MEDIA RELEASE__One of the nation’s leading scholars and advocates of an ancient species of ray-finned fish is returning to his alma mater, Ohio Northern University, to deliver the 2026 Keiser Distinguished Lectureship in Life Sciences.

Known throughout the U.S. as the “Gar Guy,” Solomon David, Ph.D., is an assistant professor within the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota.

His lecture, entitled “Modern Conservation Insights from Ancient Fishes,” will take place on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. in the Freed Center for the Performing Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

David’s research and conservation work have appeared across national broadcast networks, major print publications, popular podcasts, and digital media. He specializes in the ecology, conservation, and management of non-game native fishes, with an emphasis on ancient fishes, including gars and bowfins. Additional projects involve river-floodplain restoration ecology and conservation of peripheral populations of species. 

He received his B.S. in biology from ONU, followed by an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. His graduate research focused on conservation ecology of Great Lakes fishes, and he conducted postdoctoral research in fish ecology at Shedd Aquarium, University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S. Geological Survey, and Michigan State University. He served as assistant professor of biological sciences at Nicholls State University before assuming his present position at the University of Minnesota.