VSU’s Connell Visiting Lecture Series Examines the Mosquito April 27

Dr. David W. Severson

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University will present its 35^th annual Clyde Eugene Connell Visiting Lecture Series event at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, in the Student Union Theater. Admission is free of charge to all faculty, staff, students, retirees, alumni, and friends interested in learning more about Aedes aegypti, or the yellow fever mosquito, including its population biology, functional genomics, and arbovirus transmission.

VSUs Clyde Eugene Connell Visiting Lecture Program and Department of Biology have invited Indiana-based entomologist Dr. David W. Severson to discuss “Understanding Mosquito-Borne Viruses by Understanding the Mosquito.”

Severson is a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame and the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed journal publications. From 2008 to 2015 he served as the founding director of the University of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health, an organization working to address global health challenges through basic and applied research

Severson holds a Doctor of Philosophy in entomology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on mosquito genomics and genetics with the primary goal of understanding the molecular genetics of disease transmission by mosquitoes. He will share his perspective on the importance of basis research in understanding newly emerging and re-emerging diseases such as Dengue and Zika viruses.

The Clyde Eugene Connell Visiting Lecture Series honors the legacy of Clyde Eugene Connell, who served the faculty, staff, and students of Valdosta State’s Department of Biology for more than two decades. He earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Valdosta State College in 1954, returning in 1958, after earning a Master of Science in zoology from the University of Georgia, as a member of the faculty. He went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in biology from UGA, and in 1962 he was named department head, a position he held until his retirement in 1981. His contributions to the university, the community, higher education, and the field of biology have not been forgotten.

Contact VSU’s Department of Biology at (229) 333-5759 to learn more.