Joyce Elaine Rockenbach Bell (born ) is an American nursing teacher and entomologist. She worked on

insect taxonomy Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

at the University of Vermont, together with her husband Ross Bell (1929–2019). The pair described more than 75% of the rhysodine species known to science.

Life

Joyce Elaine Rockenbach grew up in Whitestone, Queens, New York City. Her grandfather apparently told her that "a woman can teach or be a nurse". She gained a B.S. at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

and spent eight years as a research assistant at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons before coming to the University of Vermont to do a Master's. She taught in the UVM School of Nursing for ten years. In 1957 Joyce Rochenbach married the University of Vermont entomologist Ross Bell. They increasingly collaborated on entomological taxonomy, with Joyce specializing in

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...

and

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

. In the 1960s the pair began an active program to document the arthropod fauna of Vermont. Their work built the UVM Entomological Collection into a significant resource for Northern New England. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ross and Joyce extended the boundaries for their entomological work beyond Vermont, stretching as far as New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The pair continued to study entomology after retiring from the University of Vermont. In 2019 Ross Bell died in

Shelburne, Vermont Shelburne is a New England town, town in Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Located along the shores of Lake Champlain, Shelburne's town center lies approximately south of the city center of Burlington, Vermont, ...

Recognition

An issue of '' ZooKeys'' was published as a Festschrift for Ross and Joyce Bell, following a meeting of coleopterists held in celebration of their work and of Ross's 80th birthday. The Coleopterists Society offers an annual Ross Taylor Bell and Joyce Rockenbach Bell Research Grant for "an outstanding proposal for beetle research whose work would otherwise not be funded", favouring taxonomy or systematics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Joyce Elaine Rockenbach 1920s births Living people Scientists from Vermont Nurses from New York (state) American nursing educators Coleopterists University of Vermont faculty Queens College, City University of New York alumni American women entomologists American women nurses Scientists from Queens, New York People from Whitestone, Queens 20th-century American zoologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American zoologists 21st-century American women scientists

Life

Recognition

See also

References