Rate My Professor Juan Carlos Cisneros

Juan Carlos Cisneros Martínez is a full professor at the Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI) in the Centro de Ciências da Natureza, where he coordinates the Curso de Arqueologia e Conservação de Arte Rupestre. He holds a Licenciatura in Ciências Biológicas from the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, a master’s degree in Geociências with a concentration in Paleontologia from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and a PhD in Geociências from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, completed in 2007 with a thesis on the Triassic reptile Procolophon and the phylogenetic relationships of procolophonoids. His research specializes in vertebrate paleontology, focusing on the anatomy and phylogeny of Permian-Triassic tetrapods from Gondwanan basins including the Paraná, Parnaíba, and Karoo. He has described multiple new species, including Kitchingnathus untabeni, Soturnia caliodon, Timonya anneae, Karutia fortunata, Pampaphoneus biccai, Tiarajudens eccentricus, and Procuhy nazariensis. Cisneros serves as director of the Museu de Arqueologia e Paleontologia da UFPI and as editor of the Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. He has contributed to international efforts against scientific colonialism in paleontology and participated in fossil repatriation initiatives, such as the return of the Ubirajara jubatus specimen. In 2024 he received the title of Cidadão Piauiense from the Assembleia Legislativa do Estado do Piauí. He continues to lead research projects on Permian and Triassic vertebrates and has coordinated recent discoveries of new fossil species from the Parnaíba Basin.

His academic appointments have centered on UFPI since joining the faculty, where he maintains an active research program in paleontology while contributing to undergraduate and graduate teaching in the natural sciences and archaeology programs. Cisneros maintains strong international collaborations, particularly with institutions in South Africa and the United States, and his work has advanced understanding of early terrestrial vertebrate evolution in South America.