Ana Luz Porzecanski

Ana Luz Porzecanski is a conservation biologist who serves as the Director of the Center for Biodiversity & Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. Her work focuses on understanding biodiversity and fostering effective capacity development for conservation.

Early life and education
Porzecanski was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and grew up in Uruguay and Brazil in a family of European immigrants. Her father was an agronomist and her mother an architect.

She earned a biology degree from the Universidad de la República in Uruguay and pursued graduate degrees in Environmental Policy. In 2003, she earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University in New York, where she resides with her family.

Career
Her career began with research assistant positions at the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University. Porzecanski has over 20 years of experience and leads a multidisciplinary staff in conservation research and capacity development initiatives globally.

Porzecanski is involved in education and science communication, teaching courses on conservation biology, evolution, and global sustainability. She co-curated ¡Cuba!, a binational, bilingual traveling museum exhibition on Cuba's nature and culture, which was the largest exhibition of its kind ever presented in the United States.

Selected publications

 * Porzecanski, A.L., et al. (2021). Using Case Studies to Improve the Critical Thinking Skills of Undergraduate Conservation Biology Students.
 * Cunha Almeida, F., & Porzecanski, A.L., et al. (2021). The Evolution of Tinamous (Palaeognathae: Tinamidae) in Light of Molecular and Combined Analyses.