Dr. Ana Luz Porzecanski is Assistant Director for Capacity Development and NCEP Coordinator for the Americas at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation. Since 2003, she has been helping design and implement professional development opportunities and teaching materials for university professors and conservation professionals in Latin and North America through the activities of the Network of Conservation Educators and Practioners. She also coordinates the International Graduate Student Fellowship Program and provides logistical and academic support for the Center's graduate fellows. Ana Luz teaches courses in conservation biology and evolution at Columbia University, where she is an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology. She obtained her undergraduate degree in biological sciences from the Universidad de la República, Uruguay, and her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2003, where she carried out research on the systematics and historical biogeography of South American aridland birds, as well as on international environmental policy issues.

Assistant Director for Capacity Development/NCEP Coordinator for the Americas

Representative Publications

A. E. Jahn, A. M. Saavedra, R. Ian Horn, R. C. Dobbs, A. L. Porzecanski , J. J. Weicker. 2008. A Comparison of Gallery and Dry Forest Avian Communities in the Gran Chaco of Bolivia. Ornitología Neotropical 19(2): 1-14.

M. Mendez, A. Gómez, N. Bynum, R. Medellín, A. L. Porzecanski , E. Sterling. 2007. Conservation Education in Latin America: Availability of formal academic programs in conservation biology. Conservation Biology 21(6): 1399-1403.

Porzecanski, A. L. , N. Bynum, J. L. Mena, y R. A. Medellín. 2006. La Red de Educadores y Profesionales de la Conservación (REPC): La Implementación de un proyecto internacional de educación superior en México. Contributed chapter in A. Barahona and L. Almeida, eds., Educación para la Conservación. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.

Sterling, E., N. Bynum, J. P. Gibbs, and A. L. Porzecanski . 2005. Construyendo Capacidades para la Conservación de la Biodiversidad en Países Tropicales: La Red de Educadores y Profesionales de la Conservación (REPC). Ambiente y Desarrollo 21(2): 40-46.

Brooks, D. M., A. L. Porzecanski , J. J Weicker, R. A. Honig, A. M. Saavedra, and M. Herrera. 2005. A Preliminary Assessment of Avifauna of the Bolivian Chiquitano and Cerrado. Ornitología Neotropical 16: 85-99.

Porzecanski, A. L., and J. Cracraft. 2005. Cladistic Analysis of Distributions and Endemism (CADE): Using raw distributions of birds to unravel the biogeography of the South American aridlands. Journal of Biogeography 32(2): 261-275.

Bertelli, S., and A. L. Porzecanski. 2004. Tinamou (Tinamidae) Systematics: a Preliminary Combined Analysis of Morphology and Molecules. Ornitología Neotropical 15(Suppl.): 293-299.