Rate My Professor Keith King

Dr. Keith King is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Zoology within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. He serves as the course coordinator for BIOL 112 Animal Biology and as a teaching fellow for CELS 191 Cell and Molecular Biology, positions he has held since completing his PhD at the University of Otago. King obtained his PhD under the supervision of Professors Graham Wallis and Jon Waters, with a dissertation titled 'Phylogeography and the evolution of melanism in the alpine wētā, Hemideina maori.' His research during his doctoral studies examined the genetics and physiology of colour polymorphisms in New Zealand tree wētā, contributing to understandings of evolutionary adaptations in alpine insects.

King's research interests center on insect physiology and evolutionary biology, focusing on phylogeographic patterns, Pleistocene microrefugia, and physiological mechanisms such as melanism's role in desiccation resistance among tree wētā (Hemideina species) in montane and glaciated landscapes. Key publications include 'Persisting in a glaciated landscape: Pleistocene microrefugia evidenced by the tree wētā Hemideina maori in central South Island, New Zealand' (2020), 'Water loss in tree wētā (Hemideina): adaptation to the montane environment and a test of the melanisation–desiccation resistance hypothesis' (2015), 'Phylogeographic genetic analysis of the alpine wētā Hemideina maori: Evolution of a colour polymorphism and origins of a hybrid zone,' and earlier works on hormone effects in prostate cells, such as 'The effect of oxytocin on cell proliferation in the human prostate is modulated by gonadal steroids: Implications for benign prostatic hyperplasia and carcinoma of the prostate' (2007) and 'Effect of increasing ratio of estrogen: Androgen on proliferation of normal human prostate stromal and epithelial cells, and the malignant cell line LNCaP' (2006). These efforts have resulted in 196 citations across 10 publications. In teaching, as a member of the CELS191 Teaching Team with Dr. Lisa Russell, Dr. Kim Watson, and Andrea Brown, King received the 2023 University of Otago Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Te Whatu Kairangi – Aotearoa Tertiary Educator Group Award for advancing seamless student transitions, through innovations like demonstrator training, study skills workshops for 1,200 students, and comprehensive pastoral care supporting 1,800–2,000 first-year enrollees annually.