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K-State Today

March 9, 2021

Reminder: Dominic Evangelista to present Entomology Seminar today

Submitted by Tania Kim

Dominic Evangelista, assistant professor at Adelphi University, will present the next Entomology Seminar from 4-5 p.m. today, March 9, via Zoom. The title of his talk is "Phylogenetics of Strange and Unknown Blattodea."

Evangelista is an evolutionary biologist interested in how biodiversity originates through evolutionary processes. His current research aims to infer phylogenies using genome-scale data, map biological trends over evolutionary histories, and improve upon phylogenetic methods. Evangelista is also a founding member of @EntoPoc whose mission is to diversifying Entomology and help support people of color, or POC, members in entomological, or ento, societies.

Talk abstract: Our research on cockroaches and termites has brought our understanding of this group's evolutionary history into the phylogenomic age. With genome-scale data, we have resolved a number of outstanding issues in their relationships, and our novel approaches innovate on our ability to more robustly infer evolutionary histories. Despite the numerous advances, we are still faced with a number of dark areas on the phylogenetic tree. In addition to solving phylogenetic problems, my collaborators and I seek to solve wider problems. Our EntoPOC initiative seeks to combat systemic racism in academia for a more inclusive future of entomology.

For more information about the Entomology Seminar Series, visit the website for the full schedule this semester.