Stanley Heckadon

An anthropologist and sociologist, in 1983 he joined the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) as a researcher and since 2000 he leads the STRI’s Punta Galeta Marine Laboratory at the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal. The laboratory investigates tropical coastal habitats, coral reefs, and develops educational programs. Heckadon led the project to monitor the natural resources of the canal basin, formed the team that created the Panama Canal Authority and promoted the conversion of the former Canal Zone forest into a protected reserve. Since 2007, he has been training Panamanian professors to teach science.