Lopez, Genaro
Genaro Lopez
Dr. Genaro López is a biologist who specializes in entomology and ecology. After a 35-year career as a faculty member at the University of Texas at Brownsville, Dr. López is now an adjunct professor of biology at St. Edward’s University. Dr. López teaches general biology, evolutionary ecology, human anatomy, and physiology.
“Our choice is to keep looking for solutions and choose to be grateful that we have a purpose. The struggle is enough.” - Dr. Genaro López, 2023
Baker, R. J., & López, G. (1970). Karyotypic studies of the insular populations of bats on Puerto Rico. Caryologia, 23(4), 465-472.
Baker, R. J., & López, G. (1970). Chromosomal variation in bats of the genus Uroderma (Phyllostomatidae). Journal of Mammalogy, 51(4), 786-789.
Baker, R. J., & López, G. (1968). Notes on some bats of Tamaulipas. The Southwestern Naturalist, 13(3), 361-362.
Baker, R. J., Mollhagen, T., & López, G. (1971). Notes on Lasiurus ega. Journal of Mammalogy, 52(4), 849-852.
Davis, B. L., Williams, S. L., & López, G. (1971). Chromosomal studies of Geomys. Journal of Mammalogy, 52(3), 617-620.
Dr. Genaro López was born in Brownsville, Texas, on January 24, 1947. He is the oldest of Genaro Velasco López Sr. and Maria de Carmen López’s five children. He describes his childhood home to be very rural. They lived in a 2-bedroom house with no indoor toilet, and instead of a kitchen sink, they used a bucket and a faucet.
Dr. López only spoke Spanish until he was in first grade when he started learning English in school. Though his and his family’s circumstances were often difficult, he has fond memories of the role the natural environment played in his youth. He recalls when he was young, he would climb up and pick green seed pods from ebony trees and hunt rabbits to help feed his family. He also spent two summers picking cotton, earning a penny per pound. Dr. López realized picking cotton was not sustainable for the amount of work he had to put in, so he started doing newspaper delivery using a bicycle his aunt gave him as a present.
After graduating from Brownsville High School, Dr. López followed his father’s advice to get a job. He worked at an auto service where he was responsible for diagnosing car problems and selling auto parts. Later, a friend from high school learned what he was doing and encouraged him to pursue college. In the spring of 1966, he applied and got admitted to Texas Southmost College.
He majored in biology with a minor in English literature. During college, Dr. López was one of only 16 Hispanic students at Texas Tech and the only one in the biology department who could speak Spanish. His language skills and experience in automotive service gave him an advantage in his class. Within his first year of college, Dr. López was hired by Dr. Robert Baker to assist with field research work in Mexico, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago.
He applied to graduate school after completing his bachelor’s degree in 1970. He applied to the University of Arizona, which his undergraduate mentor recommended. However, at the same time, his housemate was applying to Cornell University and offered his application to Dr. López, who had just been paid and had the $20 for the application fee. A few weeks later, he received a call from the admissions office at Cornell informing him of an offer from Dr. David Pimentel from the ecology department. He accepted the offer and moved to New York.
It was a big adjustment for Dr. López due to the language and culture barrier. Dr. Joe Sanders, a professor specializing in economic entomology, invited Dr. López to his lab. From ecology and systematics, Dr. López shifted to studying entomology with Dr. Sanders. One of Dr. López’s most interesting research projects at Cornell was studying eriophyid mites and their damage to New York Christmas trees. The mites caused the trees to lose their pine needles in November, but Dr. López and Dr. Sanders discovered a cure for the Christmas trees using a highly refined oil. Dr. López earned his doctorate degree in entomology from Cornell University in 1975.
After completing his Ph.D., Dr. López accepted a position at Texas A&M University with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. However, he resigned after a year because he wanted to return to the classroom. In 1975, Dr. López began a research and teaching job at Texas Southmost College in Brownsville (now the University of Texas at Brownsville), where he was a biology instructor for 35 years.
