Dr. Jorge Urban

"EPI opens doors that kids didn't know where available. They become interested in the environment because they actually get the chance to connect with it."

Marine Biologist, Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, Mexico

An international expert on marine mammals, Dr. Jorge Urban is Coordinator of the Marine Mammal Research Program of the Autonomous University of Southern Baja California. Dr. Urban partners with E PI to involve youth in his research on whales in the Sea of Cortez and Laguna San Ignacio, both in southern Baja California, Mexico.

Dr. Urban is working with the Mexican government to establish sanctuaries for humpback whales and is part of an international team working to protect this endangered species. He is also a member of the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee and the IUCN’s Cetacean Specialist Group.

Participants in EPI’s whale programs assist Dr. Urban’s research team during multi-day research voyages. Their goal is to identify and record every individual whale through photo-identification and, in some cases, genetic sampling.

Last year, data collected through this partnership were used in seven professional science and conservation projects. Cumulatively, data collected on EPI programs have supplied 40% of Dr. Urban’s dataset for new humpback sanctuaries in Mexico.

While the research and conservation results of this collaboration are impressive, like EPI, Dr. Urban believes that the most important impact is the change he witnesses in youth. He jokes that, thanks to EPI, he will never have to recruit graduate students again; local enrollment in the Marine Mammals Program at UABCS has dramatically increased since he began working with EPI.

Are you a student or a teacher? Join Jorge on EPI’s Whale Ecology Program!

You can also meet Jorge on EPI’s Mexico Adult and Family Trip or the new San Ignacio Gray Whale Trip!

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