A cutting-edge molecular lab
and launching point to the
Eastern Tropical Pacific
As Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, a unit of the Smithsonian Institution headquartered in Panama City, Panama, I retired in June, 2020 from the job of managing more than 400 employees, an annual budget of $35 million, and the institute’s research facilities ...
I am broadly interested in the genetics of adaptation and speciation. How do new species form? How does adaptive variation arise and spread? How is morphological variation created through development and modified by natural selection? Is evolution predictable?
The focus of my lab’s...
My research focuses on how land-cover and climate change affect water movement through soils, weathering, and erosion, and how these, in turn, affect the composition and dispersal of dissolved and solid phases in rivers and trace gases in the atmosphere. Some of my areas of expertise include...
A new model suggests reforestation could be detrimental to water resources in the Panama Canal. Smithsonian scientists warn of flawed methodology and emphasize case for long-term monitoring.
Smithsonian marine biologist Ross Robertson suspects that the regal demoiselle hitched a ride to the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig. Its outstanding success in its new habitat raises questions about its impact in the Gulf.
Designed to share a hands-on-science experience, the new, brightly-painted van will make it possible for kids and adults to participate in the excitement of the discovery process in cities and towns across Panama.
As researchers ask which disease-carrying mosquito species will rule Panama’s Azuero Penninsula (and perhaps the world), they discover culinary delights along the way.
