MBC sponsor Bill Taft in Ishpeming, Michigan during a public meeting involving a new mine permit in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (Circa 2012).

Mat Bevel Company (MBC) sponsor William (Bill) H. Taft Jr. is a retired senior aquatic biologist for the State of Michigan where he worked for 25 years. Bill is involved in a very exciting research project that involves one of his greatest passions, moths of the family Sesiidae (clearwing moths). He is self-funding a multi-year study that will hopefully result in updated North American systematics for the family Sesiidae.

The research uses genetic analysis to help definitively classify whether certain moths belong to the same genera within the Sesiidae. In the past, scientists relied on mostly physical characteristics such a color to identify species within moth families. The problem with this approach is that a specific moth species may look very different from one another in various parts of the country. However, moths that look similar may not be actually related just using physical characteristics. The genomic data in Bill’s study should give the scientific community a much more accurate picture of the related sesiid species.

To create an updated family tree, Bill is collaborating with Dr. Anthony Cognato, a beetle geneticist and museum director at Michigan State University’s Department of Entomology. Anthony has developed an international research program in insect systematics and collection stewardship. To determine which species are part of a particular sesiid assemblage, they identified specific parts of the gene sequence to evaluate and determine what the gene sequence looks like.

Bill Taft collecting Sesiid moths with Jack and Paula (Schaper) Zittere along the Gardner Canyon Road on the Pima/Santa Cruz Co. line in Southeast Arizona.

Bill along with his wife, Gussie and lab Luna have actively collected moths in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida for this study. In addition, botanists, entomologists, photographers and other naturalists from around the country have sent Bill many unique specimens for analyses. When he sees a moth of interest on iNaturalists.org and the Bugguide.com websites, he contacts the collector. Bill is gathering up the rarest of the rare moth specimens to complete DNA testing.

Bill, Anthony and Rachel Osborn (Anthony’s PHD student) will submit a paper to a scientific journal this winter. After peer review and acceptance by a journal, the paper could be published as soon as next spring.

Bill sponsored MBC this year because he believes Ned’s work needs to be shared with others, especially young people. He says, “Ned’s work is unique and kids need to be exposed to it. In the grand scheme, the work will influence students’ future interests by exposing them to physics, science and mathematics, which are all relevant to everyday life.”

 Bill Taft assisting with a Michigan Department of Fisheries – Lake Sturgeon tagging project just before his retirement in July, 2013.

One of Bill’s goals is to learn and publish as much as possible about sesiid systematics and their natural histories. He’s one of the few academically-oriented people left in the country that pursues sesiid moth research.  Today, most experts in the field are non-academics.

Bill was exposed to Lepidoptera (moths and butterfies) at a young age by a local mentor and expert, Mogens C. Nielsen. He says, “If you want to be successful in your chosen field of interest, often you have to figure out what really interests you. The more you’re exposed to various experiences, the more likely you are to find your niche.” He believes Ned’s world of Beveldom is packed with different facets of science that have the potential to spark peoples’ interests and make them more well-rounded, productive human beings.

Bill likes to give to worthwhile organizations like MBC because it gives him a sense of satisfaction that his resources are going towards a worthy cause. He says, “If my support helps Ned’s work to become well known, appreciated and used as a catalyst to show students that science is relevant, then who knows, maybe someday a student may solve our climate issues as a result of his art.” 

In Bill’s free time he enjoys fishing and hunting in his home state of Michigan, reading American history, mostly military, and planting native plants and trees.

Thanks Bill, for your continued support of Mat Bevel Company!

Members of the “Rage Against The Machine” team from the Willcox SSVEC office celebrated a trophy presentation on December 6. The crew was one of several teams entered by SSVEC in the annual Special Olympics Bearcat Pull in Sierra Vista. First place winners from Willcox included, (above from left) Jorge Garcia, Daniel Wilson, Deidra Tulk, Werner Neubauer and Jacob Shull.

Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC) is a non-profit, member-owned distribution utility that provides electricity to more than 38,000 members over some 4,100 miles of energized line. The cooperative’s service territory covers most of Cochise County and parts of Graham, Pima and Santa Cruz counties.

