Business Entrepreneur

President & Founder, Natural History and Conservation Museum of Puerto Rico.

She has extensive track record in the field of renewable energy, with a deep understanding of entrepreneurship and administration. Her passion for clean energy led her to establish SOMOS Solar, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education and providing support for community-based clean energy projects. As the President of SOMOS Solar, she demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, guiding the organization towards its mission of fostering sustainable energy practices and raising awareness about the importance of renewable resources.

Beyond her work in the renewable energy sector, she possesses a unique blend of creativity and vision that extends to the cultural and educational realm. In addition to her involvement in clean energy initiatives, she is also a museum founder and a visionary leader. Recognizing the significance of Puerto Rico's rich prehistoric, oceanic, and geological background, she embarked on a remarkable journey to establish a Natural History and Conservation Museum for the island.

Over the past eight years, she has dedicated herself to conceptualizing and realizing this ambitious project. Her tireless efforts encompassed extensive research, identification of subject matter experts, and engaging with various stakeholders. Through her strategic planning and organizational skills, she brought together individuals and organizations from diverse backgrounds, fostering collaboration and shared vision.

The ultimate goal of this visionary endeavor is to unite the residents of Puerto Rico in a common identity rooted in their natural heritage and to contribute to the preservation of the island's invaluable natural resources. By establishing the first-ever museum dedicated to natural history and conservation in Puerto Rico, she aims to create a lasting legacy that will ignite the flames of enlightenment and leave an indelible imprint on future generations.

Through the museum, she envisions a space that delves deep into the island's prehistoric origins, showcasing its unique geological features and highlighting the significance of its oceanic ecosystems. By immersing visitors in an interactive and educational experience, she seeks to foster a greater understanding and appreciation for Puerto Rico's natural wonders, emphasizing the importance of conservation and sustainable practices.

"Natural history enriches our minds and permanently transforms generations."

-MR

Paleontologist

Vice President & Co-Founder, Natural History and Conservation Museum of Puerto Rico

Paleontologist Jorge Vélez Juarbe has a bachelor's degree in Geology from the University of Puerto Rico- Mayagüez and a Ph.D. in Anatomy from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

He is currently the Associate Curator of Marine Mammals at the Natural History Museum of the Los Angeles County, California, where she has worked since the summer of 2014. Prior to this (2013-2014) conducted postdoctoral research at California State University and at the Museum of Natural History of Florida. He Dr. Vélez Juarbe is interested in two main areas of study.

The first focuses on understanding the processes and patterns of speciation that are responsible for the amazing diversity of marine mammals, through the study and documentation of its diversity during the last 45 million years. While the second main topic of research is the diversity of flora and fauna of the Antilles. Where he is interested in documenting and understanding how and when the different groups of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals and plants that have inhabited the Greater Antilles since the Mesozoic to the present.

Dr. Vélez Juarbe has collaborations with national and international colleagues and students with whom he develops different projects. These efforts have resulted in the publication of more than 50 scientific articles in indexed journals, multiple presentations in congresses national and international and the description of more than 30 species new to science.

He currently has projects in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and California and in the past participated in excavations in the United States, Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Chile.

Some of his Publications:

45) Hernández Cisneros, A. E.*, and J. Velez-Juarbe. 2021. Paleobiogeography of the North Pacific toothed mysticetes (Cetacea, Aetiocetidae): a key to Oligocene cetacean distributional patterns. Palaeontology 64:51–61.

44) Marivaux, L., J. Velez-Juarbe, and P.-O. Antoine. 2021. 3D models related to the publication: An unpredicted ancient colonization of the West Indies by North American rodents: dental evidence of a geomorph from the early Oligocene of Puerto Rico. MorphoMuseuM, Association Palaeovertebrata 7:e128. DOI: 10.18563/journal.m3.128 **

43) Marivaux, L., J. Vélez-Juarbe, L. W. Viñola López, P.-H. Fabre, F. Pujos, H. Santos-Mercado, E. J. Cruz*, A. M. Grajales Pérez*, J. Padilla*, K. I. Vélez-Rosado*, J.-J. Cornée, M. Philippon, P. Münch, and P.-O. Antoine. 2021. An unpredicted ancient colonization of the West Indies by North American rodents: dental evidence of a geomorph from the early Oligocene of Puerto Rico. Papers in Palaeontology 7:2021–2039.

