Andrew Clark, professor of population genetics at Cornell University, will present the 16th Annual James V. Neel Lecture in Human Genetics at 3 p.m. May 24 in Kahn Auditorium, in the Bioscience Medical Research Building.

At Cornell, Clark is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Population Genetics in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and a Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator. He is a population geneticist focused on empirical and analytical problems associated with genetic variation in populations.

Clark has published more than 360 peer-reviewed papers in the field of population genetics, and is co-author with Dan Hartl of “Principles of Population Genetics.” His research focuses on the genetic basis of adaptive variation in natural populations, with emphasis on quantitative modeling of phenotypes as networks of interacting genes.

The lecture honors Dr. Neel, (1915-2000), a pioneer in developing human genetics research and who established the first Department of Human Genetics in 1956 at the University of Michigan, serving as its chair for more than 25 years.