{"id":80321,"date":"2025-02-10T18:11:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/agriculture\/walter-leal-from-a-rough-childhood-to-internationally-recognized-scientist\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T18:11:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:11:34","slug":"walter-leal-from-a-rough-childhood-to-internationally-recognized-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=80321","title":{"rendered":"Walter Leal: From a \u201cRough Childhood\u2019 to Internationally Recognized Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">UC Davis distinguished professor\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #13639e;\">Walter Soares Leal<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u00a0soared from a self-described \u201crough childhood\u201d in his native Brazil to become an internationally recognized scientist celebrated for his research on chemical communication and olfaction in insects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">But in his early childhood, he disliked insects, especially the cockroaches that crawled into his mouth while he was sleeping, and mosquitoes that bit him when he was and wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">So related Marlin Rice when he chronicled the life of \u201cliving legend\u201d Walter Leal in t<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #13639e;\">he winter issue<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u00a0of\u00a0<em style=\"box-sizing: inherit;\">American Entomologist<\/em>, published by the Entomological Society of America (ESA). Rice, an ESA past president who writes the interview-style\u00a0<em style=\"box-sizing: inherit;\">Legends<\/em>\u00a0column, earlier spotlighted UC Davis entomologists\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #13639e;\">Bruce Hammock<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #13639e;\">Frank Zalom<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #13639e;\">Robert E. Page Jr<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">The Leal piece, titled \u201cWalter Soares Leal: For the Love of Teaching,\u201d zeroes in on his career accomplishments in Brazil, Japan and the United States, all of which led to his election to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in April of 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Rice interviewed Leal last August in Kyoto at the International Congress of Entomology (ICE 2024), where Leal was chairing the International Congresses of Entomology Council and serving as a volunteer \u201ccitizen of the world\u201d ambassador. Leal speaks Portuguese, Japanese and English.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Leal, who joined the UC Davis entomology faculty in 2000, advancing to professor and chair of the department, has served as professor of biochemistry with the Department\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, since 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Highly honored by his peers, Leal is the only UC Davis faculty member to receive all three of the Academic Senate\u2019s major honors: the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, the 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award, and the 2024 Faculty Distinguished Research Award. His teaching honors also include the 2020 Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Pacific Branch of ESA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u201cWalter is the elevator bunny on high, a full-time teacher, a full-time scientist, and he is engaged in multiple projects that make the university community a better place, all at the same time,\u201d commented UC Davis distinguished professor and longtime NAS member Bruce Hammock, in a 2024 UC Davis news story announcing Leal\u2019s election to NAS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Leal holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in chemical engineering from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil; a master\u2019s degree in agricultural chemistry from Mie University, Japan; and a doctorate in applied biochemistry from the University of Tsukuba, Japan. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in entomology and chemical ecology at the National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science, Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Walter, the youngest of five siblings, related that his father was a baker and pastor, and his mother, a seamstress. \u201cMy dad passed when I was twelve,\u201d Leal said. \u201cIt was a hard\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 time in my life. He got sick when I was six and could not do too much\u2026Basically, my mother ran the whole family without any income. But it\u2019s part of my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Neither parent received a high school education, but it was his widowed mother who encouraged him to attend college. \u201cShe knew that technical school was not for me\u2026She never went to high school, but she had a vision. Some people have little education, but that doesn\u2019t mean they have no vision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">In high school, Walter began earning money\u2013and prestige\u2013as a radio-broadcast journalist, covering soccer and other sports. He went on to cover the USA Open Cup in the\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Rice began his\u00a0<em style=\"box-sizing: inherit;\">Legends<\/em>\u00a0piece with: \u201cWhen Walter Leal was offered a scholarship to leave his native Brazil and begin graduate education in Japan, he was required to become proficient in both Japanese and English\u2013two languages he had never spoken\u2013within six months. He accomplished this challenge, eventually earning both his master\u2019s and Ph.D. degrees. He was then offered a research scientist position with the National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science in Tsukuba, Japan, eventually becoming head of the Laboratory of Chemical Prospecting for six years. Leal was the first foreigner to be granted tenure at that institution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Leal\u2019s research accomplishments, Rice wrote, include \u201cthe identification of the first receptor in mosquitoes for the insect repellent DEET; the first isolation, cloning, and expression of pheromone-degrading enzymes in moths; and the identification and synthesis of complex pheromones from many insect species, including scarab beetles, true bugs, longhorned beetles, citrus leaf miner, navel orangeworm, citrus fruit borer, and many others. Synthetic sex pheromones for some of these pests are now being deployed via mating disruption in projects that have saved producers in Brazil and California hundreds of millions of dollars.