Students

Graduate Students 787-764-0000 x1-2767
Adail Alicea Martinez

My interests are related to the resource of water, specifically on private potable water systems in rural communities. In Puerto Rico there exists around 250 private potable water systems that constitute 3% of the population in the island. These communities use a rudimentary system to make water suitable for human consumption using chlorination. There is no extensive investigation on the effects of chlorination in rural communities in Puerto Rico. What motivates me is seeing that todays world is being shaped through the industrialization of the environment, but I want to dream of industrialization being shaped by environmentalism.
Nora Alvarez

My research interest focuses on understanding human factors in environmental change. I am interested in studying land use and land cover changes in the humid tropics that are related to anthropogenic causes; for example, socio-economic changes and land use patterns around protected areas. I am also interested in the use of remote applications to track and analyze landscape transformations and patterns. I have participated in research projects relevant to these subject matters in the tropical regions of Peru, Guatemala and Puerto Rico.

Natalia Alvarez Negron

My research interests revolve around studying the composition of communities around natural areas, in multiple and interdisciplinary ways in order to determine the impacts on the natural resource related to their presence in the vicinity. The goal would be to find better alternatives for community integration in different aspects of the management of the area. My interests also include studying problems arising as a consequence of the poor planning strategies that prevail on our island in terms of defined or not well defined buffer zones in our forests and the implication this has on the problems arising on the protected areas boundaries and the land uses prevailing in these areas.

Arelis Arocho

As a marine biologist and planner, my major research interests include different but integrated themes such as marine conservation, gentrification of traditional coastal communities, changes in environmental public policy, the uses of land on coasts and the effects of degradation of marine habitats on the human coastal communities.

Daniel Davila Casanova

Nilda Luhring Gonzalez

Research interests: Understanding the dynamic of the hydrologic cycle as a continuum phenomenon focusing on groundwater systems; the study of a groundwater system with low anthropogenic impact, in order to set a baseline for use in the assessment of a similar complex system with varying levels of human impact. Knowing and comprehending the functioning of natural water resources is essential for the education of society and represents one of the main steps for reaching sustainable planning.

Aristides Martinez Cintron

My primary research interests are in the impacts of climate change and human's response, and their interaction, on the dynamics of tropical urban forest communities. I also like to conduct research on tropical land cover histories and restoration ecology, in order to assess how human activity in the urbanizing tropics affect local, regional, and global climate.

Jeiger Medina Muñiz

Management of human uses across watersheds and coastal waters can prevent and minimize chronic water quality degradation that can have profound long-term irreversible effects on the integrity and composition of ecosystems, food webs and human services. I am interested in the ecological impacts of changes in land use patterns, water turbidity, nutrient availability, and fecal pollution pulses in aquatic ecosystems. It is important to identify non-point sources of fecal and nutrient contamination in order to improve ambient water quality and prevent diseases.

Betzaida Ortiz Carrion

My areas of interest are the study of the relationship between land use and the hydrology of the Southern Aquifer in the areas of Juana Diaz, Santa Isabel and Salinas, Puerto Rico. As a certified teacher I am also interested in making the importance of environmental issues clear to students and to all citizens. In particular, I am interested in creating awareness among policy makers of the imperativeness of considering the environment in their decision making process.

Dionisio Perez-Montes

The IGERT program has afforded me the opportunity to integrate a wide variety of disciplines. The integration of the principles of environmental science with economic science, has opened a field of holistic recovery of natural resources and the environmental services they produce. Finding the balance between the sustainable use of economic developments and ensuring the general welfare of current and future generations that inhabit the globe is my area of interest.
Norberto Quiñones Vilches

uerto Rico and the world have a great dependency on energy coming from non-renewable resources. Renewable energy is an answer to this dependency on non-renewable energy. My main interests stem from two questions: How is non-renewable energy use affecting urban and natural ecosystems in Puerto Rico? What are the possible and viable ways of using renewable energy in the urban systems of Puerto Rico?
Claudia Patricia Ruiz Diaz

