Rising Star Faculty Award 2025: Kyle Wickings

Bio

Kyle Wickings is a professor of entomology at Cornell University. He grew up in western New York, receiving an associate’s degree from Niagara County Community College and a BS from the University of Buffalo. Kyle earned his PhD in 2007 from the University of Georgia at the Odum School of Ecology where he studied the impacts of fire ants on beneficial invertebrates in cotton agroecosystems. 

Kyle returned to New York in 2013 to join Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY, and build a research and extension program exploring the ecology and management of soil invertebrates in managed grass systems. The Wickings Lab studies sustainable tools for managing root feeding insects and explores the drivers of soil biodiversity in cities and other green spaces of New York state. 

Kyle maintains a 40% extension appointment and works closely with New York’s turfgrass and landscape industry stakeholders. Since 2019, Kyle has also led the Cornell AgriTech Summer Research Scholars program which provides summer internships for undergraduate students from across the U.S. This nine-week summer program offers undergraduates hands-on experience in specialty crop research along with field trips to local farms and professional development training.  Kyle lives with his wife, daughter, dogs and cats in Hopewell, NY and loves exploring the outdoors and music of the Finger Lakes region.