Juan Sebastian Lozano
Juan Sebastian is a Colombian ecologist with over 15 years of experience in applied conservation. He holds a Master's degree in Environmental Monitoring and Modelling from King's College London and he is currently a PhD Candidate at the Tropical Rivers Lab. For roughly nine years he led freshwater conservation efforts at The Nature Conservancy across nine Latin American countries, collaborating with international NGOs, government agencies, and the private sector on issues of water access and conservation. His work has centered on mapping and prioritizing critical areas for conservation by linking hydrological studies with biodiversity goals. He coordinated water-stewardship projects, including partnerships with large-scale bottling companies, and led an initiative to identify opportunities for expanding the operational capacity of existing hydropower facilities in order to reduce the need to build new ones.
In 2020, seeking a deeper academic focus, Juan Sebastian was awarded a Fulbright fellowship and joined the Tropical Rivers Lab at FIU, advised by Dr. Elizabeth Anderson and Dr. Clinton Jenkins. His doctoral research focuses on the rivers and floodplains of the Amazon: he maps flood pulse dynamics in the upper Amazon using radar altimetry and digital terrain models, examines the spatiotemporal availability and nutritional value of fish in Amazonian markets, and analyzes long term community-based fisheries monitoring. Across these projects he integrates hydrological analysis with biodiversity and human well-being objectives.
Contact: jloza048@fiu.edu
Active Projects:
Dynamics of Amazon River floodplains
Combining hydrological, ecological, and economic approaches, this work analyzes recent flooding patterns, explores long-term change in floodplain forests, and estimates the economic value of floodplain forests in the Western Amazon. It aims to understand change over time in response to environmental and anthropogenic drivers.