The Ecology and Evolution of Cicadas that Count

The School of Biological & Chemical Sciences will be holding a Public Seminar on “The Ecology and Evolution of Cicadas that Count” by Dr. Chris Simon.

Chris Simon is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut (UCONN). She received her BS & MS degrees from the University of Florida and her PhD from SUNY Stony Brook. She conducted NSF-sponsored postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago, Washington University St. Louis and University of Hawaii. She taught two 2-month-long field courses in tropical ecology in Costa Rica for the Organization for Tropical Studies and was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii before moving to UCONN. Projects in her laboratory focus on the systematics, biogeography, evolution of cicadas and their symbionts worldwide, the application of information on molecular evolutionary processes to the improvement of tree-building, speciation and its relationship to past climates and landforms, evolution of periodical life cycles, the role of song in the evolution of insect species, and molecular evolution of the secondary structure of ribosomal RNA. Funding for these research projects has come from the US National Science Foundation, NZ Marsden Fund, The National Geographic Society, the Fulbright Foundation, the University of Connecticut and Victoria University of Wellington. She has been associated with Victoria University of Wellington in various capacities: honorary faculty member (1995-2007), Professorial Research Fellow (2005-2007), Senior Fulbright Research Fellow (1995 to 1998, co-sponsored by Otago University, and Massey University). In 2016, Chris Simon was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. From 2001-2004, she was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Systematic Biology, and President of the Society of Systematic Biologists (2007). She was Vice President of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) and also served on the council. She has served on multiple National Science Foundation advisory panels and since 1990 on the Editorial Board of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Her publications since 1994 have attracted more than 10,000 citations. More than 30 undergraduate researchers, 19 graduate students and ten postdoctoral researchers have trained in her laboratory. Their hard work, enthusiasm and dedication to science have been an inspiration to her.

Date: Wednesday 12th July, 2017

Venue: FSTE SMART Room

Time: 12pm – 2pm

Light Refreshments will be provided

All are Welcome

For queries please contact Taraivini on 3232 417