Michael S. Engel


Michael S. Engel, FLS, FRES is an American paleontologist and entomologist, notable for contributions to insect evolutionary biology and classification. In connection with his studies he has undertaken field expeditions in Central Asia, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, eastern Africa, the high Arctic, and South and North America, and has published more than 760 papers in scientific journals and over 800 new living and fossil species. Some of Engel's research images were included in exhibitions on the aesthetic value of scientific imagery. Engel is the author of Innumerable Insects and co-author of Evolution of the Insects.

Career

Engel received a B.Sc. in physiology and cell biology and a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Kansas in 1993, and a Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University in 1998. He was employed as a research scientist at the American Museum of Natural History from 1998–2000, and then returned to the University of Kansas as assistant professor in the Department of Entomology, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and assistant curator in the Natural History Museum’s Division of Entomology. He was promoted to full professor and senior curator in 2008, and University Distinguished Professor in 2018. In 2006–2007 Engel resumed regular activity in the American Museum of Natural History while a Guggenheim Fellow, completing work on the geological history of termites and their influence on carbon recycling in paleoenvironments. This period also permitted significant work on the comprehensive work, Treatise on the Termites of the World. In 2008 he received the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society and subsequently the Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society of London for his contributions to the fields of systematic entomology and paleontology. In Spring 2014 he was awarded the Scholarly Achievement Award of the University of Kansas for his contributions to the evolutionary and developmental origins of insect flight; and in 2015 the International Cooperation Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2017, Engel was elected as a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America and received the society's Thomas Say Award. In Spring 2019, Innumerable Insects won the Nautilus Book Award in two categories.

Personal life

Engel married Kellie K. Magill on April 25, 2009, in a ceremony performed by Engel's father.

Eponymy

The following species or genera have been proposed in honor of Dr. Engel:
  1. Lasioglossum engeli Genaro, 2001
  2. Braunsapis engeli Jobiraj, 2004
  3. † Cretostylops engeli Grimaldi & Kathirithamby, 2005
  4. † Sigmophlebia engeli Béthoux & Beckemeyer, 2007
  5. Triepeolus engeli Rightmyer, 2008
  6. † Archaeoellipes engeli Heads, 2010
  7. Anotylus engeli Makranczy, 2011
  8. † Engellestes Nel & al., 2012
  9. Melitta engeli Michez, 2012
  10. † Xenosycorax engeli Azar & Salamé, 2015
  11. † Kronocharon engeli Wunderlich, 2015
  12. † Dolichoraphidia engeli Liu & al., 2016
  13. Eufriesea engeli Gonzalez & Griswold, 2017
  14. † Elmomantis engeli Prokop et al., 2017
  15. † Cretogramma engeli Liu et al., 2018
  16. † Archeofoenus engeli Turrisi & Ellenberger, 2019
  17. † Cretoquadratus engeli Chen, 2019
  18. † Deltoxyela engeli Wang, Shih, Ren, & Gao, 2020
  19. † Cretopiesma engelgrimaldii Azar, Heiss, & Huang, 2020
  20. Sphecodes engeli Astafurova & Proshchalykin, 2020

    Incomplete bibliography

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