Lynn Kimsey: Newly Inducted Fellow, California Academy of Sciences

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, an internationally recognized hymenopterist who directed the Bohart Museum of Entomology for 34 years, is a newly inducted Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS). A ceremony honoring the Class of 2025 Fellows took place Tuesday, Oct. 7.

The Fellows are distinguished scientists and other leaders who “have made notable contributions to scientific research, education, and communication,” according to Monica Kim of CAS. Nominated by their colleagues and selected by the Board of Trustees, the Academy Fellows are partners and collaborators “in the pursuit of the Academy’s mission to regenerate the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration.”

Kimsey, a former two-term president of the International Society of Hymenopterists, was nominated by Walter Leal, UC Davis Distinguished Professor of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a former chair of the UC Davis entomology department.  UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock provided a letter of support.

A UC Davis “double” alumna, Kimsey received her bachelor’s degree in entomology in 1976 and her doctorate in 1979. She served as a research associate at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University before joining the UC Davis faculty in 1989. The director of the Bohart Museum from 1990 to Feb. 2, 2024 (the day she retired), she  continues her research and public outreach activities and as the executive director of the Bohart Museum Society and newsletter editor.

CAS Wasp Collection

“Dr. Kimsey is a recognized authority on insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology,” wrote Leal, who has known Kimsey since 2000, the year he joined the entomology faculty. “She has worked with the Cal Academy wasp collection and systematists for years, identifying hundreds of specimens.”

“In brief, Dr. Kimsey is, in one word, legendary,"  Leal shared. “She is an incredible scientist and communicator, always willing to lend a hand or lean an ear. Even though she is officially ‘retired’ from the UC Davis classroom, she continues her research and other professional activities, including identifying insects and answering questions from fellow scientists and the news media. Indeed, we all rely on her for her expertise. She consults with international, national, and state agencies and identifies some 2000 insects a year for scientific collaborators, public agencies, and the general public.” 

Since joining the department in 1989, Kimsey has answered an estimated 30,000 public and news media questions, with topics ranging from bed bugs, yellowjackets, and moths to spiders, butterflies, crane flies, and Asian giant hornets. “She writes quarterly newsletters and fact sheets on insects and other arthropods," Leal noted. "She works tirelessly to make entomological knowledge more accessible to scientists and the public; her influence and impact are felt internationally.” 

“It cannot be overemphasized that Dr. Kimsey is excellent at answering insect questions,” Leal shared.  “She is a favorite among the news media for three reasons: (1) her ability to translate complex subjects into lay language, (2) her love of people, and (3) her finely honed sense of humor.” Among the interviews: the British Broadcasting System, the New York Times, the National Geographic, the Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times.

'Brilliant and Gifted Scientist'

In his letter of support, Hammock described Kimsey as “a brilliant and gifted scientist whose impact on our entomological world cannot be overstated. I have always admired her encyclopedic knowledge, her collegiality, her eagerness to serve, her ability to communicate science, and her acceptance of everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity, race, gender, culture, social status and abilities and disabilities.”

Hammock has known Kimsey since 1980, the year he joined the UC Davis entomology faculty from UC Berkeley.

Kimsey’s “many activities include research, publications, insect identification and public outreach,” Hammock wrote.  He mentioned that when Richard ‘Doc’ Bohart founded the museum in 1946 it had only a few specimens. Today the museum houses some eight million insect specimens and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America. “It is a globally recognized insect museum, thanks to the work of Dr. Kimsey.”

The Bohart Museum draws an average of 15,000 visitors a year, adds an average of 30,000 new specimens annually, and loans an average 7000 specimens yearly to scientists worldwide. It supports campus classes with specimens, live insects and exhibits in keeping with its mission: “Understanding, documenting and communicating terrestrial arthropod diversity.”

In his closing comments, Hammock pointed out that Kimsey "is the complete package: brilliant, gifted, phenomenal, inspiring, collaborative, engaging, collegial--and someone who lives, breathes and celebrates science every single day."

Highly Honored by Her Peers

Highly honored by her peers, Kimsey has received a number of awards, including

• The 2023 Exceptional Faculty Award from the UC Davis College of Agricultural an Environmental Sciences
• The 2016 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award from the UC Davis Academic Senate
• The 2020 C. W. Woodworth Award (highest honor) from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA)
• The 2014 PBESA Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Award
• The 2013 PBESA Outstanding Team Award ("The Bee Team") 

James Carpenter of the American Museum of Natural History praises her scientific productivity, research, public service, and outreach. Carpenter,  the Peter J. Solomon Family Curator of Hymenoptera, chair of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, and professor at the Richard Gilder Graduate School)  said Kimsey “is the leading expert in the world on the taxonomy of the wasp families Chrysididae and Tiphiidae. She is also considered a leading expert on the family Pompilidae, and she has published papers on various other families of Hymenoptera, among them bees, digger wasps, and yellowjackets.”

Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of Insect Systematics and executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, succeeds Kimsey as the Bohart Museum director.

11 Fellows, UC Davis Entomology 

With Kimsey’s induction as a CAS Fellow, this makes 11 faculty members (or affiliates) selected as Fellows from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

The list includes: UC Davis Distinguished Professors Bruce Hammock, James R. Carey and Walter Leal; Distinguished Professor Emeritus (on recall) Frank Zalom; Distinguished Professor Emeritus Robert E. Page Jr. (emeritus chair of the Department of Entomology and emeritus provost of Arizona State University); Professors Phil Ward and Neal Williams; and department affiliate Catherine Tauber (former scientist at Cornell University)

The list also includes the late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor, and Maurice Tauber (1931-2014, a UC Davis visiting professor/scientist and formerly of Cornell).