McKenna Named Royal Entomological Society Fellow

In recognition of his achievements in the field of entomology »

Dr. Duane McKenna, William Hill Professor of Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. The Royal Entomological Society, founded in 1833, seeks to promote and further develop the science of entomology—the study of insects and their relatives—while facilitating communication among entomologists. McKenna joins a distinguished group of Society Fellows, whose fascination with insect biodiversity served as inspiration for their scientific contributions. McKenna has made substantial contributions to the field of entomology through his research, and his appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society is in recognition of these achievements.

McKenna studies the evolution of insects and insect-plant interactions. He is a specialist on beetles, arguably the most diverse group of insects. His other interests include genome evolution, insects in agriculture and forestry, and biodiversity conservation. He has helped sequence a diversity of insect genomes to better understand the biology of invasive or pest species and the evolution of insect biodiversity. He collaborates broadly, and has contributed to research on all continents, including Antarctica. He is contributing to the Earth Biogenome Project, an effort to sequence the genomes of all life on Earth, and is contributing to, or leading, several additional major insect genomics and biodiversity research efforts. He has coauthored papers with more than 400 colleagues, and regularly publishes in leading scientific journals, including Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Moreover, his 2015 paper on beetle evolution is the most-cited paper in the nearly 90-year history of Systematic Entomology, the leading journal in his field of research. McKenna serves on the Editorial Board for the journal Systematic Entomology, and is an Associate Editor for two additional entomology journals. In 2019, he founded the University of Memphis (UofM) Center for Biodiversity Research (CBio). In the same year, he co-founded the UofM Agriculture and Food Tech Research Cluster. Both organizations have made major contributions to UofM research growth and visibility. In addition to his research, McKenna teaches courses in Evolution, Entomology, and Biodiversity at the UofM. Globally, he is focused on growing capacity for scientific research and conservation, and he is broadly engaged in relevant advocacy and policy development. His research has been supported by grants from the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and others.

For more information, contact Dr. McKenna at dmckenna@memphis.edu.