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">Among Leal\u2019s scores of accomplishments: he co-chaired the 2016 International Congress of Entomology in Orlando, Fla., a conference that drew 6,682 registrants from 102\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 countries. He is a Fellow of ESA (2009), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2019),\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and a trustee of the Royal Entomological Society (2024).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">As a teacher, Leal seeks to inspire his students. \u201cThere was a particular student that came to me at the end of the\u00a0course, and he <\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\">says<span style=\"color: black;\">, \u2018I was always not motivated in college, but when I saw you so inspired, then I <\/span>catch<span style=\"color: black;\"> up, and I study so hard now.\u2019 That is why I say teaching is the big payoff, better than the paycheck, you know? That you motivate people.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">The\u00a0<em style=\"box-sizing: inherit;\">Legends\u2019<\/em>\u00a0article includes an image of Leal sharing a laugh with noted chemical ecologist\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #13639e;\">Murray Blum<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u00a0(1929-2015) of the University of Georgia, recipient of an ESA outstanding award in 1978, and the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE) medal in 1989. Blum\u2019s daughter, Deborah Blum, is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist (formerly with the\u00a0<em style=\"box-sizing: inherit;\">Sacramento Bee<\/em>\u00a0), an author, and the director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u201cThe image is from the ISCE meeting in Prague,\u201d Leal recalled. \u201cMurray said that he wished to speak as fast as I do, but he had to pronounce all the words, including verbs and prepositions, so he couldn\u2019t. I rebutted that I don\u2019t speak \u2018fast.\u2019 He heard that as \u2018slowly.\u2019 We all had a good laugh. Murray always had praise for my work and encouraging words when I was at the beginning of my research career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">And about his dislike of insects in his early childhood? \u201cI didn\u2019t like insects\u2014the cockroaches and mosquitoes,\u201d Leal told Rice. \u201cOnce, a cockroach walked on my lips when I was sleeping. What\u2019s with that? A kid who wakes up in the middle of the night with a cockroach in his mouth? Anyway, this was a bad entomology interaction in the beginning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">That \u201cbad entomology interaction\u201d is now a distant memory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0in; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignleft size-medium wp-image-47801\" src=\"https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27231%27%20height%3D%27300%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20231%20300%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27231%27%20height%3D%27300%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres-200x259.jpg 200w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres-400x518.jpg 400w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres-600x778.jpg 600w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/passporthighres.jpg 645w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignleft size-medium wp-image-47802\" src=\"https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27300%27%20height%3D%27199%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20300%20199%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27300%27%20height%3D%27199%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-600x399.jpg 600w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-800x531.jpg 800w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/californiaagtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/walterleal-1536x1020.jpg 1536w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UC Davis distinguished professor\u00a0Walter Soares Leal\u00a0soared from a self-described \u201crough childhood\u201d in his native Brazil to become an internationally recognized scientist celebrated for his research on chemical communication and olfaction in insects. But in his early childhood, he disliked insects, especially the cockroaches that crawled into his mouth while he was sleeping, and mosquitoes that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12026],"tags":[17673,40357,38359,21546,7956,21283,17282],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-80321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-childhood","tag-internationally","tag-leal","tag-recognized","tag-rough","tag-scientist","tag-walter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Walter Leal: From a \u201cRough Childhood\u2019 to Internationally Recognized Scientist - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=80321\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walter Leal: From a \u201cRough Childhood\u2019 to Internationally Recognized Scientist - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UC Davis distinguished professor\u00a0Walter Soares Leal\u00a0soared from a self-described \u201crough childhood\u201d in his native Brazil to become an internationally recognized scientist celebrated for his research on chemical communication and olfaction in insects. 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