During the opening ceremony of the 17th General Meeting and Biennial Conference, Dr. Jorge A. Moreno, Dean of American International College of Arts and Sciences – Antigua (AICASA) and Professor of Biology at the American University of Antigua and AICASA, was installed as the President of the Antigua Chapter of the Caribbean Academy of Science (CAS).  Held at the Royal Antiguan Beach and Tennis Resort, the conference, “Climate Change: Implications for Caribbean Health, Agriculture, Ecology, Industries, and Building Codes” featured the Honorable Dr. Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda as the keynote speaker.  In his address, Prime Minister Spencer discussed the global impact of climate change and how it has negatively impacted islands in the Caribbean.  The Prime Minister warned that “climate change is not in the future, but in the present tense.”

Dr. Jorge A. Moreno brings a wealth of knowledge and a great deal of enthusiasm in his new role with CAS.  Dr. Moreno comes to AICASA and AUA from the University of Colorado, Boulder where he was a Senior Instructor in Biology for the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Farrand Academic Program. He was the lead scientist in herpetology for a Colorado State/Federal Government-sponsored biodiversity assessment of sensitive grassland habitats (BioBlitz) and he served as the Chief of the Terrestrial Ecology Section at the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources.

Dr. Moreno shared, “The establishment of a local chapter of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences in Antigua, with the participation of both AUA and AICASA faculty, reaffirms the commitment of the University and College to promote scientific literacy in Antigua and the region. We hope to become the most active of the existing academy chapters by promoting community involvement, youth training, research and scholarly work, and fundraising.”