Martha M. Muñoz
Martha Muñoz | |
|---|---|
Muñoz in 2024, holding a lizard | |
| Born | 1985 (age 40–41) |
| Education | Boston University (BA) Harvard University (PhD) |
| Occupation | Evolutionary biologist |
Martha M. Muñoz (born May 1985) is an American evolutionary biologist and an associate professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University.[1] She is also an associate curator for the Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the Yale Peabody Museum.[2][3] In particular, Muñoz researches the influence of biomechanics and behavior on evolution in reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.[3] In 2024, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.[4]
Biography
Muñoz grew up in the New York City borough of Queens, and is the daughter of Cuban immigrants.[5] From a young age, she held an interest in the natural world, visiting public parks and museums to nurture her passion.[6] She received her BA in biology from Boston University in 2007 and then completed a Fulbright research fellowship in the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, Spain.[7] She earned her PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 2014.[5][3] While at Harvard, she worked in the lab of evolutionary biologist Jonathan Losos.[5] Following her PhD, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Australian National University and Duke University.[3] In 2017, she was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech.[3][8] She became an assistant professor in Yale University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2019.[3]
Selected publications
- Muñoz, M. M., Stimola, M. A., Algar, A. C., Conover, A., Rodriguez, A. J., Landestoy, M. A., Bakken, G. S., & Losos, J. B. (2014). Evolutionary stasis and lability in thermal physiology in a group of tropical lizards. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1778), 20132433. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2433
- Muñoz, M. M., & Losos, J. B. (2018). Thermoregulatory Behavior Simultaneously Promotes and Forestalls Evolution in a Tropical Lizard. The American Naturalist, 191(1), E15–E26. https://doi.org/10.1086/694779
- Bodensteiner, B. L., Agudelo‐Cantero, G. A., Arietta, A. Z. A., Gunderson, A. R., Muñoz, M. M., Refsnider, J. M., & Gangloff, E. J. (2021). Thermal adaptation revisited: How conserved are thermal traits of reptiles and amphibians? Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology, 335(1), 173–194. https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.2414
Awards and honors
- Muñoz was the recipient in 2021 of the Carl Gans Award and in 2022 of the George A. Bartholomew Award from the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, the first person to receive both awards.[9] She is also a 2017 winner of the Early Career Investigator Award from the American Society of Naturalists.
References
- ^ "Martha Muñoz". Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Yale University. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ "Meet the Peabody Curators & Collections Staff". Yale Peabody Museum. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Martha Muñoz". www.macfound.org. MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ Blair, Elizabeth (October 1, 2024). "Here's who made the 2024 MacArthur Fellows list". NPR. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
- ^ a b c Pennisi, Elizabeth (22 September 2022). "This biologist discovered that lizards and other organisms can influence their own evolution". Science. 377 (6613). doi:10.1126/science.ade9763. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ LNN (2025-04-24). "¡Presente! Dr. Martha Muñoz - Latino News Network". Retrieved 2025-11-10.
- ^ "Fulbright Alums Named 2024 MacArthur Fellows". Fulbright. 3 October 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
- ^ Mackay, Steven. "Martha Muñoz is named assistant professor in Department of Biological Sciences". news.vt.edu. Virginia Tech. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
- ^ "Martha Muñoz receives George A. Bartholomew Award from the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology". Yale EEB. 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2025.