Dr. L. Rex McAliley, an assistant professor of biology in Northwest Missouri State University’s Department of Natural Sciences, will deliver this year’s Last Lecture, titled “Sex! What is it good for?” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, in the Tower View Dining Room in the J.W. Jones Student Union.

Sponsored by Sigma Pi Sigma, an honorary society for students who have received Presidential Scholarships, the annual event gives Northwest faculty members the opportunity to speak as they would during the last lecture of their careers. McAliley’s lecture will discuss the evolution of sex.

Admission is free and the lecture is open to the public.

“If there is any lecture to go to, it’s the Last Lecture,” Sigma Pi Sigma Secretary Alyx Stumpf said. “It’s not your regular lecture that you spend half your time trying to stay awake. The speaker chooses the material, as if it was the last lecture they would ever give. There’s a message and an impact.”

McAliley joined the Northwest faculty in 2013. He received his Ph.D. in biology with an emphasis in population and conservation genetics from Texas Tech University. McAliley also has a Master of Arts degree in biology with an emphasis on systematics and evolution, and he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology with an emphasis on aquatic ecology, both from Tarleton State University. Before joining the Northwest faculty, McAliley worked with energy companies helping to offset their impact on the environment.