Dr. Gerry Cassis

Biography

Gerry Cassis is a systematic entomologist with over 30 years of continuous post-PhD research experience. He completed his PhD at Oregon State University and is a recognized authority on jewel bugs. Following his PhD, he worked at CSIRO for four years and authored a book on Australian dung beetles. Between 1989 and 2007, he held the position of Head of the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research at the Australian Museum. In mid-2007, he was appointed as a Professor of Systematics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Throughout his career, Cassis has published three books, 123 scientific journal articles, 23 book chapters, and 11 conference papers. He has secured more than $15 million in competitive grants, including $5 million from the National Science Foundation for a collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History. As a part of his tenure at UNSW, he has received over 60 research contracts and is currently the Team Leader for a significant online species interaction project known as Atlas of Australia. He is also the Chief Investigator for a capacity-building project in Papua New Guinea, funded by the Commonwealth of Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His research interests encompass systematics, phylogeny, biogeography, evolutionary biology, and ecology, with a focus on the phylogenetic history and coevolution of true bugs in the suborder Heteroptera. Cassis currently leads a lab that includes a postdoctoral fellow, five PhD students, research assistants, and an Honours student. He has supervised 12 PhD students, 2 Master's students, and 10 Honours students, as well as mentoring postdoctoral fellows at UNSW and is a recipient of the Winston Churchill Fellowship, an Eureka Prize finalist, and has received Whitley awards for his books.

Research Interests