Biography

Since I was a child, I was fascinated to find out how animals communicate, how they express themselves and how others interpret them. As a biologist, I want to understand how organisms share information; I want to comprehend how codes and signs implicit in diverse sensory cues (pheromones, colors, sounds, etc... as well as animal display behaviors) evoke meanings. My field of study encompasses neurophysiology, ethology and biosemiotics.

I graduated as a biologist at the University of the Andes, Venezuela. And I carried out my doctoral thesis at the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, on the chemosensory behavior of the hematophagous triatomines -vectors of Chagas disease. I conducted diverse researches on triatomines, plant pests and ticks in different institutions, including the USDA-ARS (Maryland, USA), IVIC (Venezuela) and University of Richmond (Virginia, USA).

I am currently teaching biology and animal physiology at UVU. Here in Utah, I continue my neurophysiological and ethological research on arthropods. Additionally, I am performing a pioneering study on the biological aspects of artificial life and artificial intelligence -in the context of biosemiotics.

Teaching