Biography

Iván R. López Martínez is a PhD student and McKnight Doctoral Fellow. Iván is interested in fishes, genomics, evolution, ecology, ethology, and how these disciplines can be synthesized to bolster conservation efforts and inform policy. Iván was inspired by the efforts of researchers in the 1960s whose work dominated popular aquarium hobby books. In his lifetime, Iván has witnessed first-hand how a habitat can shift from a healthy robust back-reef nearly reaching the shore at low tide to a barren sandy bottom. His research investigates temporal and spatial genomic shifts in coastal fish populations. His work compares legacy specimens collected in the late 1800s with their modern descendants using whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics.

Iván earned his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Marine Biology from Old Dominion University under the mentorship of Dr. Kent Carpenter, and an A.S. in Science from Tidewater Community College. While at ODU, Iván was the project administrator for NSF grant #1743711, PIRE: Centennial Genetic and Species Transformations in the Epicenter of Marine Biodiversity.