David Headrick PhD

David Headrick, Professor Emeritus, taught Agricultural Entomology, Biological Control of Agricultural Pests, Vertebrate Pest Management and Insect Pest Management in the Plant Sciences department at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo for nearly 30 years. He earned his PhD from UC Riverside where he studied biological control of weeds and became a specialist in tephritid fruit fly ecology and behavior. He served as a post-doctoral research associate in biological control specializing in whiteflies and parasitic Hymenoptera biology and taxonomy. His research on these agriculturally important groups has resulted in more than 100 published articles, book chapters and technical reports.

Headrick is an award-winning teacher and author. He was the recipient of the 2005 University Distinguished Teaching Award; in 2008 he received a national Distinguished Agriculture Educator Award; and he was selected for the 2010 Outstanding Researcher Award and the 2015 Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award from Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. A Dictionary of Entomology, co-authored by Headrick, has received the 2004 Reference Reviews Top Ten Print Reference Source and the 2011 American Library Association’s Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title. Headrick also co-authored a chapter in the Encyclopedia of Insects which received 2004 Best Reference Award by the New York Public Library. He has authored and co-authored chapters and contributed expertise to several technical publications including the California Citrus Production Manual, The Handbook of Biological Control, Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior, and the University of California’s IPM Guidelines website.

He continues to conduct research on insect pest management in vegetable, citrus, deciduous fruit and greenhouse cropping systems and has given over 120 national and international research-related presentations.