The UVM biology department warmly welcomes Dr. Joaquin Nunez as the newest faculty member to hop on board. Born in Havana, Cuba, Dr. Nunez grew up in Bogota, Colombia, for most of his childhood before moving to the United States in his later teenage years. Dr. Nunez completed an associate’s degree at Miami Dade College and a bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami, where he studied patterns of genetic variation in mitochondrial genomes of fish living in polluted habitats. This work led to his discovery of, in Dr. Nunez’s words, “the natural marriage between genetics and the environment”, which inspired him to pursue a Ph.D. at Brown University. There, he investigated the genetics of barnacles residing on rocky intertidals. His work uncovered multiple genes that experience natural selection across both space and time and that encode ecologically important traits. This work led Dr. Nunez to the University of Virginia where he conducted his postdoctoral research looking at drosophilids (fruit flies) living in seasonal environments. According to Dr. Nunez, “every season is like a different planet for them”, which, along with their broad range of genetic diversity, creates the perfect recipe for further exploring the idea of rapid adaptive evolution  (i.e., adaptation that occurs in a few generations).

 Now, Dr. Nunez's lab works with barnacles, drosophilids, ants, and sea urchins to better understand the mechanisms of rapid evolution. The usage of multiple types of organisms helps him cover more bases, since it is hard to comprehend the full picture with just one type. Dr. Nunez emphasizes that a better understanding of rapid evolution will be pivotal to predict how organisms may respond to climate change.

Dr. Nunez joined UVM in June of 2023 through the Henderson/Harris Fellowship, a Fellow-to-Faculty program of the College of Arts and Sciences. This program recruits passionate, experienced individuals who come from underrepresented backgrounds to work and conduct research at UVM. As a queer, Hispanic immigrant, Dr. Nunez brings a unique perspective to the field of biology and our department.  He has an active research lab and teaches classes, such as Evolution for non-majors, Foundations of Quantitative Reasoning, and Population Genetics. There were several factors that drew Dr. Nunez to UVM. His husband is a UVM alumni, which, along with the strong and welcoming Biology Department and the unique Henderson/Harris Fellowship, inspired him to move to Burlington.

The UVM Biology Department is excited to welcome Dr. Nunez to its ranks and help his research grow through the Henderson/Harris Fellowship and beyond. For more information on Dr. Nunez’s research, check out his website: https://www.jcbnunez.org/