Donald W. Roberts


Donald W. Roberts was an American insect pathologist and one of the originators of that field. He was especially known for research into biological pest control of Lepidoptera by Metarhizium but also Beauveria bassiana. He was a Research Professor Emeritus in the Utah State [University Department of Biology|Biology Department of Utah State University].

Early life and education

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, US, in 1933. He earned his bachelor's degree in Zoology, minoring in Botany, from Brigham Young University in 1957. He received his master's degree in Entomology, minor in Mycology, from Iowa State University in 1959. He earned his PhD in 1964 from University of California, Berkeley on the then-named Metarhizium anisopliae and its application as a biological control of Lepidoptera.

Postdoctoral career

In 1965, Roberts was hired as an Assistant Rank Insect Pathologist by the Boyce Thompson Plant Research Institute.
Helicoverpa armigera was spreading and invading several countries around the world in 1976, when he was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Science Foundation to test a nuclear polyhedrosis virus in India.
When that was completed in 1978 he then traveled to work for the Brazilian government on fungal controls of pasture spittlebugs. That lasted until 1981.
In 1980 Roberts founded the Insect Pathology Resources Center at Cornell University. Roberts then went back to work for Boyce when the IPRC became part of Boyce.
Roberts collected fungal pathogens of Nilaparvata lugens in Sri Lanka in 1984.
Roberts was a frequent collaborator of Raymond J. St. Leger, who was also chosen to give the Society for Invertebrate Pathology's Founders Lecture in his honor in 2009.

Awards and honors

1978 US National Science Foundation US/India Exchange Scientist
1985 Fulbright Senior Research Scholarship to the University of Sydney, Australia
19861988 The Society for Invertebrate Pathology Vice President
19881990 The Society for Invertebrate Pathology President
1989 ESA-EB L.O. Howard Distinguished Achievement Award
1996 Boyce Thompson Institute made Roy A. [Young Scientist Emeritus]
1996 Society for Invertebrate Pathology Founders' Lecturer on Agostino Bassi who had been retired for some time
2009 Society for Invertebrate Pathology Founders' Honoree award, and Founders' Lecture on his career given by his friend and longtime collaborator R. St. Leger

Patronymic taxa

The species he has become associated with more than any other the former M. anisopliae was renamed Metarhizium robertsii in recognition of his vast contributions.

Personal life and death

Roberts and his wife, Mae, had two children. He died on May 2, 2021, at the age of 88.

Selected bibliography

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