2016: Ph.D in Ecology. Department of Biology, Colorado State University (CSU), Fort Collins, CO, USA. Advisor: Dr. Chris Funk. 2008: Licenciatura Biological Sciences (B.Sc + two years of independent research). Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE), Quito, Ecuador. Advisor: Dr. Luis A. Coloma
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS 2022– :Investigator, Jambatu Center for Amphibian Research and Conservation, San Rafael, Quito, Ecuador. 2016–2022: Principal Professor, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica (UTI), Quito, Ecuador. 2018–2021: Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica (UTI), Quito, Ecuador. 2018–2021: Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica (UTI), Quito, Ecuador.
RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS U = Undergraduate student; G = Graduate student
Páez-Vacas, M.I. et al (UTI undergraduate students). (In press). Citizen science as a tool for education: First Bioblitz in Quito, Ecuador. In 2ndCongress in Sustainability, Energy and City. Springer, Cham.
Jaynes, K.*, Páez-Vacas, M., Salazar-Valenzuela, D., Guayasamin, J., Terán-Valdez, A., Siavichay, F., Fitzpatrick, S.W., Coloma, L.A. (2022). Harlequin frog rediscoveries provide insights into mechanisms of persistence in the face of drastic amphibian declines. Biological Conservation, 276:109784.
Páez-Vacas, M. I., Trumbo, D. R., & Funk, W. C. (2022). Contrasting environmental drivers of genetic and phenotypic divergence in an Andean poison frog (Epipedobates anthonyi). Heredity, 1-12.
Selected as “Editor’s Choice” article in Heredity
Featured on the cover of Heredity
Morales-Espín, B.*, Ortiz, F., Sánchez-Lara*, E., Páez-Vacas, M., Muñoz-Lara*, K., Bravo-Vera, E.*, ... & Tobes, I. (2022). Understanding the Relation with Nature in the City: Biodiversity Knowledge and Environmental Awareness in a Periurban Area of Quito, Ecuador. In Congress in Sustainability, Energy and City (pp. 70-80). Springer, Cham.
Oleas, N. H., Valencia, K.*, Peña, P.*, Páez-Vacas, M., Salazar, L., & Tobes, I. (2021). BioCamb: 10 años contribuyendo al conocimiento de la biodiversidad en el Ecuador. CienciAmérica, 10(2), 1-6.
Zapata, D.*, Oleas, N. H., Páez-Vacas, M., & Tobes, I. (2021, March). Water Quality Assessment of the Cutuchi River Basin (Ecuador): A Review of Technical Documents. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 690, No. 1, p. 012058). IOP Publishing.
Salazar, L., Páez-Vacas, M., Kessler, M., Kluge, J., & Homeier, J. (2021, March). Variation of Foliar Calcium and Magnesium in Six Fern Species at Different Elevations. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 690, No. 1, p. 012056). IOP Publishing.
Oleas, N., Melo-Gonzalez, C. J., Tobes-Sesma, I., Salazar, L., Falconí-López, A., Páez-Vacas, M., ... & Endara, M. J. (2020). Impacto de COVID-19 en la investigación de la Biodiversidad en Ecuador. CienciAmérica, 9(2), 120-137.
Salerno, P. E., Páez-Vacas, M., Guayasamin, J. M., & Stynoski, J. L. (2020). Correction: Male principal investigators (almost) don’t publish with women in ecology and zoology. Plos one, 15(5), e0233803.
Salerno, P.E., Páez-Vacas, M.I., Guayasamin, J.M., J.L. Stynoski. (2019) Male principal investigators (almost) don’t publish with women in ecology and zoology. PloS one, 14(6), e0218598.
Fitak, R. R., Antonides, J. D., Baitchman, E. J., Bonaccorso, E., Braun, J., Kubiski, S., Páez-Vacas, M. I., ... & Malmberg, J. L. (2019). The expectations and challenges of wildlife disease research in the era of genomics: forecasting with a horizon scan-like exercise. Journal of Heredity, 110(3), 261-274.
Páez-Vacas, M. I., & Oleas, N. H. (2019). Isolation and characterization of 12 microsatellite loci in Epipedobates anthonyi (Amphibia: Anura: Dendrobatidae) for population genetic analysis. Molecular biology reports, 1-4.
Robertson, J. M., Murphy, M. A., Pearl, C. A., Adams, M. J., Páez-Vacas, M. I., Haig, S. M., ... & Funk, W. C. (2018). Regional variation in drivers of connectivity for two frog species (Rana pretiosa and R. luteiventris) from the US Pacific Northwest. Molecular Ecology, 27(16), 3242-3256.
Páez-Vacas, M.I., Coloma, L.A., & Santos, J. C. (2010). Systematics of the Hyloxalus bocagei clade (Anura: Dendrobatidae), recognition of H. maculosus and description of two new species, Zootaxa 2711:1-75. Undergrad Honor’s Thesis.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2016 – 2022 Principal professor, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica (UTI), Quito, Ecuador. Undergraduate courses: Environmental issues (1x), Science writing and science communication (4x), Introduction to Genetics (6x), Practical Field Techniques (2x), Conservation Genetics (6x), Recitation on Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (1x). Graduate courses: Biodiversity and ecological processes (3x). 2019 – 2020 Certification Program in Higher Education and Research, CIFE, Mexico (320 hours). 2012 – 2013 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Colorado State University. Introduction to Biology (1x) Herpetology (1x) Tropical Ecology and Evolution: Tropical Freshwater Systems (Guest Lecturer) Molecular Ecology: Metagenomics (Guest Lecturer)
GRANTS AND FUNDING 2022 Back from the brink: harnessing genomic tools to help reverse declines in an emblematic Andean Harlequin frog. Revive & Restore Wild Genomes – Amphibians. ($149,162 pending) 2022 Evolutionary ecology for the conservation of amphibians. Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica. ($25,000) 2020 Jambatu’s second chance: saving an emblematic Andean frog from extinction, National Geographic Society. ($50,000) 2017 – 2021 Ecology, evolution, and conservation of amphibians in the Andes of Ecuador, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica. ($108,000) 2016 Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG), National Science Foundation. ($19,000) 2015 Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Research. American Philosophical Society. ($4,900) 2014 Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Travel Grant, Colorado State University. ($600) Biology Department Travel Grant, Colorado State University. ($1,500) Honorable Mention, E.E. Williams Research Grant Award. 2013 Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Research Grant, Colorado State University. ($1,600) 2008 Ernst Mayr Travel Grant in Animal Systematics, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA. ($1,500)
FELLOWSHIPS 2014–2015President, Latin American Students and Scholars Organization, CSU. 2013–2014Global Sustainability Leadership Fellowship, SoGES, CSU. 2012–2013International Presidential Fellowship, CSU. 2012–2016Scholarship for Graduate Studies Abroad 2012, National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Superior Education of Ecuador. ($109,070.80) 2010–2012Fulbright Foreign Student Program. Barsa Scholarship Award, De Sá InterAmerican Foundation. ($6,000) 2002 Scholarship for Academic Excellence, Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (40% of Semester Tuition).