 2003 the Georgia Beekeepers Association voted Bob “Beekeeper of the Year”. He has also held office of president for the North Eastern Mountain Beekeepers Association for three years. Bob is a respected beekeeper and business man in the southeast. Georgia is proud to have him as a resident.
	Robert Brewer is our hosting county extension agent, sitting president of the Georgia Beekeepers Association, and decorated world-class honey judge. Robert has judged shows throughout the Southeast and the British Islands.
	Dewey Caron is the past Chairman of the Eastern Apicultural Society, current Chair of the EAS Research Committee and has been active on the Board for more than 30 years. He currently teaches a variety of courses at the University of Delaware, and has been honored with several awards for his skills in research, teaching and administration. He is also actively involved in the MAARC project and is working on updating their African Honey Bee Action plan. Dewey has published beekeeping books on honey bee biology, African Honey Bees, Observation Hives (with Tom Webster) and literally hundreds of scientific and trade journal articles on honey bees and honey bee related subjects. He will be the Program Chairman for EAS 2007 in Delaware.
	Clarence Collison is the Chairman of the Entomology and plant Pathology department at Mississsipp State University, in Mississippi State. He has been in charge of the EAS Master Beekeeper program for many years, has served on the Board of EAS and lectures in both the EAS Short Course and Confernce every year. He recently was awarded the Outstanding Research Contribution Award by the Apiary Inspectors Of America, and has been the author of the What Do You Know column in Bee Culture magazine for over 20 years. He is the author of the book What Do You Know, published by the A.I. Root Company.
	Larry Connor Upon completion of his Ph.D. at Michigan State University, Larry assumed the position of extension apicultural entomologist at Ohio State University (Columbus). Soon after moving to Connecticut where he established a Beekeeping Education Service, he purchased Wicwas Press from Dr. Roger and Mary Lou Morse, and has since published over a dozen titles dealing with bees, beekeeping, queen rearing and pollination. Larry is currently a regular contributor to Bee Culture Magazine, with emphasis on queen and drone biology and management. He has authored a number of extension publications, a series of slides sets, a video program (which he also appeared in and directed), two scientific proceedings (as editor), and scientific articles. He served as editor of the EAS Journal, Honey Producer Magazine and Bee Science. His next book is titled Bee Sex Essentials: Drones, Queens and Bee Mating.
	Keith Delaplane is Professor of Entomology at the University of Georgia and head of the UGA bee research and extension program.
	Marion Ellis is the Associate Professor and Extension Apiculture Specialist at the University of Nebraska. His professional and extension responsibilities include teaching beekeeping, a Master Beekeeping Training Program, Beginning Beekeeping Workshops, Bee Tidings newsletter, and an Apiculture web site. He also conducts a program for kids called Bug Bash – a youth outreach event to introduce young learners to the fascinating world of insects. Dr. Ellis has published several scientific papers and publications. He has also received several notable awards that include Outstanding New Specialist Award from the Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association in 2000 along with the Roger A. Morse Extension and Teaching Award for EAS 2005.
	Keith Fielder is an Extension Agent with the University of Georgia, Master Beekeeper and Secretary of Georgia Bee Keepers Association. As an Extension Educator, Keith is a leader in Georgia honeybee education initiatives.
	James Fischer wanders among beehives in the mountains of Virginia without any formal credentials in entomology at all. He holds no research or extension posts, has written no beekeeping books, has never run for any elected office, has no honey judging expertise, and often forgets to refuel his smoker before it dies. He writes for the beekeeping magazines now and then, and speaks at meetings here and there, in futile attempts to drag beekeeping into at least the 19th, if not the 21st Century.
	Kim Flottum has been Editor of Bee Culture Magazine for 20 years, and is currently Chairman of the Board of EAS. In May 2005 his book, Backyard Beekeeper, published by Quaey Publishing was released and is now available throughout the U.S. and Europe in several languages. He travels extensively, speaking to groups all over the U.S.
	Ernesto Guzman is currently a professor of Apiculture at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada with ample academic and research experience. His research has been focused on the genetics, behavior, and parasitic mites of honeybees. His studies have contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms that confer resistance to honey bees against Varroa mites as well as to the understanding of the genetics of defensive behavior.
	John Harbo is recently retired from a distinguished career with the USDA bee lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. John is a recognized expert in bee breeding, instrumental insemination, and mechanisms of varroa resistance.
	Dan Harris is an up and coming leader in Georgia’s beekeeping community. A graduate of UGA’s honey bee course and employed by the UGA bee lab, Dan mixes his activities between bee science and beekeeping.
