https://www.oceanexpert.net/expert/snbrandao

ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3487-6129
ResearcherID : C-9416-2013

Dr

Teaching/Education
Research
Technical Advice & Consulting

Biological Oceanography, Marine Ecology

My research focus is on biodiversity patterns and how biodiversity interacts with the environment today and in the past (in ecological and geological time scales). I study a special group of crustaceans, the Ostracoda, which occur in virtually all aquatic ecosystems and a in very humid tropical forest niches. Even more importantly, ostracods have an extensive fossil record since the Ordovician (+400 million years), due to their small-sized calcified carapace (mostly 0.2 to 1.00mm). Both the ecological diversity and the extensive fossil record make this group very interesting for investigation on biodiversity.

I have worked with virtually all oceans, but with focus on the Southern Ocean (from 2004 to 2009) and Southwestern Atlantic (2009 to present). However, I am developing projects on several other regions, like the Indian Ocean (last 1.5 million years), on the Sub-polar Atlantic-Artic (Recent) and the Northeastern Atlantic (last 800,000 years). Concerning the study of past biodiversity patterns, my focus is on the Holocene and Late Cenozoic, where I try to understand how the biodiversity pattern have been changing and how these changes can be related to environmental and climatic conditions.

I also enjoy taxonomy and systematics of Ostracoda, and use classic morphology, DNA, morphometrics and whatever interesting character I may find.

Arctic Ocean
North Atlantic Ocean
South Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
North Pacific Ocean
South Pacific Ocean
Southern Ocean

Micropalaeontology. Climatic reconstruction through microfossils. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction through microfossils. Systematics (molecular and morphological) of Ostracoda. Biogeography of Ostracoda

English; Portuguese; Spanish; German

Google Scholar
ResearchGate

http://lattes.cnpq.br/1853388207526266

Because the Brazilian academic system is peculiar, I provide below details of my job. (All graphic signs in Portuguese words are omitted to avoid strange characters, typical of international, digital communication).

I have 3 official job titles, all in the same university (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte-UFRN):

1) Professora Permanente (free translation: "Permanent Professor") in the Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Sistematica e Evolucao-UFRN, for which I perform the following tasks: scientific activities, supervising students and lecturing in the graduate level in the Master and PhD Program on Systematics and Evolution. In this program, I work and lecture in the areas Evolution, Systematics, Taxonomy, Macroecology, Environmental Monitoring from the present time ("Recent") and Late Quaternary period. I also teach about Scientific Writing and Science Communication.

2) Professora Visitante in the Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Geodinamica e Geofisica-UFRN (free translation: "Guest Professor"), for which I perform the following tasks: scientific activities, supervising students and lecturing in the graduate level in the Master and PhD Program on Geodynamics and Geophysics. In this program, I work in the areas Micropalaeontology, Palaeoceanography, Palaeoclimatic Reconstructions and Environmental Monitoring based on Subrecent and fossil samples. Here again, I teach about Scientific Writing and Science Communication.

3) Professora Colaboradora in the Departamento de Geologia-UFRN (free translation: "Collaborating Professor" science), for which I perform the following tasks: supervising students and lecturing in the undergraduate level in the Geology Bachelor Course. In this Department, I supervise Bachelor thesis and internships and lecture on Palaeontology, Micropalaeontology, Palaeoceanography, Palaeoclimatic Reconstructions, Biostratigraphy, Statistical Analyses specific to Micropalaeontology), Environmental Monitoring and Scientific Writing.

As mentioned above, the Brazilian academic system is peculiar. Being a Professor does not mean a permanent position. It is based on scientific skills and outputs (i.e., your CV).

In entire Brazil, studies in the graduate level (Master and PhD) are offered by the many hundreds of "Programas de Pos-Graduacao" (PPG) (in Brazilian Portuguese, Graduate level is Pos-graduacao; and undergraduate level is graduacao), each Programa has a specific focus. The government agency CAPES evaluates the quality, and according to it allows the openning, keeps or closes single PPGs.

In order to teach and supervise students in these PPGs, one again needs to apply for the Professor status within the specific Program of her/his interest (credenciamento in Portuguese). CAPES has clear guidelines on how scientists' application for these Professor statuses should be or not given to, or kept by scientists. It is based on several aspects, but the following two are probably the most important: (1) papers published on good journals (according to the rank Qualis made by CAPES), papers published together with PPG students are ranked higher in the evaluation; (2) the time that students take to finish Master and PhD, the expected time is 24 and 48 months, respectively. Other many aspects are also important, among them, international and national collaborations; seminars offered to PPG students...
For the undergraduate level, besides the permanent positions, there are temporary Professor positions, which peculiarities vary among universities. In UFRN, one needs to apply for the position of Professor Colaborador in the Department the person would like to teach. If the plenary of this department (composed of all permanently employed Professors) aproves the application, this status is provided to the applicant, who then can teach courses and supervise students in Bachelor thesis and internships in undergrad level.