For years now Mike Scharf has been diving into the guts of termites, trying to figure out how to reproduce their magic. Termites, as every kid knows, can eat their way through a gnarly piece of wood and destroy a new house while the paint is still drying.

They do that by mysteriously converting plant material into fuel to power their complex lifestyles. And they do it better than almost anything else on the planet, especially the pricy, human-made processing plants that are trying to replicate what comes naturally to bugs like termites.

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Congratulations to Charles Bacon who has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Outstanding Service Award for Administrative, Professional, Clerical, and Service staff in the Department. An award ceremony and luncheon is scheduled for December 18th in WSLR 116. Details will be forthcoming.

I thank Doug Richmond, chairman, and the other members of the OSA selection committee (Mike Hill, Paula Layden and Vishal Lodha) for making this important decision on behalf of the Department.

Well done Charles!

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