The IAI Directorate welcomes Omar López Alfano as new Science Director

The Directorate of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Omar López Alfano as its new Science Director.

Dr. López Alfano brings over 25 years of experience in scientific research and capacity building in the Americas. He earned his PhD in Biology from the University of Utah (USA) and had postdoctoral positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) and at the Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama).

He has been actively involved and played a leading role in the science-government interface and has a longstanding experience with the Institute. He was Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the IAI for three years and was Chair of the Transdisciplinary Committee of the Sustainability Research and Innovation Conference (SRI 2023) held in Panama in partnership with the IAI, Belmont Forum, and Future Earth.

With nearly 40 publications in international journals that have been cited more than 1,000 times, Dr. López Alfano is a prominent scientific figure. Before joining the IAI, Dr. López Alfano was the Technical Secretary of the National Research System (SNI) at the National Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Innovation (SENACYT) in Panama, where he played a key role in the implementation of public science policies, knowledge dissemination, and the recognition of scientific productivity to consolidate a critical mass of researchers in the country. 

Previously, he was a researcher at the Institute for Scientific Research and High Technology Services (INDICASAT AIP) and an associate researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). He also served as a faculty member in the Department of Botany at the University of Panama, where he supervised undergraduate and graduate students from different countries. 

The IAI Directorate anticipates that Dr. López Alfano will play a fundamental role in advancing the IAI’s scientific agenda by strengthening engagement with countries in Central America and across the Americas region, and through the enhancement of scientific collaboration and innovation.

View the Notification at:

http://www.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/notificaciones/nt-2024-22-en_0.pdf