	Jerry Hayes started out as a high school teacher and didn't find it to his liking so he decided to branch out and find a new career. Fortunately he discovered honey bees and went back to school under the direction of Jim Tew and the Apiculture Program at OSU / ATI. Upon completion he spent a short time at the USDA Lab in Baton Rouge and then from there became Dadant's Marketing and Product Development Director. Since that time Jerry’s monthly article “The Classroom” has been a regular appearance in American Bee Journal for fifteen years. Jerry is currently Chief of Apiary inspections for the State of Florida, and since the 2005 announcement of African bees in that state, he has proven himself a regional leader in public education about this enigmatic new bee.
	Mike Hood is Professor of Entomology at Clemson University, South Carolina. Mike is a diversified expert in IPM of wax moths, varroa mites, and small hive beetles.
	Don Hopkins is going to have his info posted soon. Sorry, Don...
	Tammy Horn began beekeeping with her grandfather in 1997. While teaching in English departments in the South, she returned to help him with his hives until he died in 2000. Following his death, she began writing about honey bees in blues, movies, and literature. The result: Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation, published by University Press of Kentucky in 2005. She is working on a second book, Piping Up: A History of Women and Bees, and welcomes all information.
	Greg Hunt currently has both research and extension duties at Purdue University and teaches a course in bee biology and beekeeping. He made the first map of the honey bee genome by following the inheritance of DNA markers and mapped genes that affect sex determination and pollination behavior of bees. His lab is currently working on isolating honey bee genes that influence defensive behavior.
	Tony Jadczak is the State Bee Inspector for Maine, and has been exposed to more commercial beekeeping than almost anybody in the U.S. He’s a regular speaker at EAS, a sideline beekeeper and is a past President of EAS.
	Ed Levi is Chief of Apiary Inspections for the state of Arkansas, a job he has enjoyed since 1982. Although he was raised and educated in California, he studied beekeeping in France in the early 70's until moving to Arkansas in 1978. There he kept bees until moving to Arkansas in 1978. He still has a small honey operation, in which he concentrates on Integrated Pest Management and raising queens. His consulting has taken him to five of the former soviet countries (Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia), nearly all of south Asia (India, Bangladesh, and Nepal) and into western Africa (Guinea). Ed also sits as Secretary of the Apiary Inspectors of America. As you can see, Ed wears many hats, as regulator, beekeeper, educator, and public relations expert all while working in the beekeeping community.
	Bill Owens is a rising star within the Georgia beekeeping community. He is currently Vice President of EAS 06 and past president of the Georgia Beekeepers Association and the Eastern Piedmont Beekeepers Association, owner and operator of Owens apiaries, an experienced bee remover, a fire fighter, UGA honey bee lab assistant and educator in all aspects of beekeeping.
	Dann Purvis is founder and operator of the Purvis Brothers Apiaries and Lab located in Blairsville, Georgia. Dann hit the scene running in 1997 when he began selecting for Varroa and tracheal mite resistant stock. After years of research and development Dann now selects from surviving colonies which have been left untreated. He calls his survivor breeder stock “Goldline”. Dann is the proud father of Koda, Jack, Matt and Alex. His sons and wife Rose labor along side Dann in the never ending hard work associated with queen breeding. Another fine example of what Georgia has to offer.
	Steve Sheppard is a Professor in the Department of Entomology who came to Pullman to become an unpaid bush pilot. His received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. His research interests include evolution of the Apinae, the genetics of colonization and origins and diversification of honey bee subspecies. Current projects include molecular systematics of Apis, biogeography of Old World honey bees, and genetic analysis of introduced (New World) honey bee populations. Related collaborative projects involve the study of population structure and source populations in introduced or host-shifted pest insects.
	John Skinner is the State Extension Specialist in Beekeeping in Tennessee. His focus is on IPM for Varroa, but pollination and honey plants are also on his agenda.
	Eleanor Spicer is a MS graduate student in the honey bee program at the University of Georgia. Eleanor hails from North Carolina. Her thesis research is addressing pollinator competition in watermelon and sunflowers.
	Carl and Virginia Webb own and operate MtnHoney.com out of Clarkesville, GA. The Webbs’ honey took top prize at the 2005 World Honey Show at Apimondia, Dublin.
	PN and Evelyn Williams are founding officers of Tara Beekeepers Association near Atlanta. They are regular instructors at the annual Young Harris College Beekeeping Institute and tireless workers for the beekeeping industry.
	Michael Young hails from Northern Ireland, but he is no stranger to EAS, having visited our shores a number of times. More than anyone else, Michael is responsible for a renaissance of interest in honey shows and bee hive products throughout Georgia and the eastern United States. His engaging lectures and British wit are real crowd pleasers.