Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007
Dr. Shahroukh Mistry, assistant professor of biology, will deliver the Henderson Lecture Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. in the Witherspoon Maple Room of the McKelvey Campus Center.
Mistry's presentation, "Impacts of Global Climate Change - More Than Just a Mere Inconvenience," highlights the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, species distributions, and agricultural, socio-economic, and human health issues.
"My research focuses on predicting the distributional shifts of one particular species, the vampire bat, as a response to climate change, and suggests that significant range expansions are likely to occur," Mistry said. "An increase of the bat's range into the U.S. raises several important questions relating to the possible impact on the livestock industry, human health, and on overall bat conservation efforts. While the effects of climate change are already visible, the major impacts will be felt in the next few decades."
Mistry, who has been with Westminster since 2003, earned undergraduate and master's degrees in zoology from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, a master's in animal behavior from the University of Tennessee, and his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of New Mexico. His research interests focus on issues related to conservation biology and his research projects have included studies in India, Kenya and Mexico. He is on the scientific advisory board of Bat Conservation International and is a member of the IUCN Chiroptera Specialist Group.
The Henderson Lecture was founded by Dr. Joseph R. Henderson and his wife, Elizabeth, to encourage and recognize original and continuing research and scholarship among Westminster College faculty, and to afford the opportunity for faculty to share their learning with the academic community. Dr. Henderson is a professor emeritus of education at Westminster, and served as chair of the Department of Education and director of the Graduate Program. Each year Westminster faculty members may nominate themselves or others to receive the lectureship, which includes a stipend to support a specific research project. A special faculty committee chooses from the nominees.
Contact Mistry at (724) 946-7210 or e-mail mistrys@westminster.edu for additional information.
