Setliff to Host Fall 2024 Chambliss Faculty Lecture Oct. 22

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Kutztown University is proud to host an engaging and interactive lecture by Dr. Gregory Setliff, professor of Biology, for Kutztown University’s Fall 2024 Chambliss Faculty Lecture 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, 183 McFarland Student Union. In addition to the in-person event, this year’s Chambliss lecture will be available as a webinar on Zoom and will be uploaded to YouTube following the event.

Setliff’s lecture is titled “Closing the Loop: From Insect Discovery to Insect Conservation,” which will explore how decades-old research on the identification and description of recently discovered insect species and new collaborations can inform and create novel avenues of inquiry for species conservation.

In his upcoming lecture, Setliff will discuss how insects, the most diverse and ecologically important group of organisms on earth, are facing unprecedented species decline. The biodiversity crisis facing the group has been unprecedented and insects are poorly represented in conversation initiatives. Recent efforts by Setliff and his colleagues attempt to address this gap in our knowledge by increasing the number of these animals being assessed and the number of assessors doing this valuable conservation work.

Setliff began his career at KU in 2008 and currently serves as a professor in the Department of Biology. His primary entomological research focus is on the taxonomy, biodiversity and conservation of weevils, particularly from the Indo-Australian region of the world. He is an internationally recognized expert in the taxonomy of weevils and has discovered, described and named three new genera and 28 new species while at KU.

In addition to his expertise on weevils, Setliff temporarily shifted his focus to the spotted lanternfly when the invasive species was first detected in Berks County in 2014. Along with state and federal officials, Setliff played a key role in designing the state and national response to the spotted lanternfly. He then went on to organize the first international symposium of international, national and regional experts on the species and developed an 18-minute-long Penn State cooperative extension video on the spotted lanternfly host studies that he and students conducted at KU.

Starting in 2020, Setliff developed a collaborative initiative at KU through the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission to train 24 KU students to assess the extinction risk of threatened insects. Student assessors have since published seven species assessments on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (a.k.a., the endangered species list) in collaboration with field researchers in the Philippines, United States, Australia and Fiji.

Setliff actively involves students in important research experiences, leading to co-authorship on peer-reviewed publications, and has integrated research initiatives into his courses. Of his 25 total publications, KU students have co-authored on 10 of them. Setliff’s ability to provide excellence, knowledge and professionalism in his endeavors has inspired students to pursue research and graduate work in the field of entomology.