42) Sander, P. M., E. M. Griebeler, N. Klein, J. Velez Juarbe, T. Wintrich, L. J. Revell, and L. Schmitz. 2021. Early giant reveals faster evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs than in cetaceans. Science 374:eabf5787.

41) Suarez, C., J. N. Gelfo, J. W. Moreno-Bernal, and J. Velez-Juarbe. 2021. An early Miocene manatee from Colombia and the initial sirenian invasion of freshwater ecosystems. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 109:103277.

40) Benites-Palomino, A.*, J. Velez-Juarbe, R. Salas-Gismondi, and M. Urbina. 2020. Scaphokogia totajpe, sp. nov., a new bulky-faced pygmy sperm whale (Kogiidae) from the late Miocene of Peru. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology .

Sociologist

Secretary, Natural History and Conservation Museum of Puerto Rico

Michael González Cruz was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico in 1972. He completed his doctorate in Sociology at Binghamton University, New York in 2005. He studied Sociology and Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.

He has taught in the Department of Puerto Rican and Latin American Studies at John Jay College and in the Department of Human Behavior Studies at the Eugenio María de Hostos College of the City University of New York.

He is currently a Professor of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez and was director of the Center for Applied Social Research (CISA) of the UPR Mayagüez (2008-2010).

Dr. Michael González Cruz recently carried out a "Sociological tour of the memory of the landscape in the Francisco Arriví collection" at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Exposing the relationship between economic development, nature, migration and social changes represented in the plastic works exhibited in the Arriví collection.

He stands out as a researcher on environment and society issues since 1994 when he began to explore the social impact of the special period on the mixed industry of tourism in Cuba.

Through life stories, he studied the reform of nature and the workers of the forests of Puerto Rico. In 1999 he was a consultant to the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University, principal investigator of the fishing and consumption of crab and bluefish by Latinos in the Arthur Kill Sound in New Jersey.

He collaborated with the Sea Grant program on three projects; studying the challenges and strengths of the fishermen of the village of Papayo in 2004 and the demilitarization process of the island municipality of Vieques, 2005.

He was the principal investigator of the study "The socio-economic effect of the hunting of migratory birds in the Refuge of Fish and Wildlife Department of Natural Resources in Boquerón, 2008-2009.

He is a collaborating researcher at the Center for Documentation of Armed Movements of the Santiago de Compostela University in Spain.

Some of his publications:

2022 “From the countryside to the city: a sociological journey through “The memory of the landscape in the collection of Francisco Arriví”

2020 “Militant Puerto Ricans: Migrants, Armed Struggle and Political Prisoners” Editorial Trastalleres, San Jua, New Jersey

2011 “The transformation of the Puerto Rican landscape and the discipline of the Civil Conservation Corps 1933-1942”, Valdes-Pizzini, M., Martínez-Reyes, J. & González-Cruz, M. Ed. Social Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

Geologist

Facilitator / Collaborator & Co-Founder, Natural History and Conservation Museum of Puerto Rico

Hernán Santos works at the Department of Geology of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Hernán does research in paleontology, sequence stratigraphy and Caribbean Geology. Current projects include Upper Cretaceous, Oligocene and Miocene biostratigraphy and paleontology. At this moment, Dr. Santos is appointed as Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences,UPR-Mayagüez Campus.

academic articles:

New Cretaceous and Cenozoic Decapoda (Crustacea: Thalassinidea, Brachyura) from Puerto Rico, United States Territory. Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum. 34:1-15. 2008

A gharial from the Oligocene of Puerto Rico: transoceanic dispersal in the history of a nonmarine reptile.. Proceedings of the Royal Society Bulletin. 274:1245-1254. 2007

