Michael F. Whiting, associate professor of integrative biology, will be honored as the Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished Faculty Lecturer when he addresses “In Search of the Tree of Life: The Final Frontier” Thursday, Nov. 17, at 11 a.m., in 3220 Wilkinson Student Center at Brigham Young University.
The lecture free and the public is welcome.
Charles Darwin recognized that all biological species are connected together into a Great Tree of Life, said Whiting, who, along with other researchers at BYU, is assembling the Tree of Life for different organismal groups to gain understanding of evolutionary patterns.
Whiting will focus on the steps required to assemble the insect Tree of Life and the insights the tree offers on insect evolution.
The associate curator of arthropods at BYU's Bean Museum and the director of the BYU DNA Sequencing Center, Whiting is the recipient of the Ernst Mayr Award for research on evolution and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award for outstanding research. His research on insect evolution takes him to the rainforests of the world in search of exotic insect species.
For more information about Phi Kappa Phi’s Annual Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, please contact Phi Kappa Phi President David Thomas at (801) 422-3210.
Writer: Angela Fischer
