Valle del Cocora, Andes, Colombia

Teaching

2020. Teaching assistant of two computer labs of the Bioinformatics course (3MR103) (13 students), Uppsala University. Uppsala, Sweden. Organisers: Erik Axelsson and Simon Forsberg.
2020. Instructor of one lecture and computer lab of the Comparative Genomics for Biomedicine (3MR100) (13 students). Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Organisers: Andreas Wallberg and Jennifer Meadows.
2020, 2022. Teaching assistant in the immersive two-weeks Workshop on Population and Speciation Genomics (60 students). Český Krumlov, Czech Republic. 
2019. Instructor of a one-day session (lecture and computer lab) on Population Genomics and R, as part of the Evolutionary Genomics Training on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia (26 students). Cartagena, Colombia, 14-20 November. 
Organizer: Andrew J. Crawford, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. 
​Twitter: #EGT3C_2019
2012-2014, 2016. Teaching assistant, Molecular Ecology BIOL 3042, Fall term (~30 students).  Dalhousie University. Halifax, Canada.
2012. Teaching assistant, Introductory Biology BIOL 1011 Winter term (26 students). Dalhousie University. Halifax, Canada.
2011-2012. Marker, Spanish course, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
2005-2008. Teaching assistant, Practical Course in Molecular Biology (24 students). Department of Biology, Universidad del Valle. Cali, Colombia..

Outreach

Bringing science to the street
On May 21st 2022, my wonderful colleague and friend, Mafalda Ferreira, and I had the incredible opportunity to share our research to the public, as part of the Soapbox Science event that was held in downtown Uppsala.
Helping to bridge the gap between researchers and conservation managers
Two of the main reasons why genetic data is rarely included in biodiversity monitoring and conservation planning are the lack of understanding of its importance and applications, and the communication gap existing between academics and stakeholders. To help close this gap, I joined multi-national and multi-disciplinary working groups based in Canada and Europe that aim to make conservation genetics more accessible to managers.
​https://geobon.org/ebvs/working-groups/genetic-composition/
​https://sites.google.com/fmach.it/g-bike-genetics-eu/home
Developing computing skills of the next generation of conservation managers in Latin America
The Foundation Ecodiversa Tropical is a Colombian NGO that promotes biodiversity protection, training, and leadership among early career conservation biologist and managers in Colombia and Latin-America. My role is to design and develop training modules on conservation genetics and data analysis for undergraduate and graduate students. We are extremely excited that we received funding from the Biotech for Conservation Challenge Grant to develop the conservation genetics module.
Empowering local communities to lead their own initiatives of conservation
Luz Marina Mejía Ladino, from INVEMAR, and I designed and delivered a series of workshops focused on improving proposal writing skills of a group of community leaders from Bahía Málaga, a National Natural Park created in 2010 on the Colombia Pacific coast. With these skill, local communities could apply for funding and lead their own initiatives focused on the protection of the Park. This training was part of the 2008-2010 Research Project "EVVOM" (Early life stages of marine organism in Bahia Malagas), lead by professor Jaime Cantera Kintz, Ecomanglares research group, Universidad de Valle, Colombia, and finantially supported by the Governmental agency COLCIENCIAS.

Our research in the News