Tertiary crocodylians from Puerto Rico: evidence for late Tertiary endemic crocodylians in the West Indies?. Geobios. 40:51-59. 2007

Late Cretaceous siliceous sponges from El Rayo Formation, Puerto Rico. Journal of Paleontology. 80:594-600. 2006

book

Geología de Puerto Rico, una Guia para el Maestro (Geology of Puerto Rico, a Teachers Guide). Ed. 1. Mayaguez Puerto Rico: AFAMAC Publications. 2007

chapter

Fossil Echinodermata from Puerto Rico. Ed. Ausich, William. Indiana: Indiana University Press. 369-396. 2007

video

Aplicando Métodos de Monitoreo para determinar la condición de los arrecifes de coral en Puerto Rico 2004

presentation

Bowen Reaction Series and the Formation of Igneous Rocks, Speaker, AFAMAC 2007

Global Warming: True or Mith, Speaker, AFAMAC 2007

Living at the Edge of a Plate Boundary, Speaker, AFAMAC 2007

Sedimentary Rocks and the sedimentary Structures, Speaker, AFAMAC 2007

The Metamorphic Rocks , Speaker, AFAMAC 2007

Climate Trough Time, Speaker, AFAMAC 2006

Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Living in a Tectonic Plate Margin, Speaker, AFAMAC 2006

Geology of Puerto Rico and Caribbean Tectonics, Speaker 2006

Paleontology and the Preservation of Organism, Speaker, AFAMAC 2006

The Rocks of Puerto Rico: A View of Puerto Rico Trough Time, Speaker, AFAMAC 2006

Using DLESE as a Teaching Instrument, Speaker, AFAMAC 2006

Ground Water and Hydrology: A workshop for Earth Sciences teachers, Speaker, AFAMAC 2005

Minerals Classification and Properties of Minerals: A workshop for Earth Sciences teachers, Speaker, AFAMAC 2005

Minerals Classification and their Properties, Speaker, AFAMAC 2005

The Origin of the Caribbean, a Biogeographic Review: A workshop for Earth Sciences teachers, Speaker, AFAMAC 2005

The Rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, Speaker, AFAMAC 2005

Understanding Topographic and Geologic Maps: A workshop for Earth Sciences teachers, Speaker, AFAMAC 2005

Historian, Writer & Lecturer

Regis College, Weston, Mass, B.A, 1959; Middlebury College VT., Post Graduate Studies, Middlebury College VT., 1975; Richmonds University, UK., PhD with a concentration in History, 2006.

The historian, writer and lecturer from Aguadilla has distinguished herself since 1967 for her articles on images of Puerto Rican traditions, 19th century engravings, stories, studies on popular religiosity in Puerto Rico, the cult of the Mother of God.

Over the past twenty years, she has worked with Catalan, German, Dominican, and Venezuelan émigrés in western P.R. and has studied and published on the early years of philanthropist Arthur A. Schomburg. She has published fourteen books and has written more than two hundred articles and short stories in different local magazines and newspapers and in the United States.

She is a number of Academies Scholar: Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010); Academy of History of San Germán, (2015), Puerto Rican Academy of History, (2019) and corresponding foreign member of the Dominican Academy of History, (2022).

In 2003 she was appointed by the mayor and the Legislature of the Autonomous Municipality of Aguadilla as Official Historian of this town. The University of P.R., Aguadilla Campus awarded him an Honoris Causa Doctorate in Humanities, in June 2013.

Academic Haydée E. Reichard De Cardona

She was born in Aguadilla Puerto Rico on August 5, l937. She completed her studies in her hometown at the Colegio San Carlos and graduated in 1955. She completed her Bachelor of Arts, in Hispanic Studies at Regis College, Weston Mass in l959. In 1973 she continued graduate studies in Hispanic Studies at Middlebury College. Vt. In 2006, she received a PhD degree with a concentration in History from Richmonds University, London. U.K. In June 2014, the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus, awarded him the Degree of Doctorate Honoris Causa in Humanities.

