Education – Professional Preparation:
1981 B.S. in Environmental Management University of Puerto Rico,Río Piedras Campus
1986 M.S. in Biology University of Puerto Rico,Río Piedras Campus
1993 Ph.D. in E.P.O. Biology University of Colorado-Boulder
Academic experience
Teaching Assisstant; Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras:
General Biology Laboratory, 5 semesters; General Ecology Lab., 1 semester), August 1982 – May 1983; August 1993-May 1994; August 1994-May 1995
Teaching Assisstant; Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado-Boulder. General Biology Laboratory (5 sem); Introduction to Biology recitations (1 sem). August 1988 – May 1989; August 1989-May 1990
Assisstant Professor, Department of Biology, UPR-Humacao, August 1993 – July 1997. Associate Professor, Department of Biology, UPR-Humacao. August 1997 – July 2000.
Professor, Department of Biology, UPR-Humacao, August 2000 – present.
Part-time faculty member of the School of Health Sciences, Speech & Language Pathology Program, University of Turabo, SUAGM, Gurabo, August 2009-May 2010.
MSLP 650 (Research in Speech-language I, now SLP 559): Fall 2009.
MSLP 560 (Research in Speech-language II, now SLP 569): Spring 2010.
Fall 2012: Part-time faculty member of the School of Science and Technology, Graduate Program of Environmental Sciences, University of Turabo, SUAGM, Gurabo:
ENSC 703 (Ecology and Conservation of Environmental Resources).
Non-academic Experience
Student Assistant at the Library of the Public Administration’s Faculty, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras; January 1977 – May 1977; August 1977 – January 1978.
Director of the Nature and Conservation Area, Guajataka Boy Scout Reserve, San Sebastián, Puerto Rico; June 19 – 30 July, 1977.
Laboratory/Field Technician at Terrestrial Ecology Division, U.P.R.’s Center for Energy and Environmental Research; August 1980 – September 1981; December 1981 to June 1982.
Graduate Peer Counselor: Summer Minority Access to Research and Training (SMART) Program, University of Colorado-Boulder, May 30 – August 8 1991.
Service activities (within and outside the institution)
Coordinator for the Wildlife Management Major (1994-1998)
Member, UPRH Institutional Committee on Research (president: 1995-
President, Organizing Committee for the Symposium on Flora and Fauna of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, held at UPR-Humacao (1994-1996), co-President (1996-1998, 2002-2003).
UPR-Humacao Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) (1993-2015). President: August 1996-February 1997, 2001-2003, August 2004-December 2006.
Honors and awards
Special permit to mist net, band and mark hummingbirds (first recipient in PR) and migratory warblers. US Department of Interior Bird Banding Laboratory, Patuxent, PA, March 1982.
Grant-in-Aid-of-Research. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, March 1984
Permit to mist net, band and mark Yellow-shouldered Blackbirds, native and migrant birds in Puerto Rico. US Department of Interior Bird Banding Laboratory, Patuxent, PA, March 1987.
Included in the Hummingbird Hotline roster (1987- 2008), March 1987.
February, 1988. Member of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources Endangered Species Task Force to revise projects involving the Yellow-shouldered Blackbird.
February, 1988. Associate Member: Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Society. U. Colorado Chapter.
April 1988. Appointed member of the Puerto Rican Plain Pigeon Recovery Team by Mr. George Pulliam, Regional Director for Area 4, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA.
January, 1994. Assisstant to the Spanish Editor, Journal of Field Ornithology (1994-2003).
May, 1994. ”Minority High School Students Research Committee” for the study “Gonadal development in Shiny Cowbirds from the SW Puerto Rico region”: UPR, Humacao ($3000).
August, 1994. Awarded $4500 from FoPI (Fondos para la Investigación) from the Academic Affairs Dean, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao.
August, 1994. Appointed Coordinator for the Ornithological Section of the “Fundación pro Museo de Historia Natural de Puerto Rico” by the governing board at San Juan, PR.
September, 1994. Advisor to the “Wildlife Management Students Association” until July 1998.
August, 1995. Assessment Committee, Forest Stewardship Program” to the Head of the Forestry Division of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, San Juan.
May 1997. Member, Puerto Rico Plain Pigeon Recovery Team by Ms. Noreen Clough, Regional Director for Area 4, USFWS, Atlanta, GA.
August, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2006. Included in the Second, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” (Fall 1998, 2003, 2006, 2007).
1997 Peer reviewer, Puerto Rican Plain Pigeon’s Recovery Plan, USFWS Atlanta, GA, and Boquerón, PR.
1997 Peer reviewer, Puerto Rican Sharp – Shinned Hawks and Puerto Rico Broad-winged Haw’s Recovery Plans, USFS Atlanta, GA, and Boquerón, PR.
July, 1998. Received $8000.00 from the USFS, Region 4, for population surveys of Crested Toads in Quebradillas, Cooperative Agreement 1448-0004-93-998.
September, 1998. Population surveys and activity budget analysis of Blue-tailed Ground Lizards in Susúa Forest, Cooperative Agreement 1448-40181-98-G-144, USFWS, Region 4 (with Mr. Julio Santiago: $5000.00).
1998 Mackintosh G3 Computer and Epson Stylus 800 printer to develop computer-based laboratory experiences for BIOL4448 (Laboratory on Ecology of Terrestrial Vertebrates in PR) and BIOL4568 (Techniques on Wildlife Management) from proposal to improve labs in Biology, Department of Biology, UPR, Humacao.
1998 Peer reviewer, Puerto Rican Yellow-shouldered Blackbird’s Recovery Plan by the USFWS Atlanta, GA and Boquerón, PR.
1998 Peer reviewer, Puerto Rican Parrot’s Recovery Plan by the USFWS Atlanta, GA and Boquerón, PR.
1998 Peer reviewer, Puerto Rican Plain Pigeon’s Critical Habitat Evaluation by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, San Juan, PR.
May, 2003. International Institute for Tropical Forestry’s group winner: 2002 New Century of Service Award: “The Puerto Rican Karst, A Vital Resource”, USDA Forest Service, Bethesta.
August, 2004. Reviewer of a paper submitted to the “Wildlife Society Bulletin”.
February 8, 2006. Judge at the Humacao Region Science Fair, Humacao, Puerto Rico.
August 4, 2011. Reviewer to the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Plan (USFWS, Atlanta, GA).
January, 2020. Reviewer to a paper submitted to “Caribbean Ornithology”.