As an investigator I look to make mathematical models of corals taking into consideration all possible environmental parameters that may affect them to be able to simulate the behavior and predict the long term growth of these organisms, individually as well as the reef as a whole. Parallel to this I am expanding my environmental knowledge to thus be able to couple environmental science with mathematical modeling. In this way I will be able to construct realistic models of marine organisms that include those factors that have degraded the quality of reefs in the last several decades. I also would like to expand into modeling of other organisms and also to acquire more tools that can be seen as effective solutions for those problems faced by the reef.
Julio Santiago-Rios

My professional and academic experience has been in conservation and handling of wild life, studying the biological and social component of the flora and fauna as well as protected areas. My current interests are the application of the concept sustainability in the society, from a holistic point of view, their repercussions in our social relations and therefore in the effective use of the natural resources for our generation and the generations to come.
Catherine Vargas Marrero

My main research interests are sustainable development, urban ecology, ecosystem management and vulnerability of communities to the effects of climate change.
Angélica Erazo-Oliveras

My research interest focus on water quality improvement using slow sand filters. I am interested in studying slow sand filters and how they can be introduced to communities with low income and limited water accessibility. My previous research project involved the use of slow sand filters to improve the water quality in El Verde Field Station and a workshop in Chiapas, Mexico to members of an indigenous community to introduce slow sand filters.
Annette Negroni-Miranda

Natural resources assessment and analysis, conservation and restoration, limnology, natural resources sustainability and ecosystem management.

Eileen Cruz-Pastrana
Harold Manrique

I want to specialize in the field of limnology examining human impacts on a stream’s physical attributes and water quality in an urban watershed. I just finished my B.A. in Coastal Marine Biology and so in the future I would like to integrate all of the knowledge gained during my undergraduate and graduate studies because, as we know, rivers always end up in the sea.
Joel Melendez

My research interest focuses on the environmental and economic impacts of the invasive lionfish in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. As part of the work we are preparing a management plan that would provide a framework to coordinate activities among government agencies, non-governmental agencies, local individuals, businesses and organizations to control the invasion of lionfish into Puerto Rico waters. The management plan includes five main areas: outreach and education; detection and removal; monitoring and data gathering; data analysis and reporting; and market development.
Karleen Wagner

My research interests are mostly from an ecosystem point of view, related to how human activities through the watershed system affect the costal environments/oceans, specially the mangroves. I have noticed the scientific literature how there are gaps between studying the watershed and coastal systems as a unit (its usually studied individually) and my main goal is to be able to study both terrestrial and coastal environments as a unit and be able to address issues such as sustainable agriculture for healthier oceans, aquaculture to restore marine ecosystems, preservation of Marine Biodiversity, etc.
Odalys Martinez

As a meteorologist at the National Weather Service San Juan Forecast Office, I found an interest in climatology, climate change and air pollution meteorology. My research interests are devoted to understanding the interrelationships among population growth and climate change with a focus on characterizing their effects on ambient air quality.
Rita Frontera

My main research interests are related in environmental restoration on streams, channel formation, field assessment, channel evolution and drinking water degradation. As a Environmental Health professional I had worked on small drinking water systems in rural communities where the main problem of these systems are the chlorination processes and the drinking water supply from surface waters which are often contaminated by microbiological agents from farm waste, chemical agents from agricultural pesticides or industrial waste, and the public health effects of these rural communities. My current interest is in the environmental epidemiology area that deals with hazards conditions that may be a risk to human health based on superficial water consumption in rural areas and streams degradation. Environmental epidemiology is an instrument that can help to identify the exposures to environmental contaminants also to conduct risk and health assessments.
Xochitl Perez

Concern about pollution in our environment is my main interest. There are sources of radioactive contamination in hospitals and other industries that must be tested for the impact on humans and nature. I would like to study the concentration and impact of these pollutants in water, soil and air as part of my research.
Zilma Perez

As a certified teacher in secondary education public school I have always been concern about the impact of solid waste towards human health and natural resources. For centuries human beings has used different techniques to dispose solid waste. Time has witness the consequence of such disposal and its impact towards human health such as cholera, “peste negra” and others. As population grows so does solid waste. I am interested in determining the relationship between psychological disorders such as learning problems, ADDH, in elementary school communities living near Landfills and its impact on the human health and life quality.