Juan Aguilar

Dr. Juan Aguilar serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Science within Hampton University's School of Science. His primary academic appointment focuses on population genetics and genomic research in marine ecosystems.

Dr. Aguilar's research utilizes genetic and genomic data to infer ecological patterns and evolutionary histories of species, with current emphasis on Antarctic marine predators. He actively contributes to the NSF-funded project "Excellence in Research – Genomic Inferences of Adaptation in an Antarctic Top predator: the leopard seal (EiR-GIANT)", collaborating under Dr. Carolina Lewallen's guidance to identify genetic adaptations in leopard seals that reveal evolutionary divergence mechanisms from related seal species. This work bridges molecular biology with conservation ecology in extreme polar environments.