UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Joanna “Jo” Setchell, professor of anthropology at Durham University in England, will deliver a lecture titled “Sexual Selection and the Differences between the Sexes in Mandrills (Mandrillus Sphinx)” as part of this year’s annual Darwin Day celebration.
Setchell’s presentation, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Freeman Auditorium. A light reception will immediately follow the lecture.
Setchell is a noted anthropologist and primatologist whose research focuses on primate conservation and sexual selection among mandrills — research that has taken her to Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Borneo. She has authored several publications, including the book “Studying Primates: How to Design, Conduct and Report Primatological Research.” Setchell and Deborah J. Curtis co-edited a book, “Field and Laboratory Methods in Primatology,” which the International Primatological Society used to develop its "Code of Best Practices in Field Primatology."
Setchell earned her doctorate in zoology from the University of Cambridge and conducted postdoctoral research at the Centre for Research in Evolutionary Anthropology at Roehampton University and in the Department of Biological Anthropology at Cambridge. She is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Primatology and serves on the editorial board of Scientific Data. She is also a past president of the Primate Society of Great Britain and served as vice president for research for the International Primatological Society from 2010 to 2018.
Darwin Day is an international celebration held each year near Charles Darwin’s birthday (Feb. 12, 1809) to recognize his contributions to science and to promote science in general. This year’s Penn State celebration is co-sponsored by the Center for Human Evolution and Diversity in the College of the Liberal Arts and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.