I received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia) in 2008. There, I conducted my undergraduate thesis research with Professor Maria del Carmen Zúñiga and Dr. Julian Chará, examining dietary habits of benthic macroinvertebrates in Andean streams. After obtaining my bachelor's degree, I spent two years studying different aspects of the ecology of streams in the coffee-growing region of Colombia with the Centre for Research in Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems (CIPAV).

 

In 2012 I completed a Master’s degree in Aquatic Sciences at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, under the supervision of Dr. David Allan. My Master's thesis was an effort to understand how local agricultural practices were affecting benthic macroinvertebrate communities in tropical Andean stream ecosystems using novel statistical techniques.

 

Currently, I'm a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, where I'm working with Dr. John Richardson in cumulative effects of multiple agricultural stressors. I am conducting a series of experiments to evaluate individual and combined effects of  nutrient enrichment, sedimentation, and insecticide pollution in mesocosms representing different types of freshwater ecosystems. The experiments are designed to determine whether there are synergistic or antagonistic interactions among the stressors that might alter their combined effects on aquatic ecosystems.