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DEPARTMENT
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Family, friends, and colleagues worldwide mourn the passing 30 March 2005, in Ithaca, NY, of Huai C. Chiang, Professor Emeritus, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Huai is survived by Zoe , his wife of 59 years, and their children, Jeannie, Oakland, CA, and Katherine and Robert, Ithaca, NY. Huai was born February 15, 1915 in Sunjiang County, Jiansu Province, China. He graduated from the Huei-wen Middle School in Peking (Beijing) and entered Tsinghua University in that city in 1934. The following summer he was hired as a summer helper by Dr. C.L. Liu, head of the University's Division of Entomology. That exposure to the “world of insects” launched Huai on his lifelong vocation. But, incredible hurdles lay ahead. The Marco Polo Bridge incident occurred July 7, 1937 and marked the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). Avoiding the occupying forces, Huai made his way to the Temporary University in Changsha, Hunan, leaving his father, sister and a city he would not see again for 30 years. Huai completed the first semester of his senior year in Changsha, but with the Japanese army moving ever closer, the government relocated the University to Kunming, Yunnan, renaming it Southwest Associated University. Huai and 250 of his classmates made an incredible 68-day over-land trek, the longest distance in a single day being 53 km, arriving in Kunming in late April 1938. In 1938, the Agricultural Research Institute of Tsinghua University moved from Peking to Kunming and Huai, having graduated in June of that year, was invited by former mentor C.L. Liu to join the Institute. Huai also joined a choral group, and there he met the young woman chemist, Zoe-ing Shen, who was to become his life partner. During World War II, Kunming was the terminus of the Allied air supply route from India. An American army anti-malaria unit headed by Lieutenant Sam Billings was based in Kunming. Huai's interactions with the Americans enhanced his English language skills and tweaked his interest in the possibility of graduate studies in the U.S. When Huai became eligible for sabbatical leave, Liu encouraged him to contact the eminent insect ecologist Royal N. Chapman, then a faculty member at the University of Minnesota. When U.S. Army Captain Al Buzicky, a recent Minnesota entomology M.S. graduate, visited the Kunming base he too offered his support. With strong recommendations from these respected individuals Huai was accepted at Minnesota. At the same time, Zoe was accepted at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Zoe would later join Huai in Minnesota; they married in 1946. Huai's journey to Minnesota, via Bombay and Sydney, mostly courtesy of U.S. military transport, took two months. When he arrived in St. Paul, on January 6, 1945, Huai learned that Dr. Chapman had died and that he would be working with Dr. A.C. Hodson. His master's thesis was on the biology of fall cankerworm. However, populations collapsed after 1946, making the study impractical. So, Dr. Hodson set Huai working on aspects of the population dynamics of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, using controlled environment chambers. With the dedication and proficiency that was to be the hallmark of his professional career, Huai completed his graduate training in just under 3.5 years. In 1948, Dr. Hodson was assigned to lead a project on the European corn borer, a potentially devastating new pest. With the political situation in China highly unstable and the European corn borer project presenting a fascinating opportunity for additional research experience, Drs. Hodson and C.E. Mickel, then Department Head, were able to convince Huai to accept what was then intended to be a temporary position in the department. The day following his Ph.D. defense, Hodson drove Huai to the southern Minnesota community of Waseca, where he was to spend 12 of his next 13 summers. An unanticipated resignation in the Department of Biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth in spring 1953, led to Huai being offered a quarter-time appointment to teach general entomology. Huai had no previous experience teaching, but his efforts were so well received that the following spring he was offered a tenure track position at UMD. Huai remained at UMD until 1961. In 1960, he was promoted to Professor and in 1961 he received a much treasured Teacher of the Year Award from the UMD Student Council. Each summer, except for a 1956-57 sabbatical in the laboratory of the famed aphidologist J.S. Kennedy at Cambridge University, Huai and his family returned to Waseca where he continued his European corn borer research. In 1960, Dr. Hodson became head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Minnesota, and offered Huai the insect ecology position he was to hold until his retirement 1 January 1984. Huai was a pioneer and internationally recognized leader in what we now call Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Crop Loss Assessment. He served as major advisor to 37 Ph.D. and M.S. students, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in industry, academia, and government service. In addition, he served as reader or examiner on committees for another 125 students. He served his university and various professional societies in many capacities, including as President in 1975-76 of the North Central Branch of the Entomological Society of America. He organized at least 10 programs for national and international scientific meetings. Huai's research focused on four major subject areas, European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilias (1948-1983), corn rootworms, Diabrotica spp.(1964-1981), biological control (1938-1983), and swarming behavior of the midge Anarete prichardi (1958-1982). He authored approximately 250 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings. Included in that list of publications were two Annual Review of Entomology articles. After retirement, Huai wrote over 40 articles in Chinese for the Taiwan Entomological Society Newsletter. Huai made extensive and major contributions to the development of numerous U.S. and international scientific, technical assistance, and policy programs. From 1976 to 1983, he served as an advisor to the USDA Cooperative State Research Service (now CSREES) on biological control. In 1969, Huai organized the International Working Group on Ostrinia (IWGO), one of the oldest Working Groups within what is now the Global-IOBC Working Group of the Organization on Biological Control. Huai served as President of IWGO until 1982. In 1969, he was invited to serve on the United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Committee on Crop Loss Assessment and in that capacity led development of a practical manual for use in developing countries. Later he served on the FAO Panel of Experts on IPM (1973-1981). From 1969 to 1988, Huai made many trips abroad visiting more than two dozen countries on various assignments for FAO. Especially noteworthy was his service as Project Advisor on IPM in Thailand (1985-88), for which he was presented a Distinguished Service Award by the Royal Thai Government and his work in Liberia (1972) where he organized an entomology curriculum at the College of Agriculture, Morovia. Among his other awards for service were: the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) Distinguished Scientist Award (1979); Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Bowling Green State University (1979); Honorary Memberships from AIBS (1979), the Entomological Society of America (1982), and the Hungarian Entomological Society (1994); Phi Kappa Phi National Scholar Award (1983) and the Hodson Alumni Award, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota (1999). In 1975, Huai received an invitation from the Committee for Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (PRC) of the U.S. National Academy of Science (NAS) to join a delegation of distinguished American entomologists on a visit to China. This visit occurred during the final days of the Cultural Revolution, but before the death in 1976 of Chairman Mao Zedong and purge of the “Notorious Gang of Four.” Huai was invited to China to lecture in 1978 and on that occasion Zoe and their three children were able to accompany him. For the children, this was their first visit in China. Huai was to return many times. In 1979, Huai and the Department of Entomology were hosts to the first visiting Chinese scholar from mainland China to Minnesota since 1949. From 1980 until his retirement, Huai coordinated China Program activities for the University of Minnesota, College of Agriculture. He continued to be active in China programs on and off campus through the mid-1990s. In June 2001, Huai and Zoe moved to Ithaca, NY, to be closer to two of their children. We have missed them greatly. We thank Zoe, for her support of Huai throughout his brilliant career and for sharing him with us. He and you have made the world a better place. Ted Radcliffe, Professor For details of Dr. Chiang's life and accomplishments the author relied heavily on an article written by Dr. Chiang; "I am happy to be an entomologist," Chinese Journal of Entomology 13:275-292 (1993).
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