Michelle María Early Capistrán
Postdoctoral Scholar, Oceans
Bio
Michelle María Early Capistrán is a David H. Smith Conservation Fellow at the Crowder Lab. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on working collaboratively with coastal communities to improve conservation practice by integrating Local Ecological Knowledge and marine ecology. She was originally trained as a Cultural Anthropologist and holds an M.S. and PhD in Marine Science and Limnology (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM). For over a decade, she has collaborated with rural fishing communities in the Baja California peninsula to understand long-term changes in the abundance of endangered and culturally important green turtles (Chelonia mydas). She will work with Prof. Crowder, in collaboration with Jeff Seminoff of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, to develop species distribution model for green turtles under climate change by integrating Local Ecological Knowledge and Citizen/Community Science.
Honors & Awards
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David H. Smith Conservation Fellowship, Society for Conservation Biology (2022-2023)
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CONACYT Fellow (PhD), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (2017-2021)
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CONACYT Fellow (MS), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (2013-2014)
Professional Education
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Doctor of Philosophy, Univ Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (2021)
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Master of Science, Univ Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (2014)
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Licenciatura, Univ De Las Americas Puebla (2009)
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PhD, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ocean Science and Limnology (2021)