Cicadas galore: APSU’s Science on Tap to explore historic insect emergence on May 7

By: Colby Wilson April 26, 2024

Dr. Donald Sudbrink, chair of APSU’s Department of Agriculture, speaks at the Clarksville Arts and Heritage Council’s Tobacco Talks series on June 27, 2023. | Photo by Sean McCully

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Austin Peay State University’s next Science on Tap event will feature Dr. Donald Sudbrink, chair of the Department of Agriculture and a professor of plant sciences and pest management, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, at Strawberry Alley Ale Works in Downtown Clarksville.

Sudbrink’s presentation, "The Cicadas Are Coming! The Cicadas Are Coming!: To Dinner?" is timely given the convergence of 13-year cicadas and 17-year cicadas emerging, albeit not significantly overlapping, in northern Illinois. A co-emergence involving adjacent broods of different life cycles happens only roughly every 221 years.

The 2024 emergence is especially significant because it marks the first time adjacent 13- and 17-year broods will co-emerge since 1803, as well as the first time they have emerged in the same year since 1998. Sudbrink will explain this phenomenon’s significance, history and the impact it could have on your summer plans.

Plus, attendees will have an opportunity to win one of Dr. Sudbrink's favorite insect books.

Dr. Kallina Dunkle, professor of earth and environmental sciences at APSU, presents on “Women in STEM” during a Science on Tap event hosted on April 2, 2024. | Photo by Madison Casey

More about Science on Tap

Science on Tap is a monthly event that brings together science and local brews. Austin Peay's College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics hosts Science on Tap on the first Tuesday of every month during the academic year; doors open at 5 p.m. and the event begins promptly at 5:30 p.m.