He taught general biology, evolutionary ecology, human anatomy, and physiology. He also served as a graduate adviser and studied mercury levels of Gulf of Mexico Gamefish, especially Snook.
During his career at Texas Southmost College, S.C. Johnson Wax, the maker of Raid Insect Control products, recruited Dr. López as the Hispanic spokesperson, or on-screen talent, to appear in national and international commercials. He was chosen because he could speak both Spanish and English fluently. He appeared with his live roaches on such shows as Don Francisco, Primer Impacto, and Sabado al MedioDia. and Sabado al MedioDia. .
Upon retiring from UT-Brownsville in 2011, he studied for and obtained his Securities licenses (Series 7 and 66) to become a financial advisor. From 2012 to 2015, Dr. López was a Financial Investment Advisor for ISC Group, Inc. While the money potential was substantial, he found that this career was not for him, and he returned to his first love: teaching students at the college level.
He went back to teaching biology in 2014 and, in 2015, began working as an adjunct professor at St. Edwards University in Austin, TX.
Dr. López is a noteworthy biology educator on the Marquis Who’s Who list. Since 1982, he has been a member of the Gulf Coast Coalition for Public Health, Brownsville. Since 1985, Dr. López has been a member of the Gulf Coast Conservation Association, National Wildlife Association, and Theta honor society.
For Dr. López, giving back to the place where he grew up is one of his biggest accomplishments. Outside of teaching, he enjoys reading, fishing, custom rod building, and rebuilding old Honda vehicles.
The mentor that has impacted Dr. López the most was Dr. Robert J. Baker at Texas Tech University. When he was a student at Tech, there were only 16 Hispanic students out of 18,000 students. Dr. Baker gave him an opportunity to work in his lab, where he cared for the experimental animals, photographed cellular technology methods for extraction of chromosomal, and proofread pre-publication drafts of the articles before they got sent to Scientific Journals. Dr. Baker also helped Dr. López overcome impostor syndrome.
Since Dr. López was the only person in the entire Biology department who was able to speak Spanish, Dr. Baker chose him to accompany him to the Amazon River in Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Puerto Rico in 1969 to collect chromosome samples from the Bat fauna in those tropical countries. “He constantly emphasized that we were there representing the United States and, therefore, needed to be serious about our roles as scientists. Since I did not drink or smoke, that was not a hard thing for me to do. I have always remembered his example and try to bring only honor to my country. I believe that his giving me opportunities to do scientific research while an undergraduate is one of the reasons that a selective school like Cornell accepted me for a Ph.D. program.”, says López.
Dr. López tries to be an example of living the academic life at the highest level even though he did not learn to speak English until he was in first grade. He had many students see their success through him. He kept in touch with Greg Garcia, who was in his first class ever and worked for NASA before returning to teach at high schools in Brownsville. His only graduate student, Tony Reisinger, wrote a master’s thesis titled “Mercury Concentrations in South Texas Game Fishes.” Dr. López’s son’s friend and student, Jorge Villarreal, learned from Dr. López’s example as a cyclist and car mechanic. He volunteered for several years as a Ridley sea turtle “warden” who patrolled the South Padre Island beaches on motorized 4-wheelers. His student, Cain Bustinza, also became a turtle biologist and recently retired from the US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Dr. López encourages each of us to keep trying out different ways to solve the current climate crisis. We may not make it, our species may go extinct, and our civilization may crash, but we must keep trying. In Dr. López’s words, “The advice I’d give to young professionals is that even though it looks hopeless for the future of human civilization, we cannot afford to be pessimistic. Albert Camus, in his book “The Myth of Sisyphus,” said that even though Sisyphus knows that the rock will roll back down, he will keep pushing it up, and his choice is to be happy about it. We know that Climate Change is irreversible, but our goal is to find paths that will minimize the damage. Our choice is to keep looking for solutions and choose to be grateful that we have a purpose. The struggle is enough.”
Genaro López. n.d. Home [LinkedIn Page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 27, 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/genaro-López-55951531/.
Prabook. 2021. Genaro López. Retrieved July 27, 2023 from https://prabook.com/web/genaro.López/316489.
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.