Publications

Books 1974-Grandma's Tales; 1988-Five hundred years hand in hand with María:

1992- The ABC of our Faith; 1993- Aguadillanas Gatherings, editor and co-author with Dr. Hermán Reichard Esteves, Dr. Dr. Antonio Nieves, Prof. Helen Santiago;

1990- Memories of my town Aguadilla; 1996-María in the history of our people;

1998-Time to Play and Sing; 1999- Hacienda La Concepción, co-author with Prof. Richard-Brown Campos.

2000- Tales from the Island of Enchantment; 2000- (in English language);

2006- Themes and Themes; 2008-Santa Rita a hacienda for history (second edition 2009); 2009- Porta del Sol through which Christianity entered Borinquen and Puerto Rico;

2017- Entre Pinceladas/Merely a Touch (collection of short stories in Spanish and English about the history of Puerto Rico); 2018-True Love, original manuscripts of the XIX century poet Josefa Rodríguez del Valle. It was transcribed. Contains explanatory essays by Dr. Haydée Reichard, on the historical background of Aguadilla at that time and literary essay by Dr. Roberto Fernández Valledor. 2018- María, Mother of Divine Providence through the history of Puerto Rico (book that contains the Imprimatur: by Mons Roberto O. González Nieves, OFM;

2018- Stories of Longing and Clarifications about San Carlos de la Aguadilla. 2019 Agricultural Haciendas of the Northeast of Puerto Rico.

2021. Military Sieges of the Port of Aguadilla,. Co-author with Carlos Carrero, José Amador, Pablo Cancio Reichard Walter Cardona Bonet, Joseph Harrison Flores Dec 2021, Printed on Amazon

-Arturo Schomburg Racial Identity and Afro-Caribbean Cultural Affirmation, / Printed on Amazon.2023

2023 Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: Racial Identity and Afro-Caribbean Cultural Affirmation,/in process of publication in English in English on Amazon.

Among others.

Undergraduate Student of Geology

Eduardo J. Cruz Vega is a student in his final year of completing a bachelor’s degree in Geology at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. Throughout his academic journey, he has taken on leadership roles within student organizations, effectively promoting geology and paleontology awareness among diverse audiences.

Beyond his academic activities, he has collaborated with various institutions such as the Utah Geological Survey, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo Campus. His primary interests include the study of Mesozoic birds, theropods, Caribbean paleofauna, and biostratigraphy. He has participated in paleontological expeditions in Puerto Rico and the United States, encompassing Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and North Dakota. Furthermore, Eduardo Cruz has served as a fossil preparator in the David B. Jones Fossil Preparation Laboratory at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Currently, the young student collaborates with researchers from the Field Museum of Chicago and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, contributing to the description and exploration of various aspects surrounding Mesozoic bird biology.

Publications:

Laurent Marivaux, Jorge Vélez-Juarbe, Lázaro W. Viñola López, Pierre-Henri Fabrei, François Pujos, Hernán Santos-Mercado, Eduardo J. Cruz, Alexandra Grajales, James Padilla, Kevin I. Vélez-Rosado, Jean-Jacques Cornée, Mélody Philippon Philippe Münch, and Pierre-Olivier Antoine, 2021 An unpredicted ancient colonization of the West Indies by North American rodents: dental evidence of a geomorph from the early Oligocene of Puerto Rico. Papers in Palaeontology, Wiley, DOI : 10.1002/spp2.1388

Laurent Marivaux, Jorge Vélez-Juarbe, Gilles Merzeraud, François Pujos, Lázaro W. Viñola López, Myriam Boivin, Hernán Santos-Mercado, Eduardo J. Cruz, Alexandra Grajales, James Padilla, Kevin I. Vélez-Rosado, Mélody Philippon, Jean -Len Léticée, Philippe Münch, and Pierre-Olivier Antoine, 2020 Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies. Proc. R. Soc. B.28720192806 http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2806