Jack Blair, Chief of Member Services, says, “Our primary service distributes electricity to cooperative members across a vast service area equal to the size of Connecticut, Rhode Island or Delaware. As the Chief of Member Services, it is my responsibility, and that of those I direct, to keep our members informed on SSVEC happenings within the communities served by the cooperative.”

SSVEC sponsored Mat Bevel Company this year because the arts and education nonprofit’s work is consistent with the cooperative’s principles of concern for the community and education of members, especially the youth.

SSVEC invests in the communities it serves. As a member-driven entity, SSVEC is dedicated to community growth, quality of life, and a positive vision for the future. Jack says, “Consistent with the mission of the Mat Bevel Company, SSVEC recognizes the value of cultivating the resources of our members to improve the communities where we live, work and play.”

As the name implies, SSVEC is an electric cooperative that brings power to rural areas where customers may be many miles apart. Non-profit electric cooperatives strive to make a reasonable profit while maintaining a strong focus on customers. Today, SSVEC is the largest electric cooperative in Arizona with 59,378 total service connections. View SSVEC’s 2018 Annual Report.

Cory East, the Agribusiness and Energy Management Specialist at SSVEC, presented two checks to 4-H youth organizations at recent county fairs. The Cooperative presented a $1,500 check to the Santa Cruz County 4-H. At the Cochise County Fair, East presented an SSVEC check for $3,500 to the 4-H group.

SSVEC embraces seven principles of the cooperative business model, which have established a successful member-owned utility with a reliability rating of 99.984 percent and an impressive 81-year history of progress. These principles are: Voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training and information,. cooperation among cooperatives and concern for community.

SSVEC members today have the highest owner-equity in the history of the community and are positioned to continue investing in new technologies that promise a better future for our youth and the communities where our members live, work and play.

To learn more about SSVEC, please visit their website at www.ssvec.org, or see their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/SSVECAZ/

Thank you for your support, SSVEC!

Mat Bevel Company sponsor Mary Artibee, a Technical Support Engineer & Manager with her husband Milt Mallory.

Mary Artibee is a Technical Support Engineer/Manager who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area. Her fascination with math and computers was piqued in high school when one of her friend’s parents gave a few lessons in computer science to a handful of students who stayed after school to learn things like Boolean algebra and NAND, NOR and OR gates. She says, “I found it fascinating. Our country was abuzz with the space program and computers were the tools that were behind it all. I was intrigued that mere ones and zeros could lead to putting men on the moon.” 

Mary attended Stanford University where she earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics. After graduation, the San Francisco Bay Area offered many opportunities to a newly minted mathematics graduate. Over the years, she worked for a number of terrific companies in the Silicon Valley including Sun Microsystems.

Mary Artibee lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

As part of the “Escape Velocity” campaign, Mary contributed during the matching gift challenge from Sonora Investment Management. Mary says, “I donated to put the “Escape Velocity” campaign into overdrive and support a wonderful opportunity to help kick-start a great STEAM curriculum.”

In her spare time, Mary enjoys sudoku/kenken/kakuro math and logic puzzles as well as crossword puzzles. She enjoys gardening, particularly the destruction part, i.e., pulling weeds, and reading science fiction and mysteries in her quiet time. Mary likes the “art house” cinemas,  and she likes to take long walks with her husband Milt, who also worked in computer technology and has a vibrant creative side that he expresses in art and music.

Mary’s personal mission is to leave the world a better place. As she says, “Pay it forward. First, do no harm.” She sees her support of Mat Bevel Company as another way to create opportunities that will make the world a better place.

Mary believes that making the world a better place includes the ability to see our own humanity in each other, as well as allowing space for each individual to be themselves, no matter their religion, sex, ethnicity, abilities.

In her own life, Mary encourages the next generation to work hard, play hard, help the next person coming along.

In supporting Mat Bevel Company and other organizations involved in art and youth education, Mary says, “I hope that at least one person will grow or find a new opportunity that they would not have had otherwise.”

Thank you for your support, Mary!