Mir S. Mulla joined the faculty of the Entomology Department at the University of California, Riverside in 1956, only two years after the Riverside campus was established as an independent campus within the University of California system. Prior to his appointment, Mir received his B.S. from Cornell University and then moved to the University of California, Berkeley to pursue his graduate studies. His Ph.D. from Berkeley, awarded in 1955, completed his formal American education which was the purpose of his immigration from his native Kandahar in Afghanistan. In his over 50 years at Riverside, Mir has made an incalculable impact on vector biology both within the United States and in developing countries throughout the world. Within Southern California, Mir’s basic and applied research led to the rapid and sustainable control of mosquitoes and eye gnats in the Coachella Valley and so directly enabled this region to grow to the thriving, large community it is today. In 2006 his efforts in facilitating the development of the low desert of southern California were recognized through the dedication of the Mir S. Mulla Biological Control Facility by the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. His success has been so profound that it remains somewhat cryptic to the many who now reside in, visit, and enjoy, this region of California, oblivious to the insect problems that severely restrained development until Mir and his students ?rst applied their expertise many decades ago.
The control of mosquitoes and other insect vectors of human pathogens in an area-wide, environmentally and sustainable way is critical to solving global health problems in the developing world but also to industrialized countries that already have in place efficient vector control programs. The rapid spread of West Nile virus through the United States provides one example of how even a highly developed country can be relatively powerless against the spread of mosquito-borne disease. This volume illustrates how the efforts over half a century of a single investigator, Mir S. Mulla, and his students and collaborators have achieved sustainable vector insect control in regions of the world extending from the south-western United States to south-east Asia. These control strategies have been refined over these decades and now are employed in a diversity of ecosystems. Increased public awareness of global health and the importance placed on this for the future well-being of the entire human population makes the deployment and refinement of these strategies even more timely.
