Jorge Velez-Juarbe

Jorge Velez-Juarbe holds a Ph.D. from Howard University, where he studied the morphology, systematics, and paleobiology of fossil sirenians and cetaceans. After receiving his doctorate in 2012, Dr. Velez-Juarbe held Post-Doctoral Associate positions at the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and at California State University Fullerton before being hired as Assistant Curator of Marine Mammals at our Museum.  Dr. Velez-Juarbe's appointment involves curatorial responsibility for both our fossil and extant marine mammal collections.

Some of his current projects include: diversity and dynamics of ancient marine mammal herbivore communities, marine mammals from Central America and the Caribbean, evolution of Cenozoic marine faunas of the Eastern Pacific region, evolution and diversification of early odontocetes and mysticetes, and paleobiogeography of Cenozoic vertebrates from the Caribbean region.