Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske

Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, National Geographic Explorer and professor of biology at Andrews University in southwest Michigan. Gonzalez-Socoloske was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and immigrated to the United States with his family as a young child. From a very young age he dreamed of becoming a biologist and explored the outdoors as often as he could around southern Michigan and in northern Mexico, where he went to high school. In the late 1990s, he returned to Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in photography from Andrews University. Gonzalez-Socoloske received his Ph.D. in ecology from Duke University prior to returning to his undergraduate alma mater as faculty in 2013, where he is now professor of biology and curator of the Andrews University Museum of Nature and Science. Gonzalez-Socoloske specializes in mammal ecology and conservation and is primarily interested in how species are adapted to their environments and the effects of both natural and human-induced habitat changes on their behavior. He is known for pioneering the use of sonar to study and detect manatees in dark waters. His publications have mainly focused on manatees, but extend to marsupials, cetaceans, rodents, and primates. He has participated in and led field studies in eight countries including: the United States, Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Amazon and Cerrado regions of Brazil. Gonzalez-Socoloske is a scientific member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Sirenia Specialist Group and the managing editor of the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals.