Javier Arce-Nazario

Javier Arce Nazario’s research program concentrates on the biophysical and social components in the Puerto Rican landscape, and how they affect water quality and adaptability to extreme precipitation events. He is using his fellowship year to discover how results and techniques from his studies of tropical watersheds might be extended.  His interests specifically include understanding how watershed composition impacts water quality in the tropics, assessing the economic impact of extreme precipitation events, and exploring how community water management can be viewed through the lens of environmental justice.  He is also interested in using historical orthophotography as an outreach tool for education and community involvement in water quality and environmental concerns.

Dr. Arce Nazario is currently an associate professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey.  He studied Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology at Columbia University, writing his dissertation on how humans and rivers shape the Peruvian Amazon landscape, before becoming a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley.  At UPR Cayey, he teaches and conducts research in the Department of Biology and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, bringing field ecology, geography, and GIS methods into undergraduate classrooms and into the surrounding rural community.  He was honored with a 2012 Presidential Early Career (PECASE) award by the White House